Karel Svoboda: No chance to talk

Sometimes, you're just a moment too late. I recently rediscovered the music of Karel Svoboda, a Czech popular composer. Even though noone actually knew his name, his music had a strong cult following in Germany thanks to scores to some of the country's most popular children's series. I, too, grew up to the tunes of „Pinocchio“ (with an incredible title song sung by Schlager-star Mary Roos), „Biene Maja“ (performed by the tremendously schmaltzy Karel Gott, whom Karel Svoboda worked with extensively), Vicky the Viking (with its absolutely irresistible „Hey, hey, Vicky“ chorus) and „The Wonderful Adventures of Nils“.

Two things made me aware of his artistry: Listening to an old tape of „Pinocchio“ and then watching „Tři oříšky pro Popelku“ a couple of days later – a German/Checkoslovakian TV co-production, which is aired every christmas over here. Karel Svoboda's style is a highly unusual blend of folk elements with mediaeval and classical influences, as well as spacey analog synthesizer sounds. Weird, but quite fascinating and extremely befitting for the quasi fairytale-like moods of the films and series he worked for.

I firmly decided to find out more about him, only to discover that Karel Svoboda had died early in 2007, apparently of self-inflicted gunshot wounds. While his work still awaits appraisal on its own, it is a truly sad fact that the chance to talk to this composer in person will never offer itself again.

By Tobias Fischer