Vitka

A play based on the life story of Vítězslava Kaprálová

An original play based on the life of Brno-born composer and conductor Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915–1940), seen through the eyes of another Brno native, the writer Kateřina Tučková.

Vitka is the story of the meteoric rise of a talented young woman who managed to succeed in a field still dominated by men today. Her life was a fascinating mix of exceptional talent, diligence, and tenacity, but also of a free-spirited nature that shocked those around her. She died at the age of just twenty-five, cut off from her home by the war in Montpellier, southern France. By then, however, she had already completed her studies in Brno, Prague, and Paris, composed some forty acclaimed pieces, conducted major European orchestras, and was the life and creative partner of Bohuslav Martinů, with whose wife, Charlotte, they formed a notorious love triangle. Or perhaps a polygon, considering her numerous lovers, which included well-known representatives of the interwar avant-garde living in Paris at the time. Had she survived, she would have been one of the most famous Czech women in history.