CORRESPONDENCE
A LETTER FROM PRAGUE [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In writing from Prague at the time of the most mellow autumn colouring, my thoughts can hardly fail to be of the exceptional beauty of this ancient city. Readers to whom the beauty of Prague is only a hearsay should picture a town of about 800,000 inhabitants lying in the heart and spreading up the sides of a wide valley, splendidly flanked on the west by steep banks of massy foliage. There on the height overlooking the whole city stand the cathedral of St. Vitus and the old Royal Castle.
Czechoslovakia has much to offer in the way of attractive scenery. Many and varied are the resorts for holiday-makers and especially for climbers. This year the Tatra Mountains— a group of the Carpathians and a post-War acquisition of Czechoslovakia—seem to have been particularly popular. I spent a month there myself and so can give you first-hand information, and also recommend them. They are well worth exploring, and should be visited in July and August, wh:•ri- especially in August—the weather is usually more settled. There are several very fine peaks, the highest being about 8,730 feet. A traveller to these regions, however, should be fairly Vetl seasoned, for though there are several large, modern hotels, one does not find all -the conveniences and comforts which arc customary in Switzerland. Visitors, too, from England and America should have at least a fair knowledge of German before venturing there, otherwise they might have considerable difficulty in making known their requirements. Czech, of course, is the official language, but nearly everybody one meets is able to speak German. In the hotel where I stayed there were a great number of Czechs, Hungarians and Germans, a few Poles and Russians, and a very small sprinkling of Americans. I was the only representative of the British nation.
The young Czechs arc very keen mountaineers, and appear to make quite a serious business of their climbing. Many a time in July did I meet parties of these explorers—mostly men and girl students whose ages ranged from about fifteen to twenty. But I very rarely heard a laugh or saw a single sign of merriment among them. Steadily and carefully they filed past, rucksack on back and alpenstock in hand, each time leaving me wondering why they wore such solemn expressions. But the holidays are over ; the students of the Universities (Czech and German), Technical Colleges, Conservatoires of Music and Schools of Art are again at work.
Life in Prague has once more resumed its normal atmosphere of work and pleasure, and the winter season is in full swing. The number of lectures, concerts, operas, new plays and films is overwhelming. The various schools of languages have reopened, and the study of English and French is being pursued with zest. There are plenty of people here who speak at least four languages, and I am constantly amazed at the courage displayed by those who begin learning English at a quite advanced age, sixty and seventy, and even older. One might think that the habit of acquiring languages is so deeply ingrained in them that they are unable to leave off.
A feature of the intellectual and artistic life in Prague is, perhaps I need hardly say, the music. The people have naturally so much taste for it, study so assiduously, take such an active interest in its development that the results are necessarily of a high order. The orchestra of the Philharmonic Society gives splendid concerts two or three times a week all through the season, and an excellent seat may be had for about tenpence or a shilling. Well-varied programmes of an inter- national character give the auditors an opportunity of becom- ing acquainted with the modern composers as well as with the old classical music. A foreigner in Prague wishing to hear the Philharmonic Orchestra at its best should attend a per- formance of "My Country" by Smetana, or Dvorak's "Slavonic Dances." Both these works arc always played with marvellous ease and spirit, and are good examples of pure Czech music of the second half of the nineteenth century. Here people are educated to the appreciation of good music from a very early age, and much trouble is taken to encourage a real love for it in children. Lately the Philharmonic gave a concert specially for children in the large hall of the Muneipal House. Hundreds attended, many of not more than four or five years of age. Both conductors were present, and before the performance of each item on the programme one of them gave a careful exposition of the form of the composition and a description of the instruments taking part. The young audience listened with fixed attention and appeared to enjoy the music thoroughly.
President Masaryk dissolved the Czechoslovak Parliament on October 17th. This Parliament, consisting of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, was the oldest existing one in Europe. It had lasted nearly six years, and evidently owed its long life not only to the early formation of a Coalition consisting of the five large parties, but still more to a subse- quent committee composed of five men, one from each of these parties. This committee, called the Pyetka, has really been the deus ex machine in the governing of the country. Its members won the confidence of the people and it acted eventually as a kind of Cabinet, though not officially so.
Preparations for the new elections fixed for November 15th are now proceeding rapidly. There is a lively political dis- cussion on all sides.—I am, Sir, &c., YOUR PRAGUE CORRESPONDENT.
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