Musician Vojtěch Havel died on Monday night at the age of sixty-two. The news was brought by musician Petr Ostrouchov.
Havel worked on stage with his partner Irena for over forty years. Their music was difficult to explain – no language was needed other than what is offered by musical instruments – from the exotic (like Tibetan bowls) to the piano and cello. Perhaps that’s why she made her way directly to the audience, who loved her fragile charm and unique calmness – which, after all, also moved from the actors themselves.
“The last time I saw Vojtěch Havel was at the Folková Lipnice festival in mid-September. It is said that he himself promised the organizers that he would play there without the right to a fee, in memory of Oldřich Janota,” recalls musician Tadeáš Polák from the band Northern Platform. “He was as always he was extremely calm. I really appreciate the fact that I found him to be an active creator.”
Festival organizer Rostislav Šíma also recalled Havel’s performance at this year’s renovated Folková Lipnica. “He came to us by train after a complicated journey of twelve hours from Slovakia, through flooded Moravia, which is why he finished the program on Saturday. He didn’t give up and he didn’t back down. When the concert started, no one in the audience even made a sound. Everyone on mats and benches in a certain time. In reflection.’
Šíma writes about the Havel couple’s music as an art that did not need words or voice. “I’ve never felt grip and lightness in one. The procedures and the creation spoke for themselves. Completely appropriate, harrowing, urgent and difficult to place, as well as the human approach, actions, humility and modesty.
The Havel couple’s instrumental compositions were inspired across genres, cultures and time. They started in the mid-eighties in the experimental creation of Capella Antiqua e Moderna, in which they explored musical heritage from the Renaissance to the present day. Later, they rediscovered musical practices from, for example, Asian cultures. They also made four films about their trip in India.
It was easy for Irena and Vojtěch Havel to get into film music. They collaborated on feature films, but also on short films and documentaries. They won the Czech Lion for their work on the Václav Kadrnka Award-winning historical film Křižáček (2017), and also created the music for Kadrnka’s next film, Report on the Rescue of the Dead (2022). At first, the Havels were only supposed to spend a few minutes on this, and the brief collaboration turned into a project of many years. “Vašek even used some of that music during filming, when he played for the actors and crew for the atmosphere,” recalled Vojtěch Havel in an interview with music journalist Pavle Klusák in the ArtCafé exhibition.
Conductor Václav Kadrnka mentioned the music of the Havels in the same program. “What always drew me to that music was how good it is. It’s about movement, but a kind of inner movement.”
Irena and Vojtěch Havel’s music was minimal, but original and unique. “For me, they were unique because they did things completely in their own way in music,” explains Tadeáš Polák. “At concerts, they took turns at the instruments, supported each other and seemed to connect with each other through the music.”
Polák also explains the paradox of the silence that the Havels moved personally and through their play: “During their performances, one experienced many different emotions in your head. Perhaps their music was a soundtrack for daydreaming and encouraging introspection.”
2024-10-22 20:00:00
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