A registered charity, The Czech Handel Society (Česká Händelova společnost, z.s.) is a voluntary and independent special-interest association of individual persons that strives, under present conditions, for as wide a promotion as possible of the work of the composer George Frideric Handel (1685‒1759).
The Society constitutes a legal body and works on the basis of the Czech legal regulations.
The seat of The Czech Handel Society is Prague, capital of the Czech Republic.
The Society develops its activities on the territory of Bohemia and Moravia, which does not, however, exclude its participation in Handelian movements outside the said territory, as well.
The fiscal year coincides with the civil one.
The Society sets itself the aim, in keeping with the latest scientific knowledge and in the spirit of humanism, to acquaint the culturally-minded public with the life, work and heritage of George Frideric Handel.
For this purpose it especially supports, as far as is possible, the introduction of his compositions and scientific research concerning Handelian questions. On its own it also endeavours to organize public programmes of recorded music, live concerts and specialized lectures. From a wider viewpoint it includes Handel's life-time, his musical contemporaries and also other areas of baroque creativity. It carefully keeps under review the results of Czech and foreign Handelian investigations and, likewise, the introduction of the Master's compositions in the Czech Republic and abroad. It takes the initiative in collaborating with kindred foreign societies. It also searches for possible connections, both direct and indirect ones, between Handel and the Czech lands.
Any individual person of eighteen years or over of Czech citizenship who takes an interest in Handel's work and is ready to participate in realizing the objectives of the Society may become a member of The Czech Handel Society.
For admission of a member a written request shall be made to the Committee of the Society, and this submitted request cannot be dismissed without the reasons being stated.
Members can withdraw from the Society at any time with the stipulation that the membership fee already paid for the given fiscal year shall not be returned.
A member may be deprived of membership by the Committee if he/she has not paid a subscription for two or more consecutive years and has not repaid that within 30 days of the delivery of a previous written request from the Society or has acted at variance with the objectives of the Society; this would take immediate effect.
The Committee is also entitled to grant membership to foreign citizens, especially those who are in an outstanding manner credited with the present-day renaissance of Handel's heritage.
Distinguished personalities working in the sphere of Handelian movements, science and interpretation can be accorded, regardless of their citizenship, an honorary membership. Honorary members are exempt from paying membership fees. Each member of The Czech Handel Society shall receive a membership card. The right is conferred upon him/her of taking part in members' meetings, sharing preferentially in the actions of the Society and being informed about these actions sufficiently in advance. The Society maintains a record on members consisting of individual membership sheets.
Each membership sheet contains basic personal data and records of defrayed membership fees. On a request placed with the chairman of the Society, members can look into their membership sheet or receive a copy. The sheets of members whose membership has been terminated shall remain filed permanently.
The Society reserves the right to communicate with members and assert claims against them exclusively via the e-mail address or data box listed for each member in the members' records.
Organs of The Czech Handel Society are Members' Meeting and the Committee.
In relation to the state authorities, legal bodies and individual persons the Society is represented by its Chairman, who is the statutory representative, or another member of the Committee delegated by the Chairman, usually the Secretary.
A Members' Meeting of The Czech Handel Society takes place as a rule once a year.
It is called together in writing by the chairman of the Society, and at least one month's notice must be given.
The invitation shall be sent to all members of the Society by electronic mail to the e-mail address or to the data box that the member of the Society has notified for these purposes and is listed in the member's record.
A Member's Meeting constitutes the highest organ of the Society. It can adopt decisions if a quorum of the Society is present. A quorum shall consist of more than a quarter of all members. The Members' Meeting elects and recalls the Committee and also substitute Committee members, approves the constitution and determines its changes.
Alongside to electing the Committee, the members' assembly may also elect substitutes who would take over the position of the Committee member in the event that the position of the Committee member of the elected person ceases to exist.
Furthermore, it gives its opinion on matters that have been put forth by the Committee, and is authorized to charge the Committee with producing exhaustive information about all matters concerning the Society. If grave doubts should arise on the correctness of management, the Members' Meeting shall appoint a revising commission of at least three members and endow it with the relevant jurisdiction.
Decisions of the Members' Meeting are taken by the absolute majority of the members present. If the constitution or its changes are at stake, a two-third majority of the votes is needed.
Votes of all members have the same weight.
Participation and voting at the members' assembly using technical means is permitted, exclusively video conferencing, Internet communication means or telecommunications operator services, exclusively those that enable the transmission of the members' assembly and two-way communication in real time and at the same time enable audiovisual transmission so that the identity of the member participating in the members' assembly can be verified.
Decision-making outside the members' assembly is permitted. The Committee may propose in writing that the members of the Society decide on matters that fall within the competence of the members' assembly. The Committee shall send the proposal to the members of the Society by electronic mail to the e-mail address or to the data box that the member of the Society has notified for these purposes and is listed in the members' register. The proposal must contain at least a draft decision (resolution), the documents necessary for its assessment or information where they are published, and information about the deadline within which the member of the Society is to express his/her opinion. The deadline for expressing his/her opinion is fifteen days. For the vote to be valid, a statement by the Society member, stating the day, month and year when it was made, signed by hand on a document containing the full text of the draft resolution, is required. A Society member is authorized to deliver a copy of the signed document to the Society via e-mail or data box. The Committee shall notify the Society members in writing of the result of the vote, and if the resolution was adopted, it shall also notify them of the entire content of the adopted resolution. The majority is calculated from the total number of all Society members. The Committee is authorized to decide in individual cases (especially in cases where the law requires it) to change the method of voting outside the meeting, including the form of voting and delivery between the members and the Society. In such a case, the Committee shall inform the members of the Society in writing in advance of this change.
Members of the Committee are elected for a period of five years.
The Committee consists of at least five members, including the chairman, the secretary and the technical director; members of the Committee elect these officials from among themselves.
The Committee, called together by the chairman according to necessity, steers the activities of the Society during the period between the members' meetings. Decisions are taken by the absolute majority of all its members.
In the event of a tie, the vote of the chairman shall be decisive; if the position of chairman has ceased to exist, the vote of the secretary shall be decisive.
Participation and voting in Committee meetings shall be permitted using technical means, exclusively videoconferencing, Internet communication means or telecommunications operator services, exclusively those that enable the transmission of Committee meetings and two-way communication in real time and at the same time enable audiovisual transmission in such a way that the identity of the Committee member participating in the Committee meeting can be verified.
In the event of the termination of the membership of any of the Committee members, the previously elected substitute shall take over.
In the event that a substitute cannot fill a vacant position on the Committee, the Committee reserves itself the right of co-opting, until the end of its active period, new members.
The lowest possible membership fee, covering always the given fiscal year, is fixed by the Committee of the Society with allowance for the current state of the Czech economy.
The right is conferred upon members of the Society of rejecting the proposed figure if this is expressed, in writing or by voting, by an absolute majority of all members of the Society.
During the fiscal year the lowest possible membership fee is not liable to any change.
Members admitted to the Society in the months of November and December are excused from paying the membership fee for the current fiscal year. Members admitted to the Society within the period from January to the end of October pay, for the current fiscal year, the full membership fee, and that at the latest one month after the reception of the membership card.
If the membership is valid from the 1st January, the membership fee shall be defrayed not later than the end of March of the given year.
In the case of urgent financial needs the Committee can ask the members for an extraordinary special-purpose fee. This fee is entirely voluntary; its payment depends on the personal decision of each individual member of the Society.
Foreign members provide their membership fee in an optional amount and in optional currency.
The Czech currency is kept by the Society in an account with a bank or a savings-bank; foreign currencies are deposited in an exchange banking account.
The value of voluntary donations for the benefit of The Czech Handel Society is not limited.
The Czech Handel Society serves solely for universally beneficial purposes.
Any material income can therefore be disposed of only in keeping with statute No. 3 of this constitution.
Any personal profit passing to individual members to the detriment of the Society is inadmissible.
The Czech Handel Society shall be dissolved if such a wish is manifested, in writing or by voting, by at least three quarters of all its members.
The liquidation surplus shall be transferred to cultural and scientific purposes.
Before the actual termination of the activities of the Society the members' meeting shall decide on the concrete manner of the property settlement.
If this is not done by the members' meeting, it shall be incumbent on the Committee of the Society to do so.
The Constitution of The Czech Handel Society was approved at the members' meeting of The Czech Handel Society in Prague on October 7th, 2025.