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The Story of a Composition: Josef Suk—Olympic Medallist and Sokol Composer

Abstract In the new nation of Czechoslovakia that emerged after the First World War, both sport and art served to foster the development of a new Czech identity. In this process, the sokol, a physical culture collective, served as a crucial social organization. Sokols sponsored slets, festivals that celebrated Czech nationalism through cultural activities including sporting contests and artistic showcases. Sokol Slet VII, celebrated in 1920, served as a key event in the evolution of a new Czechoslovak national identity and included both sporting and artistic competitions in its broad promotion of a Czech national culture. The composer Josef Suk (1874–1935) evoked a sense of national identity in his compositions and promoted the sokol slets as important cultural venues. The linkage of sport and art, including national sport and art, also found expression in cultural competitions (particularly music competitions) held at the Olympic Games in the interwar period. One of Suk’s marches won the only medal (a silver) awarded in the 1932 Olympic arts fest in Los Angeles. Suk’s march, however, drew an ambiguous stance from the representatives of the Czechoslovak Sokol Union. Their reception of his music exposes a timeless phenomenon: an attempt by the leadership of a democratic organization to control or even censor widely celebrated artistic work to suit the image of the organization.