Zdeněk Urbánek: Uta of Naumburg

In his remarkable 1970 radio play Uta of Naumburg, Zdeněk Urbánek tells the story of a medieval noblewoman who decides to confront the unfounded gossip of her surroundings with unwavering kindness. Starring Jaroslav Tvrzníková and Jan Tříská. The radio play by translator, novelist and essayist Zdeněk Urbánek, however, surprisingly begins in 1918 at the end of the First World War, when representatives of victorious France come to Germany to choose statues by German medieval masters to replace the destroyed sculptural decoration of the cathedral in Reims. Thus, almost 800 years after her death, Uta of Naumburg reawakens passions and with her silent beauty defies the narrow-minded dullness and barbarism from which humanity will probably never be finally cured. Directed by Josef Červinka and starring Jaroslava Tvrzníková, Jan Tříska, Jiří Adamíra, Sobeslav Sejk, Josef Chvalina, Jiří Holý and others. The music was composed and recorded on the organ by Petr Eben.