2000 Korun 2007, Czech Republic
| in Krause book | Number: 22 |
| Years of issue: | 02.07.2007 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Czernik: Zdeněk Tůma (01.12.2000 - 30.06.2010) |
| Serie: | 1993 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 2007 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 164 х 74 |
| Printer: | STC-Prague. Statni Tiskarna Cenin, Praha |
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Description
Watermark:
Portrait of Ema Destinnová and denomination 2000.
Avers:
The engraving on banknote is made after the lithography of Ema Destinnová by Oldrich Kulhanek.
Emmy Destinn (Ema Destinnová, 26 February 1878 – 28 January 1930) was a Czech operatic soprano with a strong and soaring lyric-dramatic voice. She had a career both in Europe and at the New York Metropolitan Opera.
Destinn was born Emílie Pavlína Věnceslava Kittlová in Prague, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Her voice teacher since age thirteen had been Marie Maria von Dreger Loewe-Destinn, and the young singer began using her teacher's surname as a tribute. She was let go after the short engagement at the Dresden Opera and declined by Prague National Theatre in 1897. She debuted on 19 July 1898 at the Berlin Court Opera as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana. She made such progress that the intendant of the Berlin Court Opera engaged her at once when she was brought to her notice. She was merely nineteen at the time, but her voice and her genius for acting soon won the Berlin public. Her engagement in Berlin lasted until 27 October 1909. She sang in 54 operas, including 12 premieres, the most famous of which was Salome by Richard Strauss (5 December 1906).
Her fame became international in 1901 when she was invited to sing the part of Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer at Germany's Bayreuth Festspielhaus. She returned to sing the same role the next year.
Destinn made her London debut at Covent Garden's Royal Opera House on 2 May 1904, as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni. She appeared there in several operas for the next two seasons, including the London premiere of Madama Butterfly with Caruso. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1908 with an acclaimed performance of Aida, after she was released from her contract with the Berlin Court Opera. Two years later at the Met, she created the role of Minnie in the premiere of Puccini's La fanciulla del West, again opposite Caruso, and under the direction of Arturo Toscanini.
While she was highly successful in the lighter roles of Wagner's operas, her spinto voice although large in size, with a ringing top register was better suited to German music of a less declamatory type. She also excelled in the French part of Carmen, in which she was said to rival Calvé, and in the Italian roles of Aida, Madama Butterfly and Leonora (in Il trovatore).
Destin's career suffered a fatal blow in World War I. She returned to her homeland after the start of the war in 1914, but her links with the patriotic Czech resistance caused her passport to be revoked. She was interned at her chateau for the remainder of the conflict. By the time that she returned to the Met in 1919, her voice had become rusty and she had been replaced in the hearts of New York audiences by a new generation of singers, although she did still continue to sing with the company until 1920.
Destinn returned to Czechoslovakia, where she married Joseph Halsbach, a Czech air-force officer, in 1923. She retired from the stage in 1926 and died from a stroke in České Budějovice, Czechoslovakia a month before her 52nd birthday. She is interred in the Vyšehrad cemetery in Prague. 
On the background are the laurel branches and musical lyre.
Denominations in numerals are in top left corner and on the right side. Centered are in words and in numeral.
Revers:
Theme of images is music.
In the foreground, above, are the laurel branches and the image of Euterpe.
In Greek mythology, Euterpe (Greek: Eὐτέρπη, Ancient Greek: "rejoicing well" or "delight" from Ancient Greek εὖ 'well' + τέρπειν terpein 'to please') was the one of the Muses, presiding over music. In late Classical times, she was named muse of lyric poetry. She has been called “Giver of delight” by ancient poets.
Euterpe was born as one of the daughters of Mnemosyne, Titan goddess of memory, and fathered by Zeus, god of the gods. Her sisters include Calliope (muse of epic poetry), Clio (muse of history), Melpomene (muse of tragedy), Terpsichore (muse of dancing), Erato (muse of erotic poetry), Thalia (muse of comedy), Polyhymnia (muse of hymns), and Urania (muse of astronomy). Sometimes they are referred to as water nymphs having been born from the four scared springs on Helicon which flowed from the ground after Pegasus, the winged horse, stamped his hooves on the ground.
Along with her sister Muses, Euterpe was believed to have lived on Mt. Olympus where she and her sisters entertained their father and the other Olympian gods with their great artistry. Later on, tradition also placed them on Mt. Helicon in Boeotia where there was a major cult center to the goddesses, or on Mt. Parnassus where the Castalian spring was a favorite destination for poets and artists.
Pindar and other sources (the author of the Bibliotheca, and Servius), describe the Thracian king Rhesus, who appears in the Iliad, as son of Euterpe and the river-god Strymon; Homer calls him son of Eioneus.
Her and her sisters’ role was to entertain the gods on Mount Olympus. She inspired the development of liberal and fine arts in Ancient Greece, serving as an inspiration to poets, dramatists, and authors (such as Homer).
According to the traditions and beliefs of the Ancient Greeks musicians would invoke the aid of Euterpe to inspire, guide and assist them in their compositions. This would often take the form of a prayer for divine inspiration from the minor goddess.
The mountain spring on Mount Parnassus was sacred to Euterpe and the other Muses. It flowed between two high rocks above the city of Delphi, and in ancient times its sacred waters were introduced into a square stone basin, where they were retained for the use of the Pythia, the priests, priestesses, as well as the oracle of Apollo.
Some people believe that she invented the aulos or double-flute, though most mythographers credit Marsyas or Athena with its invention. Some say she also invented other wind instruments. Euterpe is often depicted holding a flute in artistic renditions of her.
Under the image of Euterpe shows 2 musical instruments - a violin (on the left) and a cello (to the right).
The whole image is overlaid with a large Latin letter D, stylized as an image of a musical lyre. Against the backdrop of the banknote, there are numerous floral decorations (laurels).
Centered, a little to the right side, is Czech coat of arms.
The coat of arms of the Czech Republic (Státní znak České republiky) displays the three historical regions - the Czech lands - which make up the nation: Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia.
The arms of Bohemia show a silver double-tailed lion on a red background. This Bohemian Lion makes up the first and the fourth quarters of the greater coat of arms, so it is repeated in the shield. The Moravian red-and-silver chequered eagle is shown on a blue background. Since the days of the Habsburg Monarchy until 1918, the Moravian Eagle was chequered in the red-and-gold colours of the Habsburg dynasty. The arms of Silesia are a black eagle with the so-called "clover stalk" in her breast on a golden background, although only a small south-eastern part of the historical region (Czech Silesia) belongs to the Czech Republic.
The history of the Czech coat of arms dates back to the XIII century, when the Bohemian Lion, a meed by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to King Vladislaus II of Bohemia, appeared on the seal of his Přemyslid descendant King Ottokar II (1253-1278). The Moravian Eagle was first documented on the seal of Ottokar's uncle, Margrave Přemysl (d. 1239). The shields also appeared on the coat of arms of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown established by Emperor Charles IV. The Silesian Eagle stems from the ruling dynasty of the Piasts and was first applied by Duke Henry II the Pious (1238-1241).
In lower right corner is, again, a musical lyre.
Denominations in numerals are in top right and lower left corners.
Comments:
Designer: Oldrich Kulhanek.
Obverse and Reverse engraver: M. Ondracek.
I got this banknote in Mariánské Lázně at 02.07.2018.
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