Ferdinand Břetislav Mikovec

23 December 1826, Pirkštein, Sloup, near Česká Lípa – 22 September 1862, Prague

Ferdinand Mikovec added to his name the nickname Břetislav as an expression of patriotism. He studied at the German gymnasium of St. Augustine in Česká Lípa and philosophy in Prague. From 1844 he dedicated himself to research, criticism, journalism and art. Czech was not his mother tongue, but he became so fluent in it that he started writing in Czech. He contributed to the periodicals Květy, Česká včela, Národní noviny, Pražské noviny and others. Because of his participation in the 1848 revolution he was persecuted and had to hide. He returned to Prague at the turn of 1848/49, after his arrest warrant was cancelled. In January 1851 he was given permission to found the weekly literary magazine Lumír, which he edited until his death. In 1869 he founded the Arkadia society, which brought together Czech and German artists from all fields. He was its president and the main organiser of the exhibitions of Czech antiquities (literary relics). He published Antiquities and Relics of the Czech Land (Starožitnosti a památky země české, in parts from 1858) and also published several German-language works about Czech castles and chateaus. He died at the age of 35 from a congenital heart defect.

With his two tragedies The Extinction of the House of Přemyslid (Záhuba rodu Přemyslovského) and Dimitri Ivanovič he participated in the contemporary effort at creating a major romantic drama. The first one depicts the murder of Wenceslaus III, the conflict between the houses of Přemyslid and Vršovci. Their historical atmosphere is supported by passages from old or apparently old texts: Saint Wenceslas Chorale (Svatováclavský choral), The Vyšehrad Poem (Píseň vyšehradská) and others. The play premiered in 1848 and in 1861 it became the most commonly performed piece in the Provisional Theatre. The second play depicts the conflict between Russian Orthodoxy and Polish Catholicism through the story of Boris Godunov and the usurper Dmitry from Russian 17^th century history. The contemporary magazine Bohemie lists Mikovec as the author of the tragedy Arnošt Otovaldský or Swedes Before Prague (Arnošt Otovaldský aneb Švédové před Prahou), but the text of the play has not survived.

Mikovec is also connected to the development of theatre criticism, which follows Karel Havlíček Borovský and rejects the practice of praising and listing works. Mikovec wrote about world theatre events and commented the activities of the association for the foundation of the National Theatre. His texts on Shakespeare contributed to the understanding of the author’s works. As opposed to Josef Kajetán Tyl’s concept of people’s theatre, he advocated focusing on a more demanding audience. He considered it necessary to reject the influence of the Viennese entertainment production and opposed the aesthetics of the classicist drama in favour of free composition. His ideal actor was a person taken by feelings, which contributed to the artistic maturation of such actors as Karel Šimanovský, František Ferdinand Šamberk and František Karel Kolár. He wrote, among others, several historical studies on theatre, including Traces of Rural Theatre (Stopy selského či sousedského divadla) the first comprehensive work on the subject.