O vzniku a úloze bratislavského Vojenského uměleckého souboru

On the Establishment and Task of the Bratislava Military Dance and Song Ensemble

Autor: ŠMIDRKAL Václav

ŠMIDRKAL, Václav: O vzniku a úloze bratislavského Vojenského uměleckého souboru.

ŠMIDRKAL, Václav: On the Establishment and Task of the Bratislava Military Dance and Song Ensemble.

Vojenská história, 2, 14, 2010, pp. 60–75.

This article deals with the establishment and tasks of the Ján Nálepka Military Dance and Song Ensemble (1951–2005, Bratislava, Slovakia). The first part explains the motives for its foundation in 1951 as an ensemble of the 2nd (later Eastern) Military District of the Czechoslovak (People’s) Army. The following parts of the article examine the military, political and artistic tasks which the ensemble was entrusted with. The distinctive feature of this ensemble was the fact that it was deeply embedded in the Slovak cultural context. This found expression both in its repertoire and in its collaboration with well-known personalities of Slovakian culture. The ensemble luckily survived the political turbulences of the “Prague Spring” in 1968 and its suppression as well as the fall of communism in 1989 and the split up of Czechoslovakia in 1993. It was dismissed in 2005 on grounds of professionalization of Slovakian Armed Forces. In sum, throughout its 52-year history the ensemble ran more than 135 programmes in some 11 thousand performances for about eight million spectators.

Key words: Arts, Music, Slovakian culture, Czechoslovak People’s Army.

Ročník: 14 | Číslo: 2/2010 | Stránky: 60-75