Abstract
The leading Czech composer Jiří Teml celebrated a significant anniversary on June 24 2020 and celebrated his 85th birthday. The names of compositions in his extensive list of works testify to the popularity of themes from the visual, literary and theatrical arts that inspire his work as well as spiritual themes and folklore.
It was folklore that played a very important role in shaping Teml's distinctive musical speech and became its typical feature, a kind of logo of his work. The paper traces the way back to the sources of folklore inspirations in the work of Jiří Teml, focusing on the use of folklore in its various forms and its role in shaping contemporary Czech music.