How did you meet Petr Skoumal?
We met before the revolution in today’s Švanda Theater in Prague. It was originally the Realist Theater, later the Labyrinth. Petr made music for many productions there, and before the revolution we played the often-banned Respublika show there. He accompanied him musically.
But it was never known if it would take place, because among the guests in the hall there were also people unacceptable to the regime, and the police kept a close eye on it. However, there was always a beautiful atmosphere after the show. We were also brought closer by the great mood that existed in that theater during the revolutionary times.
There were a lot of personalities of the Velvet Revolution and culture at your wedding. What was the wedding like?
Petr and I had been living together for some time, and our friends and various associates of Václav Havel started saying that we could perhaps get married. In the end, Ladislav Kantor and other people around Mr. President basically arranged the wedding for us. It was held at a castle in Roztoky near Prague, and our witnesses were Leoš Suchařípa and Pavel Šrut.
But both of them got the hour of the start of the ceremony wrong. They arrived earlier, so when the wedding began, Mr. Suchařípa, who was already a little drunk, still wanted the wedding party to cut it short. It ended up taking about three or four minutes. It was the shortest and most beautiful wedding.
What role has politics played in your life?
Big enough. We were both similarly oriented, i.e. against the commies. After the revolution, Petr wanted to fix society regardless of who was in power. He openly said how he saw things and forced his truth on his friends.
Petr Skoumal
He did it very openly, it even annoyed me at times because I thought he could be a little more cool. Today I appreciate that, he has my admiration for that, because he said what he believed in and didn’t back down from it. I think he would have had a hard time in politics in recent years.
Did he have enemies because of his openness?
Our friends took it. They knew him and got used to it. But Petr sometimes told his truth right after performances or concerts, which was not a time when everyone wanted to talk about it. Sometimes someone got mad at him for it. But it was always exaggerated and waved over it, because those people knew Peter’s nature. Moreover, some were later grateful to him because they came to the same opinion in time. They didn’t just need to hear him right away and as hard as Peter said.
Did you ever think about entering politics?
No. After the revolution, he tried his hand at moderating some political discussions on television, but that was the maximum he wanted to do in politics. He never planned to join any party.
His departure from this world was relatively quick. What exactly happened in 2014?
He had a concert on the second of September and died three Sundays later. Before that, he started forgetting the lyrics, but he managed to make fun of it on stage. The concert in September in Malostranská beseda in Prague was already pretty sad, he forgot a lot of lyrics and didn’t even feel like a beer or a shot that day. At that time he started to lose weight and the doctors discovered that he had cancer almost everywhere. A week later he fell asleep and never woke up.
How do you remember him as a musician?
I think he was amazing and brilliant. I realize that many of the songs he composed, many of which were written in the communist era, are still transferable to this day.
Because of his classical music education, he loved classical music and I was always pleased when I came home from the theater at night after a performance to find him sitting at the piano playing Haydn, Chopin and other classics. They were unforgettable moments. We sat, drank wine and he played.
Actress Ilona Svobodová
He composed songs for both adults and children. How did he differentiate their work from each other?
I think he didn’t distinguish between them. That is why his children’s songs are taken by adults as well as songs for adults and children. Neither of us liked it when people messed around with small children. Petr loved children and they loved him, and when he talked to them, he did it as if he were talking to friends. He usually gave his nursery rhymes to me first and then tested them on our children and the children of friends and colleagues.
Many of us sing on various recordings. I remember him asking me to sing second voice for him. I graduated from the music-drama department at the conservatory, but I’m not exactly a singer. And Petr had an absolute ear, so he always bothered me a lot during filming.
They were actually the only moments when we argued and sometimes almost divorced. Today, of course, I remember it with a smile and love. However, it is true that he was quite demanding of his co-workers.
Did he write any song for you?
I think it refers to the song We are only born once. She is sad and the text sings: When I once dwell under the bed stones, let us lie there together, Lord God.
