A Secret Streamlet

Programme Notes

On April 8, 1975, Czech writer and activist Václav Havel sent an open letter to Dr. Gustav Husák, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. In this powerful and lengthy letter, Havel described the oppressive, totalitarian state of the country at the time. The courage Havel displayed in writing and distributing this letter is remarkable, given that it occurred during a period in his life when his outspoken activism on human rights would lead to blacklisting and imprisonment.

One particular passage from the letter struck me deeply:

“Life cannot be destroyed for good, neither can history be brought entirely to a halt. A secret streamlet trickles on beneath the heavy lid of inertia and pseudo-events, slowly and inconspicuously undercutting it. It may be a long process, but one day it must happen: the lid will no longer hold and will start to crack. This is the moment when something once more begins visibly to happen, something truly new and unique… something truly historical, in the sense that history again demands to be heard.”

These words, prophetic at the time, would eventually come to pass. Fourteen and a half years later, during the Velvet Revolution, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia was dissolved after 41 years of Stalinist rule, and the country began the process of establishing a democratically elected government. Václav Havel would become the first President of the new democratic Czechoslovakia.

The late 1980s and early 1990s are often celebrated as a time when the Iron Curtain fell and many countries in Eastern Europe gained fundamental democratic rights. However, we must not forget the tireless efforts of activists like Havel in the decades prior, whose quiet resilience laid the groundwork for the historic changes that would follow.

This composition is dedicated to all the activists who, through their unwavering hope and determination, fought for the freedoms many of us take for granted today. It honours those who believed that, even in the darkest times, the “secret streamlet” of change would ultimately break through, making history once again.

– Frank Horvat