Josef Jiří Kolár

Josef Jiří Kolár (9 February 1812 – 31 January 1896) was a Czech theatrical actor, director, translator, and writer.

Josef Jiří Kolár
BornDecember 9, 1812, February 9, 1813 
Prague 
DiedJanuary 31, 1896  (aged 83)
Prague 
OccupationWriter, actor, translator 
Spouse(s)Augustin Smetana 
ChildrenAuguste Auspitz-Kolar 

Early life

He was born Josef Kolář (later also spelled Kollar or Kolar) in Prague as the last of three sons to a family of a clothes trader who had twelve children altogether.[1] His parents gave him good education which he broadened at schools so that he could read Homer in Greek before university.[1] He also learned German, French, Italian and English.[2] He started studying philosophy (influenced by Augustin Smetana),[3] natural science and philology at Charles University in 1830 and became interested in the Czech revival movement.[1] He interrupted the studies in 1833 when he became a tutor to a Hungarian noble family in Pest. There he studied medicine and made friends with Ján Kollár. Once he had an argument with a Hungarian nobleman about Hungarian and Slavic languages which ended up with a duel – Kolár was seriously injured and spent several weeks in bed.[1] He also travelled a great deal in Western Europe.[2] He added the middle name Jiří to his name for his admiration for George Gordon Byron.[4]

Theatrical career

After three years Kolár had to return to Prague, where he continued studying at the university.[1] He became acquainted with Josef Kajetán Tyl, who kindled his interest in theatre. Kolár's first amateur role was in Hadrian z Římsů by Václav Kliment Klicpera.[1] He played the part of the recently deceased Karel Hynek Mácha.[2] In 1837, Kolár was engaged in the Estates Theatre, and from 1842 appeared also in German language plays. He also became director of Czech drama at the Theatre in Rose Street (Divadlo v Růžové ulici)[2] and translated and directed several plays by Shakespeare and Schiller.[1]

Kolár's translation of The Taming of the Shrew (1846) was the first translation of that play into the Czech language.[4][5] In 1848 Kolár was arrested and briefly held in prison.[2] When Tyl left the Estates Theatre in 1851, Kolár became the leading personality of the theatre.

In 1853 the success of Kolár's translation of Shakespeare's Hamlet led him to plan with his pupil Jakub Malý a systematic translation into Czech of all of Shakespeare's plays, to be published by the Bohemian Museum. Kolár himself provided translations of four plays, Maly eleven, František Doucha and Jan Josef Čejka nine each, and Ladislav Čelakovský (the son of František Ladislav Čelakovský) four. The project was completed in 1872.[6]

In 1859 Kolár was nominated as director of the Czech stage, but after the Czech part of the theatre became independent in the Provisional Theatre in 1862, Kolár stayed in the German ensemble of the Estates Theatre. In 1866 he became chief director of the Provisional Theatre where he directed especially operas.[2] In 1881 he became a literary manager in the National Theatre.[2]

Friendship with Augustin Smetana

In 1844 Kolár became a friend of Augustin Smetana, a Hegelian philosopher and later (1850) excommunicated priest. He turned his attention to philosophy again and took part in the meetings with Augustin Smetana in his apartment, where among guests were Anton Springer, Vincenc Náhlovský, Michael František von Canaval, and Bernard Bolzano.[1]

Anna Martha Manetinská

Kolár married Anna Manetinská who was a daughter of an actor and singer in Prague and Pest where she was born in 1817.[1] She returned to Prague with her mother and was sent to a convent to be brought up. At the age of eight she started playing children roles in a theatre in the apartment of her grandmother and later was taken from the convent to be involved in theatre life.[1] In 1834 she became a member of the ensemble in Estates Theatre.[1] She was German but the leaders of the theatre persuaded her to learn Czech and play Czech theatre. She became beloved by the Czech audience. In 1834 she married Josef Jiří Kolár. Their daughter Augusta was a piano player.[1]

Roles

Source:[2]

Film
Year Author:Play Role Notes
1838 Heinrich von Kleist: Käthchen of Heilbronn (Katynka Helbronská) Bedřich Wetter / Friedrich Wetter Estates Theatre →
1839, 1858, 1869 William Shakespeare: Macbeth (Mekbeth) Makduf / Macduff
1840 Friedrich Schiller: The Robbers (Loupežníci) Karel / Karl Moor
1840 Theodor Hell: Die beiden Galeerensklaven oder Die Mühle von Saint Aldero (Galejní otroci, aneb: klein Alderonský) Neznámý music by Joseph Schubert
1842 Karl Gutzkow: Werner oder Herz und Welt Vilém z Jordánu / Heinrich von Jordan
1842 Václav Kliment Klicpera: Blaník, aneb: Zdeněk Zásmucký Prokop ze Švamberku Theatre in Rose Street →
1842 Pius Alexander Wolff: Preciosa Alonzo music by Carl Maria von Weber
1843, 1858 Václav Kliment Klicpera: Hadrián z Římsů Soběbor
1845 Franz Xaver Told: Zauberschleier Vít Lipenský Estates Theatre →
1846 Josef Jiří Kolár: Monika Hipolyt
1847 William Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew (Skrocení zlé ženy) Petrukio / Petruchio
1848 Ferdinand Břetislav Mikovec: Záhuba rodu Přemslovského Václav III
1848 Josef Jiří Kolár: Číslo 76, aneb: Praha před 100 lety Václav Rainer
1849 Josef Kajetán Tyl: Jan Hus, kazatel betlémský Václav IV
1849 Josef Václav Frič: Václav IV, král český Jan Žižka z Trocnova
1849 Joseph-Bernard Rosier: Brutus, Lache Cesar Jules z Grandierů
1850 Friedrich Schiller: The Robbers Franc / Franz Moor
1850 Josef Jiří Kolár: Smrt Žižkova Jetřich
1850 Friedrich Schiller: Intrigue and Love (Ouklady a láska) Franc / Franz Moor
1852 Josef Jiří Kolár: Don César a spanilá Magelóna Šimon Lomnický z Budče
1852 Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer: Král Václav a jeho kat Václav IV
1853 William Shakespeare: Hamlet (Hamlet, princ dánský) Hamlet / Prince Hamlet
1854 William Shakespeare: Richard III (Život a smrt krále Richarda Třetího) Richard, vévoda Gloster / Richard, Duke of Gloucester
1855 Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer: Die Waise aus Lowood (Sirotek Lowoodský) Lord Rolland Rochester based on Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre
1855, 1879 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust Mefistofeles / Mephistopheles
1857 William Shakespeare: Coriolanus (Koriolanus, vojevůdce Římský) Kajus Marius Koriolanus / Gaius Marcius Coriolanus
1857, 1873, 1874, 1884 William Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice (Kupec benátský) Shylok / Shylock
1857, 1866 Friedrich Schiller: Wallenstein's Death (Smrt Valdšteinova) Albrecht Valdštein / Albrecht von Wallenstein
1858 Václav Kliment Klicpera: Divotvorný klobouk Koliáš
1858 William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet (Romeo a Julie) Merkucio / Mercutio
1858 Albert Emil Brachvogel: Narziß (Narzis) Narcis Rameau
1858 Friedrich Schiller: Wilhelm Tell (Vilém Tell) Hermann Gessler
1858 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Egmont Vévoda Alba / Duke of Alba
1859 William Shakespeare: Henry IV (Jindřich IV.) Sir John Falstaff
1859 Salomon Hermann Mosenthal: Deborah Abraham
1860 Vítězslav Hálek: Carevič Alexej Car Petr Veliký / Peter the Great
1861 Friedrich Schiller: Die Jungfrau von Orleans (Panna Orleánská) Talbot
1861 Josef Jiří Kolár: Magelona Rudolf II.
1863, 1866 William Shakespeare: King Lear (Král Lear) Lear Provisional Theatre →
1867 William Shakespeare: Hamlet (Hamlet, princ dánský) Klaudius / King Claudius
1867 Heinrich Laube: Der Statthalter von Bengalen (Náměstek bengálský) Lord William Chatham
1868 Emanuel Bozděch: Baron Goertz Baron Goertz
1868 Josef Jiří Kolár: Smrt Žižkova Jan Žižka z Trocnova
1868, 1874 William Shakespeare: Othello Jago / Iago
1870 Victorien Sardou: Patrie! (Vlast) Hrabě Rysoor
1870 František Věnceslav Jeřábek: Služebník svého pána Šlechtic z Dornenronů
1871 Ludwig Anzengruber: Der Pfarrer von Kirchfeld (Farář z Podlesí) Joza
1871, 1884 Josef Jiří Kolár: Pražský žid Jan Mydlář

References

  1. Dr. Frant. Lad. Rieger: Slovník naučný, Prague 1863, (in Czech)
  2. Ludmila Kopáčová in: Národní divadlo a jeho předchůdci, Prague 1988 (in Czech)
  3. Kalendář historický národa českého, Prague 1940 (in Czech)
  4. Jan Hladký: Úvod do studia anglického jazyka (in Czech)
  5. Shakespeare in Czech and Slovak Archived 16 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Oscar James Campbell, ed., A Reader's Encyclopaedia of Shakespeare (1966), p. 172
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