Music and Fairy Tale

The world of fairy tales is mainly for children – but not only for them.  Czech folk and fairy tales have inspired composers, painters, illustrators, playwrights and film-makers. The exhibition Music and Fairy Tale is aimed at those who want to encounter their favourite fairy-tale characters and find out something new. It shows fairy tales mostly in a musical context.

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The path of the exhibition leads from the cottage of Simple Honza through the mysterious forest, by a dragon’s den, past a cabinet with magical musical instruments and all the way to the forbidden 13th chamber.  Let yourself and your children be tempted by "fairy-tale pretend”, play simple instruments and discover hidden secrets. The audio and video recordings show key moments of Czech cinematography and stop motion films. With them, we can also remember the film music composers Zdeněk Liška, Václav Trojan, Petr Hapka and Karel Svoboda.   

Many fairy-tale characters are shown as the protagonists of operas, ballets, popular music, and orchestral and piano music. We can look forward to Honza's Kingdom by Otakar Ostrčil and Dvořák's Rusalka and Kate and the Devil. Bohuslav Martinů's Chap Book and Oskar Nedbal's From Tale to Tale will take us to the world of ballets inspired by fairy tales. The playful and sometimes humorous journey is dotted with interesting points from literature, puppets, theatre and film costumes and, most importantly, book illustrations and prints by famous artists, for example: Mikoláš Aleš, Artuš Scheiner, Karel Franta, Josef Váchal and Alfons Mucha. It is up to each of you, whether your greatest experience is going to be seeing Antonín Dvořák’s authentic manuscripts or the happy ending of a fairy tale.