Page:NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SURVEY 18; CZECHOSLOVAKIA; THE SOCIETY CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110015-7.pdf/38

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Creation of the World" by A. Petrov. Ballerina Jarmila Mansinerova and dancer-choreographer Miroslav Kura are among the most highly regarded performers.

Music and dance facilities and performances are readily available to the public. The National, Smetana, and Tyl Theaters are the principal stages for opera and ballet, but 14 others also exist. Concerts are performed by seven symphony orchestras, the best of which is the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Chamber music is played by 30 professional groups; the Prague String Quartet is the most prominent. There are many vocal groups, choirs, and dance and jazz bands, and numerous schools of music and dance.

b. Theater and motion pictures

The theater in Czechoslovakia has long had a political role and it is currently recognized as a powerful instrument of mass agitation and propaganda. In the Middle Ages, the church made extensive use of dramatic presentations to instill religious and political ideas through songs, folk humor, and social satire. These plays, performed in churches by students or wandering theater companies, were generally comprehensible and accessible to all. Almost as old as church drama is the puppet theater, which is highly developed and popular in modern society. During the preindependence period, the theater was particularly instrumental in arousing national consciousness and rejuvenating national culture. The popular demand for a national theater forced the Austrian authorities to construct the Czech National Theater, which became a symbol of independence. In fact, state independence was declared there in 1918.

After independence, particularly in the interwar period, theatrical production tended to be less political but activity was intense and creative. An array of domestic and foreign plays were presented. Several innovations were made, which were later adopted by theaters in other countries. The main playwrights of this period were Jiri Voskovce, Jan Werich, and Karel Capek.

After the Communist takeover, the theater again became a political vehicle for the purposes of the regime. Drama was to be politically "safe." As a reaction and protest, public preference turned to light plays although certain serious dramas, such as classics by Moliere and Shakespeare and a few Russian productions, remained popular. During the brief period of liberalization in the 1960's, theatrical activity increased, and plays tended to be absurd and satirical, criticizing the shortcomings of the socialist system. Prague became the center of Eastern European avant-garde theater, and Czech actors toured abroad. Many Western plays were presented. Noted dramatists were Josef Topol, Vaclav Havel, Pavel Kohout, Milan Uhde, and Peter Karvas. However, after the reimposition of controls in the late 1960's, theater was again restricted to "safe" productions. Nonetheless, local theaters, enjoying a degree of security through partial anonymity, continue to tweak Soviet and regime sensitivities through humor and the theater of the absurd. Audiences make the most of such opportunities with catcalls and applause and go out of their way to discover unintended innuendoes and disrespectful allusions.

Although the Czechoslovak film industry was established 70 years ago, Czech films gained international recognition only after World War II when The Siren was awarded the grand prize at the International Film Festival in Venice in 1947. Imaginative animated puppet films such as Midsummer Night's Dream by Jiri Trnka also became popular. In the more relaxed atmosphere of the 1960's, films developed into an important medium of expression. Portraying everyday life as well as the shortcomings of the political system, such films as The Shop on Main Street and Closely Watched Trains were internationally acclaimed. Among the notable directors of that period were Pavel Juracek, Ivan Passer, Jaromil Jires, and Milos Forman, who is still making films in exile in Western Europe and the United States.

In the 1970's creative film efforts have been sharply reduced. Films made before 1969 and not yet released were subject to review and censorship, while many of those already released were recalled or banned from distribution. Popular interest in films has declined, probably, as elsewhere, due to impact of television. The number of theaters decreased from 3,711 in 1965 to 3,495 in 1971 while attendance in the same period dropped from 128.4 million to 110.7 million.

3. Art and architecture

a. Painting, sculpture, and architecture

Although lacking an international reputation, Czechoslovak fine arts and architecture have flourished during several creative periods in the country's history. In the earlier period, religion exerted a great influence. The small, round churches of simple, geometric design were typical of Czech Romanesque architecture from the 10th to the 13th centuries. In the late 13th century, Peter Parler, an outstanding architect and sculptor, was commissioned by the King of Bohemia to complete the construction

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110015-7