Milan Báchorek

“With Bohuslav Martinů, it mattered that he had a lot of compositions with ecclesiastical overtones, or were strictly ecclesiastical. It bothered a regime that was strongly against religion. Ostrava was characteristic of it. There were no organ concerts here either, not to think of playing church compositions. In Ostrava it was a bit stricter in this respect than elsewhere. For example, an organ festival with spiritual content was held in Olomouc. There could be no such thing in Ostrava. My brother-in-law, an organist Vladimír Svatoš, who taught the organ at the conservatory and went through purgatory in this regard, could tell about it. Everyone asked him what it was for.”

“There was an interesting band at home. Mum and aunt played cello, uncle played violin, sister played piano and dad played accordion. It was his passion he had brought from World War, when he was fighting at Piava. He bought a button accordion with a hundred and twenty bass. This is a relatively large machine to play anything. It was a kind of scramble, as we called it. It was played every second Saturday in our house or backyard.”

“We were a school whose students wandered around Ostrava. Wandering around the city had its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that in many cases it was possible to arrive late. The downside was that the transfers were often not possible, even if one wanted. We had lessons in theaters, in the house of art between paintings, in the Theater of Music, in the Youth Theater, which was later demolished. We were on the radio and later on television. It influenced our outlook and perception of the artistic environment.”