Kateřina Fajtlová - Curator and Administrator of the AMK Music Archive

Kateřina, please briefly introduce yourself ..

I am the administrator and curator of the music archive and curator of the castle libraries, I have been working at the Olomouc Museum of Art since 2014.

Since childhood I have been interested in music, I played and actually still play various flutes, piano and sing. When I had to decide what to do after high school, I didn't have to think for long, because studying musicology combined everything I had always been interested in - music (theory and practice) and history.

Understanding music culture in its entirety was also helped by the study of ethnology, which I later used to complement musicology. Before joining the MUO, I studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Universität Wien and had experience working at the GRASSI Museum in Leipzig and the Moravian Regional Library.

What does your normal working day look like? 

It is probably not at first glance anything special. I communicate with the researchers, and if a researcher comes in person, I operate the research room. Within the Norwegian Collections I am responsible for overseeing the cataloguing of music and old prints, as well as organizing accompanying lectures and musical performances in Kroměříž.

Part of my working time is therefore taken up by consultations with the cataloguers. Then I do my regular work - processing of the music collection (preparing exhibitions and publications), preparing music for conservation treatment, arranging dates for concerts or lectures.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

The variety - I can be a researcher, an archivist and a librarian, I can plan and physically prepare an exhibition, I can be a producer, a dramaturge and a listener - every day is my little challenge. :D

What knowledge/skills do you consider essential for your position? 

The ability to work on multiple things at the same time. :D

Do you have a favorite memory related to your work? 

The Kroměříž music collection is actually a little miracle. The fact that the oldest part of it has been preserved almost intact, thanks to the fact that it was simply forgotten in the church of St. Moritz in Kroměříž, is in itself very captivating.

While it's wonderful to work with unique musical manuscripts, it's always incredible to me when I can be there at the beginning of it, when a musical performer comes in and I can help them along the way to set a piece. I can still remember the feeling of the first time I was able to touch the manuscript of Mozart, Beethoven, Muffat, Schmieser, Biber and the list goes on.

It's always a treat for me to hear a musical archive come alive again and again.

What is your favorite work of art?

Apart from Baroque instrumental music, my favorite composer is Leoš Janáček.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)