There are singers who have been connected with Brno for their entire career. Vladimír Tomš sang here during the first performance of the opera by Otakar Ostrčil, Honza's Kingdom, which was a major event in 1934, and then he just came back here to die. His artistic triumph and end shook hands in Brno.
The fame of an opera singer is terribly momentary. Only recordings can survive him and they also must be lucky that someone wants to go back to them. A finely polished and extraordinary art of interpretation is not enough. If personal charm, a charisma transformed into a legend, is not added to it, even the most beautiful voice is lost for the future. And sometimes even the complaints of witnesses are added to it saying that the recordings are not the same thing anyway, that live it would have been something else entirely. It is said that no microphone managed to faithfully record the organ voice of Kirsten Flagstad, that there is no recording from which we could imagine the real volume of the voice of Lauritz Melchior…by the way, do you know those names? Singing and performing arts are happening here and now. Unlike Flagstad and Melchior, Vladimír Tomš did not demolish the scenery of the Metropolitan Opera, but he left an important footprint in Czech opera during his short life as well.
Otakar Ostrčil was not only a composer, but also a conductor and opera director at the National Theatre. He created a legendary era in it in the years 1920–1935, and Vladimír Tomš was among the core singers alongside the soprano Ada Nordenová and bass Emil Pollert. I name these two because with them Ostrčil recorded his first opera set in the history of Czech opera. Quite predictably, it was the Bartered Bride and Tomš sang the part of Jeník in the recording. For all three of them, it is not just about the fact that they were at hand at the time for the recording. Under Ostrčil's leadership, they created a style of interpretation that we still consider determining and initial today. We can only imagine what the Bartered Bride was like during the premiere, what it was like during the Theatre Exhibition in Vienna or under Mahler's leadership in the Metropolitan Opera. But here we are no longer dependent on contemporary reviews, memoirs and correspondence, we have a recording. And not only a recording, there is also footage from a performance – here the conductor is Jožka Charvát and Mařenka is sung by Ota Horáková but the style of performance has been preserved.
On the video and audio recordings, Vladimír Tomš shows all of his strengths. A soft, supple voice, heartfelt lyrical expression and a strong acting talent (naturally conditioned by the demands and customs of the time). His acting was appreciated by the critics so much that sometimes it neglected the singing itself as happened after the premiere of Honza's Kingdom. Otakar Ostrčil was the head of the Prague Opera, but he assigned the premieres of his own pieces elsewhere and he performed them "at home" only after they were successful. The opera with the motif of the fairytale by L. N. Tolstoy with a strong pacifist message received its premiere on 26 April 1934 in Brno, Tomš in the role of Honza and the piece itself celebrated clear success (at the moment I would consider it a success if the piece returned to the Brno stage – perhaps during the next Year of Czech Music, if an anniversary is necessary to achieve that).
If the vocal performance of Vladimír Tomš reached its top under the leadership of Otakar Ostrčil, acting was cultivated by another personality of Czech opera – director Ferdinand Pujman (he was notorious for a deep, philosophical approach to staged works but also for his pedantry). In the case of Vladimír Tomš, the effects of these "Apollinian" teachers clashed in a comprehensive performance of the singing actor. This was supplemented by a willingness to constantly learn something new and to some extent probably even his flexible personality. From our singers, he probably most resembled Otakar Mařák, compared to his globe-trotting he was more of a Czech boy – he was still a bit of a mother’s boy. Also, his career is associated exclusively with domestic theatres.
He was born on 12 March 1900 – which is 115 years ago – in Chrudim. His father died soon after, his mother's income was not enough for a family of seven, so Tomš made a living while studying at the grammar school by gluing posters. After graduating, he obtained a clerical job in Bratislava and later in Pardubice, but he also attended singing lessons. He sang in choirs and chamber associations, but the turning point for him was the Pardubice premiere of Hubička (The Kiss) directed by Hanuš Thein. He brought the talented and vocally gifted tenorist to his teacher Egon Fuchs, where he also met with Ferdinand Pujman. During his graduation performance, he sang the role of Ladislav in Ostrčil's opera Poupě (Flower Bud) and won the composer's promise of an engagement at the National Theatre. His engagement really happened after a year spent at the Ostrava Opera where he gained experience and tried out a diverse – often downright unsuitable – repertoire, including Radam in Aida and Wagner's Parsifal. But then it was followed by guesting and from 1930 also a permanent engagement at the National Theatre.
Although Vladimir Tomš sang many roles from the world repertoire, the core of his activities included Czech opera ranging from Smetana and Fibich to Janáček and, of course, he sang in Ostrčil's works. His acting ability led him also to melodrama; he sang the role of Atreus in The Death of Hippodamia. His promising career ended with a malignant tumor, Vladimír Tomš died on 6 December 1935 in Brno. A year and a half after the premiere of Honza's Kingdom, four months after Otakar Ostrčil and two months after Emil Pollert. The funeral oration at the funeral in Brno crematorium was delivered by Ferdinand Pujman but Vladimír Tomš summarised his life at the time of his illness himself: "Since I am receiving many cordial words, then I think that even my short career was not in vain and if the Almighty allows it I could close my life books with a clear conscience."
