Late Romantic Czech symphonists

[Gauk]

... after Dvorak - where are they? Foerster with five, Ostrcil and Suk one each. Otherwise there is a bit of a gap until the 1940s, unless you consider Mahler a Czech composer. I feel there must be some neglected figure between Dvorak and Martinu, but I haven't found one. Suggestions?

[Ilja]

Let's not forget Josef Suk's two symphonies.

[Alan Howe]

I can only call to mind Fibich (only his 3rd post-dates Dvorak 9) and Novak (does his May Symphony count?)

[eschiss1]

Novák wrote two or three. Also Rudolf Karel with at least one. Will look further when back in a few hours. (Yes, I know that Schulhoff's symphonies can't be accounted late-Romantic by any stretch, and probably Kaprálová's military sinfonietta either.)

[Balapoel]

Right up my alley...

born between 1841 and 1890

Celansky, Ludvik   1870-1931 (1 symphony)
Chvala, Emanuel   1851-1924 (Z jarních dojmů [Spring Impressions] (symfonietta, 1899)
Fibich, Zdenek   1850-1900 (3 completed symphonies, 4 fragments)
Foerster, Jan Bohuslav   1859-1951 (5 symphonies)
Horn, Kamillo   1860-1941 (2 symphonies)
Janacek, Leos   1854-1928 (sinfonietta)
Karel, Rudolf   1880-1945 (5 symphonies (2 lost): 1904, 1911, 1917, 1924, 1938)
Kubelik, Jan   1880-1940 (1 symphony)
Novak, Vitezslav   1870-1949 (2 symphonies 'May' and 'Autumn')
Ondricek, Frantisek   1857-1922 (may have written a symphony)
Ostrčil, Otakar   1879-1935 (symphony and sinfonietta)
Petrzelka, Villem   1889-1967 (4 symphonies)
Suk, Josef   1874-1935 (2 symphonies)
Tyrrell, Agnes   1846-1883 (1 symphony)
Zavertal, Ladislao   1849-1942 (2 symphonies)

also Slovaks...
Bella, Jan Levoslav   1843-1936 (1 symphony, 1st movement only)
Moyzes, Alexander (1906-1984) (12 symphonies, 6 are tonal)
Schneider-Trnavsky, Mikulas   1881-1958 (1 symphony)

[Mykulh]

As a supplement to the previous post, please check this post that I submitted a number of years ago. Some of these composers definitely fit into the guidelines of this forum while others do not. However, this is an attempt to point out the names of the symphonic composers who carried the traditions of Dvorak, Fibich and Foerster into the midst of the previous century.


Czech Post-Romantic Symphonies

Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884) and Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904) were the founders of the Czech nationalist school of composition. The latter's cycle of nine symphonies is the fount from which later Czech symphonism springs. Zdenĕk Fibich (1850-1900) and Josef Bohuslav Foerster (1859-1951), born in the next decade after Dvořák, composed 3 and 5 symphonies, respectively, but in a less overtly national style. Dvořák's most prominent pupil, Josef Suk (1874-1935), produced 2 symphonies, and, along with his fellow-pupil, Vitĕzslav Novák (1970-1949), became the foremost composition teachers of the following generations. Fibich's pupil, Otakar Ostrčil (1879-1935) composed a Symphony and a Sinfonietta. Leoš Janáček, who also studied briefly with Dvořák, composed a world-famous Sinfonietta as well as a "Danube Symphony" that was reconstructed after his death. All of the above have been recorded and, with Bohuslav Martinů's cycle of 6 Symphonies, constitute the primary recorded Czech national symphonic repertoire. Novák's Autumn Symphony for Chorus and Orchestra (1931-4) and May Symphony for Vocal Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra (1943-5) still await their first commercial recordings.
Symphonies by Czech composers in the post-World War II Communist era have also been well represented on records issued on the Supraphon and Panton labels but only a small fraction of this output has been reissued on CD.
However, there is also another group of composers, born in the very late 19th and very early 20th centuries that might easily be characterized as "the lost generation of Czech symphonists." A few orchestral works by these composers were recorded in the LP era but, with the exceptions indicated below, their symphonies remain almost totally unsung. What follows is information about their symphonic output as well as their teachers of composition.

Vladimir Ambros (1891-1956)
teacher: Janáček
Symphonies Nos. 1 (1941), 2 "Symphony of Nature" (1944), 3 "About the Beautiful Country" (1954), Sinfonietta (1938-9)


Emil Axman (1887-1949)
teacher: Novák
Symphonies Nos. 1 "Tragic" (1926), 2 "Giocosa" (1927), 3 "Spring" (1928), 4 "Eroica" (1932), 5 "Dithyrambic" (1936), 6 "Patriotic" (1942)


Josef Bartovsky (1884-1964)
teacher: Novák
Symphonies Nos.1 in A major (1922) 2 in C sharp minor (1942)


Pavel Bořkovec (1894-1972)
teachers: Foerster, Křička, Suk
Symphonies Nos. 1 in D flat major (1926-7), 2 (1955, recorded), 3 (1959, recorded), Sinfoniettas Nos. 1 for Chamber Orchestra (1945), 2 (1963-4, recorded)


Osvald Chlubna (1893-1971)
teacher: Janáček
Symphonies Nos. 1 "Of Life and Love" (1927), 2 "Brno Symphony" (1946), 3 in G major (1960)


Zdenĕk Folprecht (1909-1961)
teachers: Foerster, Novák
Symphonies Nos. 1 (1937), 2 (1950), 3 (1951), 4 (1959)


Karel Janeček (1903-1974)
teachers: Křička, Novák
Symphonies Nos. 1, Op. 17 (1935-40), 2, Op. 30 (1954-5)


Ottakar Jeremiáš (1892-1962)
teacher: Novák
Symphonies Nos. 1 (1910-11), 2, Op. 30 (1914-5)


Karel Boleslav Jirák (1891-1972)
teacher: Novák, Foerster
Symphonies Nos. 1 in C minor, Op. 10 (1915-6), 2 in F major, Op. 25 (1921-4), 3, Op. 37 (1929-38), 4, Op. 52 "Episodes from an Artist's Life" (1945), 5, Op. 60 (1949, recorded), 6, Op. 90 (1957-70), Sinfonietta for Small Orchestra, Op. 45b (1944)


Rudolf Karel (1880-1945)
teachers: Dvořák, Karel Knittl (1853-1907), Karel Stecker (1861-1918)
Symphony in F minor (1904, lost), Symphony in E flat minor, Op. 15 "Renaissance" (1910-11), Symphony in D major (1917, lost), Symphony for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 20 (1914, rev. 1924), Symphony for Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra, Op. 27 "Resurrection" (1923-7), Symphony in D major, Op. 38 "Spring" (1935-8) (sources are confusing and contradictory)


Miroslav Krejčí (1891-1964)
teacher: Novák
Symphonies Nos. 1in G major, Op. 70 (1944-6), 2 in D major, Op. 90, 3 (1955)


Jaroslav Křička (1882-1969)
teacher: Karel Stecker (1861-1918)
Symphonies (Nos. 1) in D minor "Spring" (1905-6, rev. 1942), 2 (unfinished), Sinfonietta for Strings and Timpani (1940-1)


Jaroslav Kvapil (1892-1958)
teachers: Janáček, Josef Nešvera (1842-1914), Max Reger
Symphonies Nos. 1 (1913-4), 2 (1921), 3 (1936-7), 4 "Victorious" (1943)


Vilém Petrželka (1889-1967)
teachers: Janáček, Novák
Symphony in 3 Movements, Op.13 "The Eternal Return (1922–3), Symphony, Op. 56 (1955-6), Sinfonietta, Op. 38 (1941, recorded), Pastoral Sinfonietta, Op. 51 (1951, recorded)


Jaroslav Řídký (1897-1956)
teachers: Křička, Foerster
Symphonies Nos. 1, Op. 3 (1924), 2 (with obligato cello), Op. 4 (1925), 3, Op. 8 (1927), 4, Op. 10 (1928), 5, Op. 17 (1931), 6, Op. 35 "The Year 1938" (unfinished sketch), 7, Op. 47 (1955, recorded) (1938), Sinfonietta in C minor, Op. 1 (1923)


Boleslav Vomáčka (1887-1965)
teacher: Novák
Symphony in F major, Op. 44 "The Czech Eroica" (1944-6)


Slavá Vorlová (1894-1973)
teachers: Novák, Řídký
Symphony JM (1947-8)


For additional information about Czech symphonies that have been recorded, go to my Discography of East-Central European and Balkan Symphonies at the following address:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/Balkan_discography/ECE_Balkan_Symphonies1.htm

Main sources of information:

(1)  Contemporary Czechoslovak Composers (edited by Čeněk Gardavský). Prague and Bratislav: Panton, 1965.
(2) Slonimsky, Nicolas. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of
Musicians, 8th edition. New York: Schirmer Books, 1992.




 

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Mike.

It looks as though the following might be of particular interest to us here at UC:

Ottakar Jeremiáš (1892-1962)
Symphonies Nos. 1 (1910-11), 2, Op. 30 (1914-5)

Karel Boleslav Jirák (1891-1972)
Symphonies Nos. 1 in C minor, Op. 10 (1915-6), 2 in F major, Op. 25 (1921-4),

Rudolf Karel (1880-1945)
Symphony in F minor (1904, lost), Symphony in E flat minor, Op. 15 "Renaissance" (1910-11), Symphony in D major (1917, lost), Symphony for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 20 (1914, rev. 1924),

Jaroslav Křička (1882-1969)
Symphony (No.1) in D minor "Spring" (1905-6, rev. 1942)

Jaroslav Kvapil (1892-1958)
Symphonies Nos. 1 (1913-4), 2 (1921),

Vilém Petrželka (1889-1967)
Symphony in 3 Movements, Op.13 "The Eternal Return (1922–3),

[TerraEpon]

No mention of Smetana's Triumphal Symphony? Or is it just not 'late' enough?

[Alan Howe]

The original version dates from 1853 so, as you surmise, it's too early...

[Gauk]

Many thanks for these informative replies (I knew I could depend on you).

Fibich I discounted as being really a Dvořak contemporary. Suk, I only know "Asrael", but even if there is another work, I don't think one would class him as a "symphonist" in the same way the Dvořak and Fibich both are. And certainly not Janacek!

Moyzes was a prolific symphonist, but I wouldn't call him Romantic. Neither was Bořkovec.

But some of the names suggested below look most interesting.

Has anyone actually heard either of Novak's symphonies? I have read about them, but always suspected there is a good reason they are not better known.

[eschiss1]

A radio broadcast, I think, of the Majova symphony was uploaded here, and can be heard on Youtube (I think it's the same one- it's a recording of it, anycase). As to the other - a multi-video recording of his Spring Symphony (Podzimni symfonie) Op.62 (Ancerl, cond.) starts with the first half of the first movement, here. this suggests that the Ancerl was perhaps a radio broadcast with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra from the last years of the 1940s (doesn't prove it, though). (If so, it's from 1948: see here.) However, the video description gives a different orchestra, I think. Hrm. ...

[Balapoel]

Moyzes was a prolific symphonist, but I wouldn't call him Romantic. Neither was Bořkovec.

Has anyone actually heard either of Novak's symphonies? I have read about them, but always suspected there is a good reason they are not better known.

You should reconsider Moyzes' early symphonies. They are quite romantic. You are partially right in that his later symphonies use a more modern idiom.

I have recordings of all of Novak's orchestral works (except one of the ballets and Svatováclavský triptych), and they bear hearing. The Autumn Symphony's first movement is passionate, with great brass work. The Bacchanale is quite folksy, and the last movement does remind me of Dvorak with intensity (and to a lesser extent sweetness) though it is a bit more rhapsodic.

Here's a review of the first two symphonies by Moyzes:
The First Symphony is cast in four movements and has a duration of 41:11, with only one brief movement – the Scherzo third (5:19). The first movement is a powerful post-Romantic statement, full of color and drama. The ensuing Adagio is deftly orchestrated and offers perhaps the deepest music, though I wouldn't characterize it as profound. Rachmaninoff and early Sibelius may come to mind here, but in his slight exoticism and Slovak nature Moyzes still sounds sufficiently different from them. The Scherzo is a delightful playful movement, especially in its last half, and the finale, after a slow opening, delivers a powerful and colorful close. The orchestration in this last movement is particularly imaginative and brilliant. When Moyzes revised this symphony in 1937 he designated it his "Opus 31", thus accounting for the higher numbering than that of the Second, which retained the same opus number when it was reworked.

Speaking of the A minor Symphony (1932; rev. 1941), it is cast in two long movements, both bearing Allegro markings, though there is slow music within each. It is another finely-crafted work, featuring an opening that is probably coincidentally similar in style to the music of Vaughan Williams and Bax. On the whole, the symphony is quite inventive and colorful, again in a conservative vein. It is rather episodic, but generally quite effectively so.
http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/m/mpl25088a.php

[Alan Howe]

I'll double check the idiom of the Moyzes symphonies...

[Balapoel]

Good grief. We'll all wait while you do...

And besides, I'll take the word of a professional music journalist (and my own ears) in any case.

[Alan Howe]

Mark and I have had a chat this morning and we're bound to say that, as it's our job as moderators to police the borders of UC's remit, 'good grief' hardly comes over as a helpful response. And I'll just say here that we have also had many a conversation 'behind the scenes' about this particular issue - and in the end it is we who have to make the decisions (in hopefully as informed a manner as possible).

In any case, I was happy to check out Moyzes' music again (I hadn't listened to him for a long time) - and I find that, while Symphony No.1 is located on the outer limits of our remit, No.2 is already beginning to move in a more dissonant direction (despite some nicely romantic passages). So, that's the ruling. Now let's move on...