Page:The music of Bohemia.djvu/54

 or theatrical orchestra in the world has among its members one or more Czech musicians, pupils of the Prague Conservatory. The violin class especially became famous under the leadership of Otokar Ševčík, very well known among our American students of violin. Jan Kubelík, the celebrated artist, was one of his Czech pupils. From this Conservatory came all the members of the Bohemian String Quartet, an ensemble highly esteemed in Europe.

Whoever wishes to hear Smetana's, Fibich's, and Dvořák's operas perfectly produced, should visit the National Theatre in Prague, founded in the year 1868, where the orchestra is led under the baton of Karel Kovařovic, a musician of rare power—a real Smetanian conductor.

This sketch of Bohemian music would not be complete without mentioning two names of world-famous singers familiar to the American public—Emmy Destinn, the dramatic soprano, and Karel Burian, the tenor, known