Among those who were literally torn from our midst on that pre-Christmas Thursday was the director of the Institute of Musicology, Lenka Hlávková, an academic with an international reputation, but also a loving wife and mother of two children.
She studied musicology at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University under the supervision of doc. PhDr. Jaromír Černý, CSc., first as a master student (1993-1998) and then as a doctoral student (1999-2004). Jaromír Černý has significantly influenced her lifelong professional orientation towards music in the Czech lands in the 15th and early 16th century, which is evident from her diploma and dissertation theses focussing on the polyphonic Mass Ordinary settings in the key musical source of the time – the Codex Speciálník. Her detailed analytical studies on the repertoire not only of this manuscript have provided new insights into both the music itself and the possible paths by which numerous compositions by famous foreign masters came to us. However, she paid equally concentrated attention to contemporary compositions of local origin. In dozens of scholarly studies, conference papers and popularisation articles published at home and abroad, she managed to put the Czech lands back on the imaginary scholarly map of early modern European music and make them an attractive research topic. She has undertaken her research both individually and in teamwork, the most important of which were the European project HERA Sound Memories: The Musical Past in Late-Medieval and Early-Modern Europe and the national project GA ČR Expro Old Myths, New Facts: Czech Lands in Center of 15-century Music Developments. However, this has always been done with respect to the fact that the subject of research is music, which must not remain just on printed paper, but should sound and thus help to know and understand the sound world of ancient centuries. Her work has led to the creation of concert dramaturgies as well as recordings.
Hand in hand with her scientific activities, she has also devoted herself with tireless dedication to organizational work, thanks to which she has built a wide network of contacts for our institute which spread across the European and North American continents.One of the highlights of these efforts was the organization of the 45th edition of the annual Medieval and Renaissance Music Conference in Prague in the summer of 2017. However, she has not only directed her organizational skills outward, but has actively participated in the running of our Institute, first as Secretary and then as Head of the Institute in 2012-2015 and 2021-2023.We cannot fail to mention her efforts to involve students as actively as possible in the life of the institute, both on the scholarly level and at practicing real music, without which musicology cannot be imagined.
The scholarly part of Lenka’s personality cannot be completely separated from the practical one. Even in the sometimes noble academic environment, she could keep her feet firmly on the ground and be sensitive to the joys and sorrows of everyday life. One of these joys (and one of her great gifts) was the specific culinary art with which she enriched the final item of the constitutional meetings called “miscellaneous” since her doctoral studies, and which she also managed to turn into one of the most effective means of her foreign scientific diplomacy.
Although her life ended so abruptly and brutally not long before she turned 50, it certainly cannot be said that she left empty-handed. There are three things that remain of her. Firstly, her personal belief that music is the most beautiful gift that man could be given and that it is the most wonderful and exciting subject of scientific investigation imaginable. Secondly, the hope that through international scientific collaboration we will take our knowledge a step further, the hope that through honest pedagogical work we will gain a followers among enthusiastic students. Thirdly, love for the work, for the field, for the people around it. But also the love for her family, which she was able to give wholeheartedly even while working full time.
Honor to her memory!
Jan Baťa
