When comparing the fate of Bohuslav Martinů to that of his pupil Jan Novák, interesting parallels can be found, not only in their work (with which this article does not deal), but also in their lives. Both composers met in 1947 in the U.S.A., and, for half a year, they worked together in New York. Novák’s 1950s compositions were strongly influenced by Martinů’s style. At the same time, both of them suffered the disgrace of the Czechoslovak cultural politics and its executors. Novák venerated Martinů as his model up to the end of his life, even if during the 1960s he reverted from the neo-classical style to the principles of New music, dodecaphony and serialism. As performers, Jan Novák and his wife Eliška played an important role in creating a positive picture of Martinů, and promoting his works in Czechoslovakia during the difficult time of the early 1950s. An outcome of his free attitudes, which put Novák in permanent opposition with the ruling regime, was, in the same way as with Martinů, a life-long emigration in free Western Europe. Today, we have to secure for his music a dignified position in our violated music history as well as on our concert stages.
"Poème électronique" byla jedním z prvních komplexních multimediálních děl, které důsledně využívalo řízeného pohybu elektroakustického materiálu v architektonickém prostoru. Pro prezentaci firmy Philips na Světové výstavě v Bruselu v r. 1958 jej připravila trojice umělců Le Corbusier, Edgard Varèse a Iannis Xenakis. Označení Poème électronique v této práci reprezentuje soubor uměleckých počinů v oblasti architektury, hudby a vizuálního umění, které s pavilonem Philips souvisely. Zvláštní pozornost je věnována osobnosti solitéra a průkopníka elektroakustické hudby Edgarda Varèse. Ambicí předkládané publikace je sledování vývojových linií hlavních protagonistů protínajících interpretační rámec konstruovaný estetikami dobových uměleckých směrů a hnutí. ,"Poème électronique" was one of the first comprehensive multimedia works, which consistently used the handling of audio material in architectural space. This work was prepared by a trio of artists Le Corbusier, Edgard Varèse and Iannis Xenakis for the presentation of the Philips company at the World Exhibition in Brussels in 1958. Poème électronique is used in this book as a comprehensive term for a set of artistic acts associated with the Philips pavillion. A particular emphasis is placed on the personality of the solitaire and pioneer of electroacoustic music, Edgard Varèse. The present publication attempts to trace the lines of the development of the three main protagonists intersecting an interpretive framework designed by the aesthetics of contemporary art groups and movements.