Music lexicographer Jiří Fukač and the Brno School of Music Lexicography

• Published in: Musicologica Brunensia Vol. 52; no. 2
• Main Author: Petr Macek
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts 01-01-2017
• Subjects: Brno; Czech musicology; Jiří Fukač; lexicography; music
• ISSN: 1212-0391; 2336-436X
• DOI: 10.5817/MB2017-2-5

The study summarizes the activity in the field of music lexicography of Jiří Fukač (1936–2002), professor of musicology at the Brno-based Masaryk University, who successfully resumed the activities of the Brno School of Music Lexicography, constituted chiefly by efforts of Gracian Černušák, Vladimír Helfert and Bohumír Štědroň. Already as a student Fukač collaborated as both author and organizer on the two-volume Československý hudební slovník osob a institucí (Czechoslovak Music Dictionary of Persons and Institutions, 1963, 1965). In 1966 he and Jiří Vysloužil initiated foundation of Kabinet hudební lexikografie (Office of Music Lexicography) and preparations for the new subject-focused dictionary project, later called Slovník české hudební kultury (Dictionary of Czech Music Culture) started. Fukač’s contribution was crucial and it was his tireless effort including writing texts of individual entries, editing texts by others and effecting his organizational skills, that finally lead to the successful completion of the project in 1997. The result undoubtedly presents a fundament in Czech music lexicography in both conception and extent. Then Jiří Fukač started to work on further projects of music lexicography: he actively participated in preparations and realization of the big lexicographical project of the Sudeten German Music Institute in Regensburg titled Lexikon zur deutschen Musikkultur (Böhmen, Mähren, Sudetenschlesien) published in Munich in 2000, where he was member of the scholarly board of the project and contributed to the conceptual and methodological preparations. In 2000 Fukač together with Petr Macek and Mikuláš Bek started preparations for the new web-based project of the Czech Music Dictionary of Persons and Institutions. A fatal illness didn't allow him to proceed further.