is full of grotesque marches and folk dances that match the socialist politics of the libretto's mock folktale atmosphere. As a conductor, Ostrčil had a significant influence on his younger contemporaries in the interwar period. From the beginning of his time at the National Theater he conceived new ideas of musical leadership and choice of repertoire, wherein representatives of the current generation of musical modernism, both at home and abroad, were presented to Prague audiences as a matter of cultural responsibility. As a result, under Ostrčil, Prague saw the Czech premieres of works by Debussy, Strauss, Stravinsky, Darius Milhaud, Zich, and most importantly, the opera Wozzeck by Alban Berg in 1926. These programming choices met extreme controversy over Ostrčil's fifteen-year administration at the National Theater, especially from conservative critics such as Antonín Šilhan, who branded the conductor an anti-Czech pro-communist traitor, and whose articles prompted a riot at the third performance of Wozzeck. Many of these criticisms had to do with Ostrčil's close association with Nejedlý, who by this time was a strong proponent of the Czechoslovak Communist Party. It was Ostrčil's belief in the necessity of presenting modern art to the public that won him many supporters among the students of Prague, led by the young pedagogue and microtonal composer Alois Hába; in a climate increasingly unsympathetic to modernist exploration, the conductor was hailed as a hero. His untimely death in 1935, at the height of his career, was a bitter blow to the community, and for the remainder of the democratic era (to 1938) his achievements were continually rhapsodized in print. Works Operas Rybáři (fragment) Jan Zhořelecký (1898) Cymbelín (1899 - unfinished) Vlasty skon, Op. 5 (1903) Kunálovy oči, Op. 11 (1908) on the theme from the short story of Julius Zeyer. Poupě, Op. 12 (1910) Legenda z Erinu, Op. 19 (1919) Honzovo království, Op. 25 (Honza's Kingdom after Leo Tolstoy 1933) Melodramas and Orchestral Songs Krásné dědictví (Eliška Krásnohorská - destroyed) Kamenný mnich (1893) Lilie (Karel Jaromír Erben) Balada o mrtvém ševci a mladé tanečnici, Op. 6 (K. Leger - 1904) Balada česká, Op. 8 (Jan Neruda - 1903) Osiřelo dítě, Op. 9 (The Orphan's Tale, 1907) Cizí Host, Op. 16 (The Stranger, 1913) Skřivan, Op. 26 (Mir. Valenta - 1934) Orchestral works Selská Slavnost, Op. 1 (Peasant Festival, 1897) Pohádková Suita, Op. 2 (Fairy Tale Suite, 1898) Pohádka o Šemíku, Op. 3 (Tale of Šemík, tone