Jaroslav Ježek (composer)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jaroslav Ježek (right) in 1938 with the pianist Jiří Traxler

Jaroslav Ježek (born September 25, 1906 in Prague , Czech Republic , † January 1, 1942 in New York , NY ) was a Czech composer between popular music and modern music.

His health was in poor health from a very early age, at the age of three he went blind in the right eye, the left eye has always been affected by cataracts. He also became hard of hearing from scarlet fever. Its activity is mainly linked to the legendary Prague stage ( Osvobozené divadlo ) "Liberated Theater". After studying at the Prague Conservatory and subsequent master classes with Josef Suk and Alois Hába, as well as a six-month study visit to Paris, he came to the “Liberated Theater”. His compositions based on texts by Jan Werich and Jiří Voskovec became an integral part of the revue-like performances in the Osvobozené divadlo. They are extremely popular in the Czech Republic to this day.

As a musical avant-garde, he has remained rather unknown. He wrote about 30 compositions which, like Erwin Schulhoff or Pavel Haas, identify him as a typical representative of Czech modernism. Ježek's main importance, however, lies in the field of jazz music, which he has conveyed to a broad public in Czechoslovakia through his own work and through interpretation of the music of other composers . From 1928 to 1938 he composed for a total of 30 theater performances in Osvobozené divadlo, where he worked as music director - composer, music arranger, conductor and pianist rolled into one. In 1936 RA Dvorský published his complete works in his publishing house.

As an employee of a decidedly anti-fascist stage, Ježek emigrated to the USA on January 8, 1939, together with Werich and Voskovec, where he died on January 1, 1942 in Cornell Hospital in New York after a serious illness.

literature

  • Václav Holzknecht: Jaroslav Ježek a Osvobozené divadlo . Státní nakladatelství krásné literatury, hudby a umění, Prague 1957, (with catalog raisonné and bibliography).
  • Han Pospěchová (ed.): Stále se mi zdá, jako když Tě hledám. Dopisy J. Ježka Míle Ledererové . Opus Musicum, Brno 1998, ISBN 80-9003143-9 , ( Knižnice Opus musicum 10).
  • Jaromíra Trojanová: Jaroslav Ježek. Soupis díla z fondů Státní vědecké knihovny . Státní vědecké knihovny, Brno 1981.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ježek, Jaroslav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech composer
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague
DATE OF DEATH January 1, 1942
Place of death New York City