Otakar Hostinský

Otakar Hostinský (2 January 1847, Martiněves – 19 January 1910, Prague) was a Czech historian, musicologist, and professor of musical aesthetics. He is known primarily for his support of composer Bedřich Smetana and his contributions to Czech aesthetic theory, which influenced many cultural figures in early twentieth-century Prague, including Zdeněk Nejedlý, Otakar Zich, and Vladimír Helfert. He also wrote the opera librettos to Zdeněk Fibich's masterpiece, The Bride of Messina, and Josef Richard Rozkošný's Cinderella.

Biography Born in Bohemia, Otakar Hostinský studied in Munich and Prague, obtaining his doctorate in 1869. Hostinský worked as a journalist and an editor before working as a tutor for noble families for a few years.

In Prague, Hostinský was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, the Prague Conservatory, and the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design.

Hostinský taught musical aesthetics and musical history at Charles University, where he made significant contributions before his death in 1910.

Selected writings (German titles given in the original; Czech titles translated into English)

Art and Nationality, 1869 Wagnerianism and Czech National Identity, 1870 On "Program" Music, 1873 Das Musikalisch-Schöne und das Gesammtkunstwerk vom Standpuncte der formalen Aesthetik, 1877 Die Lehre von den musikalischen Klängen, 1879 On the Contemporary State and Direction of Czech Music, 1880 On Czech Musical Declamation, 1882 On Melodrama, 1885 A Brief Overview of the History of Music, 1885 On Artistic Realism, 1890 Herbarts Ästhetik, 1891 Volkslied und Tanz der Slaven, 1893 On Progress in Art, 1894 On Folksong, 1897 On Experimental Aesthetics, 1900 B. Smetana and his Struggle for Modern Czech Music, 1901 On the Socialization of Art, 1903 Art and Society, 1907 Czech Music, 1864-1904, 1909