Josef Mysliveček was from Prag, and he went to Venice and Italy to learn about opera, THE opera that was being born in Italy, the country of Bel Canto. Though you have all sorts of Soprani and Countertenors in the few scenes on opera stages, and the voice of Philippe Jaroussky for these Castrati of the time, the composer is so narrowly promiscuous with women, to the point of considering he has to love them physically to make them sing, even once with a slap across the face, that he ruined the best soprano he had under his conductor’s baton who ended up in a convent and died in the bed of her Mother Superior. When did he even consider that she was a lesbian? And the absence of real references to the Castrati is also surprising on the Italian opera stage, notwithstanding the rivalry on the stage between the soprani and the castrati. That’s the short coming of the film that is announced as a biopic of the composer. Much is missing about what was that opera being delivered in Italy and that was going to be transformed into what it has been since by Handel, a German Composer in England, and Mozart an Austria composer who supposedly admired our Josef Mysliveček. The scene with Mozart, age 12 or so, with his gout-ridden father slumped in an armchair with his gouty leg on a tea table, is not exploited as it should have been. Mozart asks the Maestro for a small piece. The Maestro obliges and performs on the harpsichord a small, pleasant piece, though rather simple if not maybe cold. Then Mozart captures the harpsichord and improvises a variation on this piece he has only heard once, and this time it is quite longer, lighter, fiery even, with of course too many notes, but brilliantly so. The Maestro simply thanks Mozart instead of entering the game and pushing it further. But the production is brilliant, colorful and the end is miserable and so pitiful. Syphilis was a real epidemic in those days, always lethal and highly contagious. Great creators were not very careful about their “promiscuity” and they ended up in the cemetery not to play some death march,; Masonic or not, but to go down or rather be lowered down into their graves. We do remember AIDS.

2. PETR VACLAV – IL
BOEMO – 2022
Josef Myslivecek is a composer from Prag that moved to Venice and Italy to complete
his own musical training and particularly to learn how to compose an opera. He was
admired by Mozart, they say, but Mozart is still great though he died in and of misery and
poverty, in and of being rejected by the good Austrian society, which explains why he was
a free-mason. Josef Myslivecek, alias Il Boemo, was tremendously famous and popular in
Italy, and even beyond in his time, the 18th century but he ruined his career, in many
ways, because he thought, he felt, he practiced this conviction that to make sopranos and
other female singers work, invest in the music, you have to love them and of course with
your own body, in their own bodies. Debauchery comes along, promiscuity follows then
and all along, and looking for always stronger adventures leads the composer to the dregs
of society and there he becomes sick with syphilis that will kill him after a rather long
period when he is obliged to wear a mask to cover up the damage of the disease.
His death is probably a great loss for music, and we are just rediscovering him, but his
approach to opera seems to have been slightly dictated by the genre in the 18th century in
Italy before the real revolution Handel and Mozart introduced in the field of opera. Opera
then is a sequence of arias more or less connected by some recitatives. Then the show
was enriched with costumes, settings, and at times some light dancing, but the dramatic
plot was purely abstract. The fight between the castrati and the soprani was perverting the
art and did not always bring something. Yet we know with Mozart and Handel that the
opera was being born in its more modern form, even if still slightly long. The film shows
very well how this opera was for the wealthy audience and the aristocracy a long, at times
boring entertainment that could last half a day or more, with meals and intimate private
episodes in the boxes that could be closed up by curtains, which did not always prevent all
sorts of physical dramas, like falling by intentional accident from a box into the arena or
parterre.

3. This film is trying to bring the man back to the limelight, but brilliant as he might be, he
also is in many ways ruined by his unstable and maybe capricious, whimsical, or
vindicative behavior. Maybe he did not have much luck in life. The main soprano he
worked with achieved phenomenal results under the duress of Josef Myslivecek’s
emotional intelligence that made her feel she had to do what she had to do in spite of it all,
she had to sing in spite of her tremendous depression, suffering because everyone was
gross with her, the local king or prince particularly who actually relieved himself in a soup
bowl in her dressing room in her absence but with the passive complicity of the composer.
This main soprano finally escaped into a convent and was found dead in the Mother
Superior’s bed sometime later. That’s how important people in those days mistreated the
artists who were nothing but entertainers, hence clowns, hence who knows what, buffoons
or even baboons? The film shows that more than explicitly. Then all the colors, the rich
settings, and the luxury in the production embellish what is, in fact, a constant rejection
and ordeal to the musicians, composers, and singers who too often have to accept to be
the personal toys of the duke or count or marquis, even in the middle of a crowd. The artist
is the pet of the local ruler, religious or secular.
This film is maybe not a masterpiece, but it is definitely a paragonic (sic), paragonal
(sic), and marvelous feat. Josef Myslivecek must have felt particularly minorized by the
young still-a-child Mozart who asked Josef Myslivecek for a small piece of music, which
Josef Myslivecek accepted to play on the keyboard of those days, a harpsichord it must
have been. And then Mozart improvised a long variation on this piece of music he had only
heard once, with, as is well-known, too many notes. The child empowered the maestro’s
music with the inspiration of the next era, and that in front of Mozart’s father who was also
very dubitative of his own son and was thus pushed aside by his own son. Both
composers will die young or rather young, both in poverty, both sick in the worst possible
ways, even if pneumonia was not syphilis. Both were hungry in their last weeks, months,
maybe years on this ungrateful earth.
But it is necessary to amplify this film with the two vocal works that are recorded,
hence available, an opera, L’Olimpiade, and an oratorio, Adamo Y Eva. Hence to be
continued.
Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU
VERSION FRANÇAISE
Josef Myslivecek est un compositeur originaire de Prague qui est parti à Venise et en
Italie pour compléter sa propre formation musicale et notamment apprendre à composer
un opéra. Il était admiré par Mozart, dit-on, mais Mozart est toujours grand bien qu'il soit
mort dans et de misère et pauvreté, dans le et du rejet de la bonne société autrichienne,
ce qui explique pourquoi il était franc-maçon. Josef Myslivecek, alias Il Boemo, était
extrêmement célèbre et populaire en Italie, et même au-delà, en son temps, au 18ème
siècle, mais il a ruiné sa carrière, à bien des égards, parce qu'il pensait, il sentait, et il
mettait en pratique cette conviction que pour faire que des sopranos et autres chanteuses
performent, s’investissent dans la musique, il faut les aimer et bien sûr avec son propre
corps, dans leur propre corps. La débauche arrive alors, la promiscuité s'ensuit aussitôt et
tout le temps, et la recherche d'aventures toujours plus fortes conduit le compositeur dans

4. la lie de la société et là il tombe malade de la syphilis qui le tuera au bout d'une période
assez longue où il est obligé de porter un masque pour dissimuler les dégâts de la
maladie.
Sa mort est probablement une grande perte pour la musique, et nous venons tout
juste de le redécouvrir, mais son approche de l'opéra semble avoir été légèrement dictée
par le genre au 18ème siècle en Italie avant la véritable révolution introduite par Haendel
et Mozart dans le domaine de l'opéra. . L'opéra est alors une séquence d'arias plus ou
moins reliés par quelques récitatifs. Ensuite, le spectacle était enrichi de costumes, de
décors et parfois de danses légères, mais l'intrigue dramatique était purement abstraite,
connue de tous. Le combat entre les castrats et les soprani pervertissait l'art et n'apportait
pas toujours grand chose. On sait pourtant qu’avec Mozart et Haendel l'opéra naissait
sous sa forme plus moderne, même s'il est encore un peu long. Le film montre très bien
combien cet opéra était pour le public aisé et l'aristocratie un divertissement long, parfois
ennuyeux, qui pouvait durer une demi-journée ou plus, avec des repas et des épisodes
intimes et privés dans des loges fermées par des rideaux, qui n'empêchait pas toujours
toutes sortes de drames physiques, comme tomber par accident intentionnel d'une loge
dans l'arène ou le parterre.
Ce film tente de ramener l'homme sur le devant de la scène, mais aussi brillant qu'il
puisse être, il est également ruiné à bien des égards par son comportement instable et
peut-être capricieux, fantaisiste ou vindicatif. Peut-être qu'il n'a pas eu beaucoup de
chance dans la vie. La soprano principale avec laquelle il a travaillé a obtenu des résultats
phénoménaux sous la contrainte de l'intelligence émotionnelle de Josef Myslivecek qui lui
a fait sentir qu'elle devait faire ce qu'elle devait faire malgré tout, qu’elle devait chanter
malgré sa terrible dépression, souffrant parce que tout le monde était irrespectueux avec
elle, le roi ou le prince local en particulier qui se soulageait dans une soupière dans sa
loge en son absence mais avec la complicité passive du compositeur. Cette soprano
principale s’est finalement réfugiée dans un couvent et a été retrouvée morte dans le lit de
la Mère Supérieure quelques temps plus tard. C’est ainsi que les gens importants de
l’époque maltraitaient les artistes qui n’étaient que des amuseurs, donc des clowns, donc
on ne sait quoi, des bouffons ou même des babouins ? Le film le montre plus

5. qu’explicitement. Ensuite, toutes les couleurs, les riches décors et le luxe de la mise en
scène embellissent ce qui est, en fait, un rejet et une épreuve constante pour les
musiciens, compositeurs et chanteurs qui doivent trop souvent accepter d'être les jouets
personnels du duc ou du comte ou du marquis, même au milieu de la foule. L'artiste est
l'animal de compagnie du dirigeant local, religieux ou laïc.
Ce film n’est peut-être pas un chef-d’oeuvre, mais c’est définitivement un exploit
paragonique (sic), paragonal (sic) et merveilleux. Josef Myslivecek a dû se sentir
particulièrement minoré par le jeune Mozart encore enfant qui a demandé à Josef
Myslivecek un petit morceau de musique, que Josef Myslivecek a accepté de jouer sur le
clavier de l'époque, un clavecin sans doute. Et puis Mozart a improvisé une longue
variation sur ce morceau de musique qu'il n'avait entendu qu'une seule fois, avec, comme
on le sait, trop de notes. L’enfant a donné à la musique du maestro l’inspiration de
l’époque suivante, et cela devant le père de Mozart qui était également très dubitatif à
l’égard de son propre fils et était donc mis de côté par son propre fils. Les deux
compositeurs mourront jeunes ou plutôt jeunes, tous deux dans la pauvreté, tous deux
malades des pires maladies, même si la pneumonie n'était pas la syphilis. Tous deux ont
eu faim au cours de leurs dernières semaines, mois, voire années sur cette terre ingrate.
Mais il faut amplifier ce film avec les deux oeuvres vocales enregistrées, donc
disponibles, un opéra, L’Olimpiade, et un oratorio, Adamo Y Eva. A suivre donc.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU