Václav Jindřich Veit:
Rediscoverd Romantic Testimony

The name of Václav Jindřich Veit (1806–1864) is known today mainly by specialized music historians or truly passionate fans of classical music. Yet, during his time, Veit was a significant and popular composer, whose work was respected abroad – particularly in Germany. Although Veit was of German nationality, he proudly aligned himself with Czech patriots, as was common in his era. He is the author of a fairly extensive body of work covering almost all musical genres (except opera – although he did consider it, he ultimately did not realize this plan). His vocal compositions are predominantly set to German texts, but Veit's national patriotism also led him to compose a notable number of songs and male choruses with Czech texts (Chmelenský, Vacek Kamenický, Šmilovský, folk texts). During his time, he gained recognition mainly through his chamber works (string quartets, string quintets, solo piano compositions, etc.), and even though his orchestral output was not large, it did achieve international recognition, particularly his only Symphony in E minor, Op. 49. This symphony was premiered to a positive reception at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig on October 20, 1859, and again on November 29, 1859, in Prague, conducted by František Škroup.