Eugen Suchoň

Memorial plaque for Eugen Suchoň by Roman Hrčka in Piestany

Eugen Suchoň (born September 25, 1908 in Pezinok , Kingdom of Hungary, today Slovakia, † August 5, 1993 in Bratislava , Slovakia) was a Slovak composer .

Life

Eugen Suchoň was born in Pezinok (German Bösing ) near Bratislava (Pressburg). At the age of twelve he began his musical studies, which soon led him to the newly founded Music Academy in Bratislava and later to the Music Academy in Prague . Soon after completing his studies, he was appointed professor of music theory. For over fifty years, Suchoň shaped Slovak music as a teacher and composer, assigning it a place between late romantic and avant-garde with his works and theoretical studies. In this sense, Suchoň's work is not hermetic, but characterized by constant development.

Typical of his early works is the Sonatina for Violin and Piano, Op. 11. This was written in the mid-1930s. On the one hand, the work is influenced by the French Impressionist School, and in its elegance and introversion it bears traits of Maurice Ravel ; on the other hand, Suchoň uses elements of Slovak folklore. In its processing, the three-movement piece is an examination of the model Antonín Dvořák .

During the war years Suchoň worked on his first opera, Krútňava, which he did not finish until 1948. The sum of the impressions from the war and the beginning of the Stalinist dictatorship, as well as the turning point caused by the long operatic work, established a new quality in Suchoň's works.

After works that are closely related to the composer's Slovak origins in terms of musical aesthetics and ideology, another, transcendental-metaphysical component has now gained in importance. Suchoň wrote works such as the Metamorphoses op. 14, the song cycle Ad Astra op. 16 or the Poème macabre op. 17. This composition is a musical exploration of the philosophical concepts of life and death. They take on an almost programmatic shape in the moving and impressive work.

Web links

• Works by and about Eugen Suchoň in the catalog of the German National Library