Ivo Krejčí

* 1929

  • "Thanks to Kubelík's influence - he lived in Kastanienbaum near Lucerne - the Czech Philharmonic received an invitation to the Lucerne Festival during the Prague Spring. And when we were supposed to go there, the Prague Spring Festival didn't exist anymore, because it was 1968. And of course we accepted the invitation. [Rafael] Kubelík invited the whole orchestra to Kastanienbaum. First there was a ride on the lake and then coffee at his place in that beautiful old farmhouse on the shore of the lake. Kubelík had commemorative coins minted for the whole Philharmonic, for the whole orchestra, a silver coin the size of a five-franc piece for the first anniversary of the entry of the 'friendly armies'. We all had him sign the coin in a white etui. I forgot to say that when we had to decide whether to accept the invitation, no one wanted to take responsibility. The orchestra director at the time even left, didn't come with us to Lucerne and left the decision to his subordinates. None of them wanted to say yes or no. And the one who made the decision was Václav Neumann. He said, 'We're invited, let's go.' We didn't all go, only about half of us. It was a beautiful afternoon in Kastanienbaum, and then before the concert we took a boat to the hotel, and there was already concern that there would be trouble with the coin. And it was. Then we played the two concerts in Lucerne. One was with Szell, Firkušný as soloist. The second concert was Neumann. Then we went to Edinburgh with the coin in the trunk. There they called a meeting, after the concert, behind the stage, and read us 'our' resolution that we condemn Mr Kubelík's provocation and give him back the coins. And 'comrades, hand them over to so and so.' And that was the end of it. And of course the vast majority handed them over. There were, they say, four righteous, brave ones who didn't. One lost it, one had it stolen. I mustn't forget to say that those who didn't hand it in, nothing ever happened to them. We came to London from Edinburgh and the coins were to be transported out of London somehow. So they even contacted the ambassador, Trhlik, the then ambassador to England, to see if it could be done by diplomatic pouch, and he refused. And since then, as far as I know, the cage has fallen, nobody knows where the medals ended up."

  • "A report went through the village that an army car, fully loaded with weapons, was standing above the village at a crossroads, near the Red Column, it was said. Of course all the male population, specially the young ones, ran there. This was a short distance from our house, through a small wood across a cornfield. I, as a non-athlete, was the last one to run. My brother was already there in the front row. I was the last one to make it to the top of the slope. I looked, and in front of me was a field of spring wheat, a big field, light green. And there was this mass of men taking apart guns, which unfortunately were without ammunition, so ineffective. At that moment General Schellner's army was coming from Cologne, as it was later found out, which was going to help the Prague garrison, which was in distress, needed help. So it was a so-called hasty march, a motorised army. And there, when they saw the civilian population dismantling the guns, they of course detached one company, set up machine guns and mowed down the whole field as they ran home with their rifles." - "How many people did they kill there?" - "Thirty-six. There's a monument with names on it. That was downright execution. Because it was a flat area. The ones that escaped, they were very few. Those who were able to run so fast. My brother was among them."

  • "And I remember a situation when I walked from the conservatory through Kaprova Street across Old Town Square to Celetná and Hybernské nádraží. It was the procession of students to the Castle, where they wanted to demonstrate and convince Beneš not to sign the abdication of the ministers. There was that critical moment when Benes failed to sign the abdication. And I remember that parade. There was a parade of committed students - they were mostly university students, whereas the conservatory was something between a university and a high school. The graduation of the conservatory was and was not equated to a high school diploma. It was kind of an in-between state where it was just skating from one to the other. And there went this parade of these really engaged students who already knew what was going on. And I was walking in the other direction to the station with these two cases, violin and viola, and somehow it was actually going out of my way because I had other things on my mind to some extent. It didn't affect me as directly as the students. They already had a little bit higher level of knowledge, the information was of a different nature than mine."

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Praha, 05.03.2024

    (audio)
    duration: 01:45:56
    media recorded in project Stories of the 20th Century TV
  • 2

    Praha, 05.03.2024

    (audio)
    duration: 02:31:45
    media recorded in project Stories of the 20th Century TV
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They ordered us to return the memorial gift from Rafael Kubelík. That was the last straw

Ivo Krejci during filming
Ivo Krejci during filming
photo: filming Post Bellum

The violinist Ivo Krejčí was born on 23 February 1929 in a family of teachers in the village of Přistoupim. In 1939-1945 he studied at the grammar school in Český Brod, and at the end of the Second World War he witnessed the massacre of local men in Přistoupim. In 1945, he began studying violin at the conservatory under Professor Josef Ladislav Micka, and in 1952-1956 he continued his studies at the Academy of Performing Arts. Already during his studies he became a member of the orchestra of the Karlín Musical Theatre, from 1958 he was a member of the Czech Chamber Orchestra under the conductor Josef Vlach and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. With the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1958-1968, under the direction of chief conductor Karel Ančerl, he participated in a number of foreign tours, for which he was interrogated by State Security at least once. After 1968, he considered going abroad, but finally decided to leave the republic at the end of 1969, and in February 1970 became a member of the Royal Opera Orchestra in Copenhagen. He lasted only a year in Denmark, after which he moved with his family to Basel, where he became a permanent musician and music teacher. He still lives in Switzerland today (2024) and visits the Czech Republic.