Czech Republic, North of Prague

Gothic Trinity church with the oldest organ of the country, built 1587 by un unknown maker; 1 manual, pedal, 13 stops - a 'rückpositiv' by R. Rusch (1775) was removed after the last restoration by D. Doubek.

Dvořák museum and monument. His First Symphony, surnamed 'the bells of Zlonice', was inspired by the bells of the local church.

The young Dvořák lived in this inn from 1853 to 1856, studying at the German school. His parents leased the inn in 1855.

Birthplace of Antonín Dvořák °1841, living in his father’s inn and butcher’s shop until 1853. Today museum.

Birthplace of the composer Leopold Koželuch (1747-1818).

House of the Smetana family from 1844; Bedřich lived here in 1848 and 1859-60. Smetana museum.

Birthplace of the composer Jan Nepomuk August Vitásek (1770-1839)

Country house of the composer Bohuslav Foerster from 1936 onwards; he died here in 1951.

Birthplace of the composers František (°1709) and Jiří (°1722) Benda; the original house was demolished.

Smetana worked as a music teacher from 1844 to 1847 in this castle of the Thun family. Exhibition concerning Smetana and Benda, and a Smetana monument in the castle park.

Smetana also worked at this summer house of the Thun family.

Last house of Smetana from 1875. The exhibition is under the management of the Prague Smetana museum. Outside a large monument.

This inn was the summer accommodation of the composer Bohuslav Foerster until 1936.

Plaque for Smetana's librettist Josef Wenzig, who died in 1876 in the previous house at the corner of the square and Hluboká street.

Stately house of Alois Göbel, a friend of Dvořák, who stayed here nine times (plaque at the restaurant on the left); also Bendl and Suk have stayed here. The organ in the chapel was played by Dvořák. The exhibition includes a nice Viennese fortepiano (Schrimpf 1828). Yearly Dvořák festival.

Weber was on holiday here for three weeks of July 1814; bleeked plaque on the spa building opposite. He made a trip to the picturesque Štolpich waterfall in Hejnice.

Museum in honour of the furniture maker Věnceslav Metelka, who established a violin making tradition, lasting from the second quarter of the 19th until mid 20th century. His instruments are not very refined but have strong characteristics.

(former name 'Jaksch-Gasse' in 'Wartenberg'): the probable birthplace of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704). The factory site of today is not very inspiring.

In the regional museum are a showcase in honour of Biber and some old instruments exhibited.

The first complete performance of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis took place in 1830 in this church. The event is sometimes redone in our days.

Gluck's father Alexander worked as a forest ranger at this castle; the young composer lived here from 1717 to 1722. Today the building is used by Prague University.

From 1722 until ’28, Gluck's father was a forest ranger in the service of the Kinsky family. Frequent visits by the composer are not unlikely. Alexander died in 1847 in Zakupy.

In 1856-7, the young Dvořák received tuition from František Hancke on this organ from 1754 (II/p/22).

Dvořák lived in 1856-7 on this address; the original butcher's shop burnt down in the 1950s.

Chopin and his parents were guests of the Thun-Hohenstein family at 13.IX.1835. Frédéric composed a waltz in the album of the noble daughters Anna and Joséphine which is the first version of the Valse brillante op. 34/1. It was for the last time that Chopin was joined with his parents.

Liszt stayed on 29-31.VIII.1853 with the Chotek family. In the music room there are a portrait of Liszt and the Viennese fortepiano by Leopold Zanner which he played.

Wagner drew up his first plan for Tannhäuser in 1842 in this medieval castle, as the plaque mentions. (The Wartburg in Eisenach (Germany) lays claim to this too.)

The composer Anton Rößler/Antonio Rosetti was born here c. 1750 (no exact dates, baptismal record incomplete). He died in 1792 in Ludwigslust, Germany.

The brothers Josef Rudolf (1819-93) and Václav Hugo (1821-99) Zavrtal were born in Polepy, but no traces are found. Both were composers and conductors of military music and worked mostly abroad. Václav Hugo was befriended with Mozart’s son Carl and acquired a Mozart collection, which later on was bequeathed to Glasgow University.

In the former Nazi concentration camp Theresienstadt, many Czech-German, Jewish musicians and composers stayed here before being transported to Auschwitz, incl. Haas, Klein, Krása and Uhlmann. They got the opportunity to give concert and theatre performances in the Sokol building, in order to give the false impression of a 'model camp'. After the war, some of their compositions were discovered and got a new life in freedom.

In the park next to the Casino are a Beethoven monument and a tile in the lawn to the memory of his famous meeting with Goethe in 1812. The Casino, built in 1735, is the seat of the North Bohemian SO today.

‘Goldene Harfe’ and ‘Goldene Sonne’ are the two houses in which Beethoven stayed in resp. 1811 and 1812.

The castle houses a museum of local history, with Beethoven exhibition; the castle theatre – also a centre of cultural life in the 18th and 19th century – still exists. Apart from that: C.Ph.Em. Bach (1743), Chopin (1829) and Wagner (1842) also stayed in the famous spa of Teplice.

Teplice house of culture with concert hall; cf. www.dkteplice.cz .

Wallenstein castle of Dux, where Casanova worked in his last days as a librarian. Visits by Beethoven and Chopin. Exhibition of furniture history.

Birthplace of the composer and cantor Franz Xaver Partsch (1760-1822).

The composer Andreas Hammerschmidt was born in Most (German: 'Brüx') in 1611/12; address unknown.

Property of the Lobkowicz family, recently restored. Gluck worked here and it is said that also Mysliveček and Beethoven visited the remote but fine castle. A private performance of Beethoven's Eroica should have taken place here in 1804, before the official première in Vienna.

Gluck studied at this former Jesuit gymnasium from 1722 to 1728. Now a regional museum.

Josef Triebensee's father-in-law, the oboist and composer Jan Nepomuk Vent [Johann Wendt], was born in Divice in 1845.