Czech it out!

I spent most of this afternoon in the company of a delightful lady from The Czech Republic. She and her husband and their three small children immigrated to NZ in the late 1960s to escape the communist rule of Czechoslovakia and settled in Auckland, and later Canterbury. Despite living here for around 40 years she still thinks her English is bad! Well... not as bad as my Czech as it would turn out.

She was helping me with my newest czech aria O jaky zal! jaky to zal! which is Marenka's third act aria from Smetana's The Bartered Bride. Despite being there for a good three and a half hours we only managed to get through the first four lines of recitative! God knows it's easier to sing in German, a language I actually understand, but it should be worth it. Actually my pronunciation isn't that shockingly bad, it's just that she was awfully chatty. Our topics of conversation ranged from her former career as an industrial chemist, to czech national costume, to fifteenth century engraving techniques, as well as a potted history of Czechoslovakia/The Czech Republic and its regions and dialectic differences, and last but not least, the terrible youth of today who abhor any form of classical music! I'm sure there were more, but memory fails me at the present.

Anyway, I have instructions to practise my pronunciation then go back and see her again later this week. Maybe her husband won't laugh at my efforts next time!