Anna Hostomská

{{Short description|Czech radio editor and opera writer (1907–1995)}}{{Use British English|date=September 2026}}{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2026}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Anna Hostomská
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1907|8|6|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Tábor]], Bohemia, Austria-Hungary
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1995|3|28|1907|8|6|df=yes}}
| death_place = Prague, Czech Republic
| resting_place = [[Vyšehrad Cemetery]], Prague
| occupation = Radio editor, writer, translator
| employer = [[Czech Radio|Czechoslovak Radio]]
| spouse = {{ill|Mirko Očadlík|cs}}
}}
”’Anna Hostomská”’ (6 August 1907 – 28 March 1995) was a Czech radio editor, writer and translator who worked for more than thirty years in the music department of [[Czech Radio|Czechoslovak Radio]]. She was best known as a populariser of [[opera]] and as the author of ”Opera: průvodce operní tvorbou” (”Opera: A Guide to Operatic Works”), a reference book that ran to ten editions in her lifetime and a heavily revised eleventh in 2018.<ref name=”rozhlas”>{{cite web |title=Anna Hostomská (provd. Kumermanová, později Očadlíková) |url=https://temata.rozhlas.cz/anna-hostomska-provdt-kumermanova-pozdeji-ocadlikova-7971823 |access-date=17 September 2026 |publisher=[[Czech Radio]] |language=cs}}</ref><ref name=”iliteratura”>{{cite web |date=2 June 2018 |title=Opera žije! |url=https://iliteratura.cz/Clanek/39421/hostomska-anna-a-kol-opera |access-date=17 September 2026 |website=iLiteratura |language=cs}}</ref>

== Life and career ==
Hostomská was born in [[Tábor]] and grew up in [[Pelhřimov]], where her father, a judge, had been posted in 1910; the family was musical, and there is a memorial plaque to it on Pelhřimov’s Masaryk Square.<ref name=”praha2″>{{cite web |title=Anna Hostomská |url=https://encyklopedie.praha2.cz/osobnost/1941-anna-hostomska |access-date=17 September 2026 |publisher=Encyklopedie Prahy 2 |language=cs}}</ref> She studied French language and literature at the [[University of Lyon]] in 1927–28 and worked as a Czech correspondent for the Liberec chamber of commerce, then joined the Radiojournal in Prague in 1929 as secretary of its music department.<ref name=”rozhlas” /> She became an editor of the Prague station’s music programmes in 1938, and in the same period began studying musicology and sociology at [[Charles University]], a course cut short by the German closure of the Czech universities in 1939; she returned to it after the war but, with her radio workload, never completed her doctorate.<ref name=”praha2″ />

From 1945 to 1950 she was in charge of mixed and entertainment programming, and from 1952 she devoted herself almost entirely to popularising classical music, with explanatory talks in series such as ”Co máte nejraději” (“What You Like Best”) and ”Hudba, kterou mám rád” (“The Music I Like”).<ref name=”rozhlas” /><ref name=”jesutova”>{{cite book |last=Ješutová |first=Eva |title=99 významných uměleckých osobností rozhlasu |publisher=Sdružení pro rozhlasovou tvorbu |year=2008 |isbn=978-80-254-1703-4 |location=Prague |pages=47–48 |language=cs}}</ref> She is credited with bringing the entertainer {{ill|Vladimír Dvořák|cs}} to the microphone in 1946, and she wrote and presented programmes with him for five years.<ref name=”rozhlas” /> She retired from the radio in 1962 but continued as an external contributor; her last broadcast series was ”Modlitby v operách” (“Prayers in Operas”), and from 1960 she also prepared programmes for the Prague theatre Divadlo hudby and gave lecture-recitals for adults and children.<ref name=”rozhlas” /><ref name=”praha2″ />

Hostomská translated opera and operetta libretti from Polish, Russian, German and Italian, including ”[[Die Fledermaus|”Netopýr”]]”, ”{{ill|Ball im Savoy|cs|Ples v Savoji}}” and song lyrics for ””[[Mam’zelle Nitouche]]””, and published widely in music journals and the daily press.<ref name=”rozhlas” /> She was married to the musicologist {{ill|Mirko Očadlík|cs}}.<ref name=”praha2″ />

== Books ==
Her most successful book was ”Opera: průvodce operní tvorbou”, first published in 1955 and reprinted with revisions nine times by 1999; a new edition by Hostomská and a team of contributors appeared in 2018.<ref name=”iliteratura” /><ref name=”paseka”>{{cite web |title=Anna Hostomská |url=https://www.paseka.cz/autor/anna-hostomska/ |access-date=17 September 2026 |publisher=Nakladatelství Paseka |language=cs}}</ref> She also published ”Příběhy, pověsti a pohádky paní Hudby” (1959), stories about music for children, ”Kouzelný svět: vyprávění o světové opeře” (1960) and ”Labyrint hudby, ráj srdce” (1967).<ref name=”paseka” /><ref name=”praha2″ />

== References ==
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[[Category:1907 births]]
[[Category:1995 deaths]]
[[Category:Czech writers]]
[[Category:Czech women writers]]
[[Category:Czech translators]]
[[Category:Czech radio presenters]]