Janáček and Czech Herbartism

II.1.3.1 Background and outline of Czech intellectualism in the 19th century

The stagnation that reigned in the Czech national and political life under the Habsburgian hegemony²⁰⁹ started to break down among the Czech intelligentsia in the beginning of the 19th century. Still in the middle of the 18th century this cosmopolitan group of scholars, few in number, that knew the traditional languages of science, Latin or German, communicated with each other independent of national or linguistic borders. Many of them spoke both Czech and German, although Czech existed mostly only as a colloquial language, since all education was taught in German or Latin. Many a scholar was a Jesuit, as for example the mathematicians and physicians Joseph Stepling (Differentiarum minimarum quantitatum variantium calculus directus vulgo differentialis, 1765) and Jan

203 “On the Origin of Quantitative Verse” (Česká mysl 1904).

204 “An Attempt at Measuring Czech Sounds and Syllables in Continuous Speech” (Praha 1911).

205 “Short Czech Grammar” (Prague 1920).

206 “Historical Meter” (Listy filologické 1923).

207 “Slavic Phonetics: Collection of Slavic Text- and Handbooks” (Heidelberg 1911). In his feuilleton Ticho (“Silence”, Lidové noviny, 26 August 1919) Janáček reports that in Broch‖s Slavonic phonetics he likes best the commentary on groups of phonemes common to all Slavonic nations. In these Janáček sees certain common emotional characteristics. (LD1: 455; Vogel 1981: 160.)

208 Stored in the Janáček Archives in Brno under call number A 1045.

209 After the Battle of the White Mountain (Bíla Hora) in Prague in November 1620 and the final defeat of the rebellious protestant Bohemian Estates, the Czech Lands were incorporated into the Austrian Empire.

The defeat also marked the end of the independence of Bohemia for 300 years. As described by Štědroň (1955:

150), the rebellious movement that had started as a reaction against the burning of the Czech reformer Jan Hus at the stake (6 July 1415 at the Council of Constance [Konstanz]), and continued by the Hussite revolutionary movement led by Jan Žižka of Trocnov, has left deep traces both in music and in other works of art in Bohemia and abroad.

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Tesánek (Isaaci Newtoni Libri I. principiorum mathematicorum philosophiae naturalis Sect. I–

V exposita, 1769; Versuch über einige Stellen in Newtons Principiis, 1776).²¹⁰ (Marek 1998: 54.) In the 18th century the focus of science in the Czech Lands was in the first place in natural sciences, as well as in Europe in general (where the classical era of the natural sciences was represented by the 17th century). In addition to universities,²¹¹ scientific societies and journals were established, among others Prager Gelehrte Nachrichten in 1771 and Societas Scientiarum Bohemica (“Böhmische Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften”, Česká společnost nauk) in the 1780s.²¹² The activity of the societies outside of Prague was focused particularly on the need for practice, like agriculture and industry. For example, the Brno Gesellschaft zur Beförderung des Ackerbaues, der Natur- und Landeskunde (Moravská přírodovědná a vlastivědná společnost), founded in 1794, brought together many interested persons coming from different language groups. (Marek 1998: 58.)

The first signs of the Czech National Revival were manifested in the increasing interest in Czech language as an expression of national identity. However, even the research exhibited in this aspect was at first published in other languages rather than Czech. For example, the grammarian and language historian Josef Dobrovský (1753–1829), who is named as the founder of Slavonic languages and literatures, still wrote in Latin and German (Geschichte der böhmischen Sprache und Literatur, 1792).²¹³ During the National Revival at the beginning of the 19th century, the translator and lexicographer Josef Jungmann (1773–

1847) considered the Czech language as the most important factor uniting the nation in the German oppression. This view derives from the philosophy of history of Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) and his idea of a nation as a linguistical and cultural unit, which appears as most genuine and distinctive in folk poetry and folk song. (Marek 1998: 62;

Štědroň B. 1977: 284.) In this respect Herder echoes Rousseau‖s ideas, being his German counterpart, as is pointed out by Lippman (1994: 121).

In the middle of the 19th century, the poet and journalist Karel Havlíček Borovský and the historian and politician František Palacký played an important role in the formation of Czech national and intellectual identity. They also launched the beginning of Czech journalism and politics proper. The press became the characteristic rostrum of Karel

210 Another example of the German science of the 19th century and its emphasis on natural sciences is Gregor Johann Mendel (1822–1884), the famous Augustinian who gave his lecture Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden (”Experiments in Plant Hybridization”) in Brno in 1865. This lecture is considered as a point of departure for modern genetics. Mendel, who was a native of Heinzendorf in Moravia (a village near Nový Jičín, known in Czech as Hynčice) and belonged to the German part of the population, gained his scientific education in Brno and at the Vienna University.

211 In addition to Prague there was a university in Olomouc (the Austrian Olmütz) from 1573 to 1853. It ceased to exist as a victim of political tensions between Czech nationalists and Sudetan Germans.

212 To make a comparison, The Royal Society had already been founded in 1660 in Britain and the Académie des Sciences in 1666 in France. The Berlin Akademie was founded in 1700 and supported by Frederick the Great.

213 It was typical for the historicism of the Czech National Revival and its search for models in the past that Dobrovský took as an ideal for the Czech literary language the language of the “golden era” of the 16th century (e.g., Bible of Kralice, 1579, and the Gramatika česká, 1571, created by Jan Blahoslav.) Thus, a gap of three hundred years came into existence between the standard language (that was the colloquial Czech) and the literary language. Soon this created a need for a reformation in the vocabulary, which was reflected in Jungmann‖s five volume Czech-German dictionary (1835–39). (Marek 1998: 63–64.)

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Havlíček Borovský (1821–1856) in particular.²¹⁴ In 1846 he started to edit Pražské noviny (“The Prague News”), which involved changing the attention of the paper from literature to politics. In 1848 he started to publish Národní noviny (“The National News”) and in 1850–51 in Kutná Hora Slovan (“The Slav”), where Havlíček wrote his most critical and radical articles. (Marek 1998: 71, 108, 129–130.) According to Marek (ibid. 130), the great names of Czech literature have since Havlíček‖s times been also the classics of Czech journalism. Furthermore, Palacký‖s (1798–1876) significance to the Czech National Revival was unique—already during his lifetime, he was called the Father of the Nation. As an historian he created his reputation with his monumental work Geschichte Böhmens.²¹⁵ Palacký was also unique in the sense that he put forward his own plan for a federal Austrian state that would consist of autonomic national federations (expressed in the pamphlet Idea státu rakouského, “The Idea of the Austrian State”, 1865.) Palacký had also a great influence on Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of the independent state of Czechoslovakia. (Marek 1998: 73, 114; Moravcová 1993: 150; Pokorný 1993a: 99.)

As Marek points out, the tendency of Czech intellectual thought towards utilitarism and practice and its distrust of metaphysics manifested itself in the moment when the Czech cultural horizon of the 1840s expanded outside of the artistic domains as well. The making of Czech science and politics started a debate on whether the Czech society needs philosophy and to what extent. For example, Havlíček considered German philosophical thought foreign to Czech mentality. This attitude and a preference for intellectualism orientated towards practice explains partly also the popularity of Herbart‖s philosophy among the Czech intelligentsia. (Marek 1998: 109.) As Kulka (1990: 16) notes, Czech aesthetics of the late 19th century conformed most to formalism in particular (as modified by Herbart, Zimmermann, Durdík and Hostinský), psychologism (Fechner, Helmholtz, Wundt, Neumann) and sociologism (Taine, Hennequin, Guyau). As has been pointed out by Marek (1998: 138) and Payzant (2001: 5–7, 10–11), the establishment of Herbartism in the Czech philosophical climate had also political reasons: from the viewpoint of the authorities the cultivation of Hegelian revolutionist philosophy was precarious, and its proponents were persecuted and oppressed.²¹⁶

Herbartism, that had adopted a critical stance towards metaphysics, was in concordance with the traditionally utilitarian, pragmatic and reformatory character of Czech intellectual thought. As a philosophy it represented realism, and its eclectic contents made it applicable in most versatile ways. It also prepared ground for positivism, which had an influence on

214 In addition to Prague, Havlíček had studied in Německý Brod (“German Shallow”), a town that was renamed after him in 1945 as Havlíčkův Brod, which can be seen as a new kind of Czech political nationalism. Havlíček himself adopted a very critical attitude towards any pan-national movements. His lengthy stay in Russia and his pondering over panslavism made him disillusioned enough to utter in his essay Slav and Czech in 1846: “I can say: I am a Czech, but never: I am a Slav.” He was critical of the oppressive nature of the Russification that lay behind Pan-Slavic nationalism. In this connection I would like to mention a correspondent event in the national revival of Finland. The Finnish journalist, historian and nationalist spokesman Adolf I. Arwidsson (1791–1858) presented his idea of the identity of the Finns with a phrase that has since then become a common tag: “Swedes we aren‖t, Russians we will not become, so let us be Finns!”

Ironically enough, these words he uttered in Swedish.

215 Five volumes, 1836–67; published in Czech in 1848–76 (Dějiny národu českého v Čechách a v Moravě).

216 The philosophers Bernard Bolzano and Ignaz J. Hanuš stand as an example of the censorship practised by the Austrian government. Both were expelled from their teaching positions at Prague University: Bolzano in 1819 because of his pacifist beliefs and his concern for social justice (he was also accused of being a Kantian), Hanuš in 1852 for lecturing on Hegel‖s philosophy.

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the methodology of the late–19th-century Czech science. The approach provided by positivism (even though Comte‖s²¹⁷ philosophy could remain fairly unknown) equaled the methodical nature of research, respect towards empiricism and prudence regarding hypotheses. It was also a synonym for science and an alternative for the speculations of the science of the Romantic era. Herbartism maintained its position as virtually the only official philosophy up to the time Czech thought, mediated by the return of Masaryk, gained contact with the philosophical currents of Western Europe. The debate on the orientation of the Czech culture that was still going on in the 20th century was based on these intellectual focuses. (Marek 1998: 110, 138, 204.)

II.1.3.2 On Janáček-research and Herbartism

Since Herbartian philosophical tradition had consequences on Janáček‖s aesthetical and theoretical thinking, it is necessary to illustrate the basic lines of Herbart‖s philosophy before moving on to the aesthetical formalism represented by his Czech and Austrian followers. They formed the primary channel through which Janáček absorbed Herbartian thought in his early critiques and writings. Herbartian influence subsequently remained part of Janáček‖s attitude towards art, and Herbart‖s philosophy was fundamental for another important source in Janáček‖s music theory and aesthetics, namely the new scientific psychology elevated later by Wilhelm Wundt into experimental psychology that justified its results with the help of exact technical and experimental methods. Whereas in his twenties and thirties Janáček was an eager adherent of aesthetical formalism, the mature Janáček sought confirmation to his theory of harmony and speech melodies in Wundt‖s psychology. The span between Herbart and Wundt is discussed in Chapter II.3.3.2 (“Wundt and the morphology of mind”) that deals with Wundt‖s conception of consciousness and his disputable connection with the British associationism.

A deeper insight into Herbartian philosophy with its many consequences is important not only for outlining the scientific and historical contexts of the late 19th century.

Equally important and fascinating is the relationship between Janáček the theorist and his time. Janáček‖s theoretical writings are also dependent on the cultural and scientific climate of their time: they have not emerged unconsciously in total isolation. In fact, as will be apparent later, they sometimes openly reveal their sources of inspiration. However, it should be recognized that Janáček the theorist, as any creative thinker, came up with new connections and contents and developed the original impulses in his inherent way. Thus, the principle task of the researcher is not so much to look into the backgrounds of the texts but, being aware of this connection, to analyze and interpret the texts themselves (in a semiotic framework the concept of a text contains here artistic texts, as well). This aspect is especially explicit in the output of Janáček the artist. This is the goal of the present study, particularly in its last chapters that are based on the historical, in places even “empirical”, contexts provided by the first half of the study. Let us take a look at a few of these historical facts relevant at the moment.

217 The French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798–1857) developed an empirist, positivistic philosophy paragon to the growth of the natural sciences (Cours de Philosophie positive, 6 vols., 1830–42). According to Comte this philosophy meant an improvement to humankind, which in its development thus can break away from its theological and metaphysical stages.

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Michael Beckerman (1983: 388) begins his article “Janáček and the Herbartians” with a citation, where Janáček defends, in a strongly formalist spirit, the ideas of Helmholtz, Zimmermann and Herbart “against musical poets who have not received the thorough musical training necessary to perfectly control the medium of composition and result in true musical creativity”. The writing including this citation was published in Janáček‖s journal Hudební listy (“Musical papers”) in 1885. According to Beckerman (ibid. 394), the impression the Herbartians made on Janáček was heightened because he was already inclined to think in such a manner and was trying to formulate so many of the same ideas on his own. As Beckerman (ibid.) notes, the evidence suggests that in the Brno of the 1870s the Herbartian approach to philosophy and education was inescapable; it was as pervasive as Freudianism in the twenties, structuralism in the sixties, and semiotics today. One of the town‖s most prominent and avid Herbartians was Emilian Schulz, Janáček‖s future father-in-law and the head of the Brno Teacher‖s Institute (ibid.). Herbartian thought gained popularity in pedagogical reform, which also makes Emilian Schulz‖s enthusiasm in Herbartian views understandable. In fact, Herbart‖s philosophy survived later mainly among educationists and pedagogs. Its influence and stature began a rapid decline after the end of the 19th century. (Ibid. 389.) For the posterity Herbart has remained in history commonly known as the father of scientific pedagogy.

In the research undertaken on Janáček the theorist, Herbart and Herbartism are usually mentioned, at least, as a point of departure, but Herbart‖s philosophy and its conceptual apparatus and the range it had on Janáček‖s music theory has not been thoroughly scrutinized. Beckerman (1994: xiv) aptly remarks that Herbart‖s system of abstract formalism has injustly been neglected.²¹⁸ He emphasizes that it nevertheless had essential influence on Janáček‖s intellectual and creative personality:

Janáček‖s involvement with this philosophy, as presented by Herbart‖s Czech followers, was so passionate and so complete, and its influence on him so profound and varied, that it must be counted one of the major shaping forces of his life; and it is surely a key to a richer understanding of his creative personality. . . . his response to these studies in such disciplines as aesthetics, physiology, and experimental psychology can only be fully understood against the background of Herbartism. (Beckerman 1983: 388–389.)

Beckerman (1994: xiv) also remarks that Herbart‖s name in this connection is often ignored and that the philosopher‖s impact on Janáček has been unexplored, as also in Hanslick‖s case (ibid. 102). For example, in his introduction to the first volume of Janáček‖s theoretical works, Racek (1968a, pages 11 and 19) mentions Herbart only incidentally in connection with Zimmermann, although in fact from the Herbartians it was Josef Durdík who perhaps had the most profound influence on Janáček.

In the following from Herbart‖s system, mainly his conception of perception, apperception and the limen of consciousness have been selected for a closer analysis. These concepts are also essential for experimental psychology, thus converging also with the conceptual apparatus of Janáček‖s theoretical output. The connection of Herbart‖s

218 As for the development of psychology it had fairly far-reaching impact, as has been demonstrated in Chapter II.2.2 (Herbart and the evolving of experimental psychology). Boring (1950: 257) emphasizes Herbart‖s connection with dynamic psychology by mentioning that there was still a use for some of his psychology fifty and even hundred years afterwards.

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philosophy with the psychology of Wilhelm Wundt also justifies this conceptual survey.

My intention is not a thorough analysis of the related questions that are essentially epistemological in nature. Rather, I attempt to reset this philosophical system into its historical and philosophical relations. As with the previous chapter, the modest aim is here to prepare the ground for a general view of the particular “zeitgeist” behind Janáček‖s theoretical thinking and peculiar terminology.

II.2 The philosophical psychology of Johann Friedrich Herbart and its