K. H. Mácha: Máj (1967)

Petr Traxler was continuously active since 1965 in the well-known group Skiffle Kontra (later Skiffle Contra, Czech Skiffle, Žáci, Traxlerři), the group originally played in the following line-up: Jiří Traxler, Petr Traxler, Heda Hošková and bassist Petr Kozel. This group performed at the now closed Rampa theatre in Prague 4 and later prepared a number of performances for Viola in Prague. "Mácha's May" became the event of the season, and Josef Škvorecký saw the production at the Viola in Prague, where he described it in a poll as "his greatest cultural experience of 1968". I loved Mácha as much as anyone at the age of eighteen or twenty. We made May at the beginning of 1966 basically "on order", because Dr. Vladimir Justl, the then head of Prague Viola, heard us at a concert, where we had a piece of Mayan music, which we thought was more of a parody. Vladimír Justl asked us then whether we were willing to do Mácha seriously and as a whole. So we turned May into a kind of melodrama and we could perform it in Viola for a reward. The main female part was sung by Milena Zahrynowská (later Heda Hošková), some passages were recited by Jiří Bednář, and then there were two of us with my brother plus a double bass. The performance had hundreds of performances both in Viola and on tours. (Petr Traxler)