Ema Destinnová: Zahrada srdce

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Destinn’s personality inspired poets, writers, painters, sculptors and composers. She also wrote music herself. During her student years she had composed the waltz That First Love, which became quite popular and was published. During World War I she was interned at her castle in Stráž nad Nežárkou in South Bohemia, which presented further opportunities for composing Lieder. The main credit for this new airing of these songs must go to soprano Eva Děpoltová, who offered her interpretation, with Marián Lapšanský at the piano, on the occasion of a matinée homage to Emmy Destinn, given by the Czech Chamber Music Society on January 22, 2000, at the Liechtenstein Palace in Prague.   Emmy Destinn influenced thousands of people through her voice. Thanks to early recording techniques we, too, are able to enjoy the shimmering sound of that irresistibly beautiful instrument. But Destinn also left direct glimpses into her heart which can be divined from the twelve songs composed for poems or translations by Adolf Wenig. The mainly amorous mood of Wenig’s verses resonated powerfully with her own emotions and, together with some external impressions, formed the direct inspiration for these songs. Editor Mojmír Urbánek who issued the printed score for Garden of the Heart in 1919, Destinn’s great fame, assured the temporary success, particularly of those songs she used to sing at her concerts. Her own interpretation of one third of this cycle on gramophone records should be mentioned. If we compare her singing with the printed score, we can see and hear an evident rhythmic freedom, suggested by the text, which she used to make the words more effective and vivid.