Jan Werich spent sixteen years reading aloud selected chapters from Hašek’s novel, but of course the process of recording wasn’t continual. Even though it was done in fits and starts, all the recordings were fortunately preserved and between 1978 and 1984, were released on 17 LP vinyl discs. More recently they were produced as a set of 13 CDs, with a surprise bonus.
Josef Cincibus, whose father worked with Werich on the records, confirmed that the project started in spring 1953. “Every time, the recording was prepared with great care. The sound master Miroslav Prokeš was in charge of setting up microphones, checking on installations and preparatory mouth loosing up exercises. At an appointed time Jan Werich would arrive to the studio AR on the top floor of Lucerna Palace. Sometimes he would carry a tray of wrapped cocktail snacks; often he would shout a joke as soon as he entered...”
It is obvious that Werich was in control. He would select the parts of the novel according to his mood and often made various changes in the text, deleting some expressions and adding others in an off- the-cuff, spontaneous manner. He managed to come up with his own interpretation of the text, which the listeners loved to bits.
Vladimír Just said, “Reading the novel Švejk comes naturally to Werich as if he had written it by himself. His interpretation is a pure authorial theatre, full of on-the-spot sketched portraits, caricatures, paraphrases, and parodies. You could easily demonstrate the whole history of literary methods on it. Werich enriches Hašek’s narration with his expressive diction, slightly changing the text, amusing himself with cunning shifts in intonation...”
P. S.: On the fourteenth CD, the Švejk, is read by the First-Republic comedian Ferenc Futurista (recorded in January and February 1936). There is also an extract from the 1946’s performance of the avant-garde Větrník Theatre, starring Vlastimil Brodský as the soldier Švejk.
