Hana Hegerová

Hana Hegerová (née Carmen Farkašová,^[1] born 20 October 1931 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia), is a leading Czechoslovakian singer, actress and uncrowned queen of Czechoslovakian chanson. Foreign critics call her "The Great Lady of Chanson", "The Piaf from Prague", and "The Chanteuse with a Slavic Soul". Having no comparable competition in Czechoslovakia, she gained popularity primarily as a singer of chanson. She has charmed her audience and critics with an extraordinary ability to interpret the lyrics dramatically. Outside of the Czechoslovakia, Hegerová has attained wide recognition, especially in German-speaking countries. She lives in Prague, Czech Republic.

Biography

From 1937 to 1942 Hegerová attended ballet school at the National Theater in Bratislava. After completing her primary education in Komárno in 1950, she worked as a clerk for Škoda Works and as a teacher at a vocational school. From 1951 to 1953, Hegerová attended professional theatrical courses at the State Theater Conservatory, then in 1957 joined the company of the Petr Jilemnický Theatre in Žilina.

In 1954, Hegerová played the title role in the film Frona under the name Hana Čelková. 1957 saw her first appearance as a singer in Tatra Revue in Bratislava. After she came to Prague, the foremost Czech actor Jan Werich offered her an engagement in the ABC Theatre, however, she refused.^[2] From 1958 to 1961, she performed at the Rokoko Theatre in Prague,^[3] and from 1961 to 1966 at the Semafor Theater where she appeared in the jazz opera Dobře placená procházka by Jiří Suchý (libretto) and Jiří Šlitr (music), and film Kdyby tisíc klarinetů (If a Thousand Clarinets). Hegerová's repertoire included many chansons by Czech and Slovak authors, and also Czech versions of songs from the repertoire of Édith Piaf ("Mylord"), Jacques Brel ("Ne me quitte pas"), and songs by Kurt Weill ("Surabaya Johnny", "The Barbara Song") and many others. In 1967, Hana Hegerová appeared at the Paris Olympia^[1] with the songs of Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour. She also performed at the World's Fair in Montreal. From 1977 to 1981, during the Czechoslovak normalization, Hegerová was forced to stop her activities abroad, and her concert activities were also restricted in Czechoslovakia. Following the Velvet Revolution she began to perform more often in public. During this time she received many music awards, for example, the Platinum Disc in 1992, the Czech Gramy in 1996. In 2002, Hana Heregová received a Medal of Merit from Czech President Václav Havel.^[1]

Discography

Hana Hegerová also sang one song on Jan Burian's album Dívčí válka (2006).

Filmography

See also

• The 100 Greatest Slovak Albums of All Time

References

This article incorporates information from this version of the equivalent article on the Czech Wikipedia.

External links

• Hana Hegerová at the Internet Movie Database
• Hana Hegerová at EuroPopMusic
• Hana Hegerová website (Czech)
• Hana Hegerová in Kdyby tisíc klarinetů (YouTube)
• Hana Hegerová on YouTube