Bohemian constitution, but, allied as they were with a large part of the Bohemian nobility, it was their policy to maintain a somewhat conservative attitude. After having absented themselves for a considerable time from the parliament of Vienna, the legality of which they denied, the Czech deputies reappeared in Vienna in 1879, and, together with the representatives of the Bohemian nobility, formed there what was known as the Česky Klub.
While the Czechs for a time continued united at Vienna, a schism among them had some time previously occurred at Prague. Dissatisfied with the policy of the Czechs, a new party had been formed in Bohemia which affected more advanced views and became known as the “Young Czech” party. The more conservative Czechs were henceforth known as the “Old Czechs.” The “Young Czechs,” when the party first became independent in 1872, had thirty-five representatives in the diet of Prague, but at the elections of 1874 their number was reduced to seven. They continued, however, to gain in strength, and obtained for a long time a large majority in the diet, while the Old Czech party for a considerable period almost disappeared. In Vienna also the Old Czech party gradually lost ground. Its leader Dr Rieger, indeed, obtained for the Czechs certain concessions which, underrated at the time, have since proved by no means valueless. The decision of the Old Czech party to take part at a conference in Vienna under the presidency of Count Taafe—then Austrian prime-minister—which was to settle the national differences in Bohemia, caused its complete downfall. The proposals of the Vienna conference were rejected with indignation, and the Old Czechs, having become very unpopular, for a time ceased to contest the elections for the legislative assemblies of Prague and Vienna. The victorious Young Czechs, however, soon proved themselves very unskilful politicians. After very unsuccessfully assuming for a short time an attitude of intransigeant opposition, they soon became subservient to the government of Vienna to an extent which the Old Czechs had never ventured. Dr Kramář, in particular, as leader of the Young Czech party, supported the foreign policy of Austria even when its tendency was most hostile to the interests of Bohemia. The Vienna government has, in recent years, as regards internal affairs, also adopted a policy very unfavourable to the Czech race. Even the continuance of some of the concessions formerly obtained by the Old Czechs has become doubtful. At the elections to the diet of Prague which took place in March 1908, the Young Czechs lost many seats to the Old Czechs, while the Agrarians, Clericals and Radicals were also successful.
See J. Dobrovský, Geschichte der böhmischen Sprache (1818), and Lehrgebäude der böhmischen Sprache (1819); J. Blahoslav, Grammatika Česká, printed from MS. (1867); Lippert, Social-Geschichte Böhmens (1896); Gebauer, Slovník Staročesky (Dictionary of the ancient Czech language, 1903); I. Herzer, Böhmisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (Prague, 1901, &c.); Coufal and Zába, Slovník Česko-latinský a Latinsko-český (Prague, 1904, &c.), and Historicka Uluonice Jazyka českéha (Historical grammar of the Czech language, 1904); Morfill, Grammar of the Bohemian or Čech Language (1899); Bourlier, Les Tchèques (1897). (L.)
CZENSTOCHOWA, or Chenstokhov, a town of Russian
Poland, in the government of Piotrkow, on the left bank of the
Warta (Warthe), 143 m. S.W. of Warsaw, on the railway between
that city and Cracow. Pop. (1900) 53,650. Here is a celebrated
monastery crowning the steep eminence called Yaznagora or
Klarenberg. It was founded by King Vladislaus of the house of
Jagiello and was at one time fabulously wealthy. In 1430 it
was attacked and plundered by the Hussites; in 1655, and again
in 1705, it bravely resisted the Swedes; but in 1772 it was forced
to capitulate to the Russians, and in 1793 to the Prussians.
The fortifications, which had been built from 1500 onwards,
were razed in 1813. This monastery, which is occupied by
monks of the order of Paul the Hermit, contains over the altar
in its church a painted image of the Virgin, traditionally believed
to have been painted by St Luke, and visited annually by
throngs (400,000) of pilgrims from all over Russia, eastern
Prussia and other neighbouring regions. The inhabitants of
the town manufacture cotton, cloth and paper, and do a lively
business in rosaries, images, scapularies and so forth.
CZERNOWITZ (Rum. Cernautzi), the capital of the Austrian
duchy of Bukovina, 420 m. E. of Vienna and 164 m. S.E. of
Lemberg by rail. Pop. (1900) 69,619. It is picturesquely
situated on a height above the right bank of the river Pruth,
which is crossed here by two bridges, of which one is a railway
bridge. Czernowitz is a clean, pleasant town of recent date,
and is the seat of the Greek Orthodox archbishop or metropolitan
of Bukovina. The principal buildings include the Greek
Orthodox cathedral, finished in 1864 after the model of the
church of St Isaac at St Petersburg; the Armenian church, in
a mixed Gothic and Renaissance style, consecrated in 1875;
a handsome new Jesuit church, and a new synagogue in Moorish
style, built in 1877. The most conspicuous building of the town
is the Episcopal palace, in Byzantine style, built in 1864–1875,
which is adorned with a high tower and possesses a magnificent
reception hall. In one of the public squares stands the Austrian
monument, executed by Pekary and erected in 1875 to commemorate
the centenary of Austria’s possession of Bukovina.
It consists of a marble statue of Austria erected on a pedestal
of green Carpathian sandstone. The Francis Joseph University,
also opened in 1875, had 50 lecturers and over 500 students in
1901. The language of instruction is German, and it possesses
three faculties: theology, law and philosophy. The industry is
not very developed and consists chiefly in corn-milling and
brewing. An active trade is carried on in agricultural produce,
wood, wool, cattle and spirits. Czernowitz has a mixed population,
which consists of Germans, Ruthenians, Rumanians, Poles,
Jews, Armenians and Gypsies. The town presents, therefore,
a cosmopolitan and on market days a very varied appearance,
when side by side with people turned out in the latest fashions
from Paris or Vienna, we meet peasants of various nationalities,
attired in their national costume, intermingled with very scantily-clad Gypsies.
On the opposite bank of the Pruth, at a very little distance to the N., is situated the town of Sadagora (pop. 4512, mostly Jews), where a famous cattle fair takes place every year.
Czernowitz was at the time of the Austrian occupation (1775) an unimportant village. It was created a town in 1786, and at the beginning of the 19th century it numbered only 5000 inhabitants.
CZERNY, KARL (1791–1857), Austrian pianist and composer, was born at Vienna on the 21st of February 1791. His father, who was a teacher of the piano, trained him for that instrument from an early age with such success that he performed in public at the age of nine, and commenced his own career as a teacher at fourteen. He was brought under the notice of Beethoven, and was his pupil in the sense in which the great master had pupils. It is perhaps his greatest claim to distinction as a performer that he was selected to be the first to play Beethoven’s celebrated Emperor concerto in public. He soon became the most popular teacher of his instrument in a capital which abounded in pianists of the first rank. Among his pupils he numbered Liszt, Theodor Döhler (1814–1843) and many others who afterwards became famous. As a composer he was prolific to an astonishing degree, considering the other demands on his time. His works, which included every class of composition, numbered 849 at the time of his death. Comparatively few of them possess high merit, and none is the production of genius. He had considerable skill in devising variations for the piano of the display type, and in this and other ways helped to develop the executive power which in the modern school of pianoforte playing seems to have reached the limits of the possible. His various books of exercises, elementary and advanced, of which the best known are the Études de la vélocité, have probably had a wider circulation than any other works of their class. To the theory of music he contributed a translation of Reicha’s Traité de composition, and a work entitled Umriss der ganzen Musikgeschichte. Czerny died on the 15th of July 1857 at Vienna. Having no family, he left his fortune, which was considerable, to the Vienna Conservatorium and various benevolent institutions.
