Jaroslav Křička

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Jaroslav Křička (right) and conductor George Szell during the performance of Křička's opera Spuk im Schloß or Evil Times for Ghosts in the New German Theater , Prague , April 1932.

Jaroslav Křička (born August 27, 1882 in Kelč , † January 23, 1969 in Prague ) was a Czech composer , conductor and music teacher . He was the brother of the poet Petr Křička .

Live and act

Jaroslav Křička was born into the family of the village cantor and headmaster František Křička (1848-1891) in Kelč as the eldest of three siblings. His mother's name was Františka Křičková (1861-1936). His brother Petr Křička (1884-1949) later became a well-known poet, his sister Pavla Křičková (1886-1972) became a writer. The father encouraged his children's musical education very much, and Jaroslav received violin, piano and singing lessons as a child.

He attended high school in Havlíčkův Brod and graduated from high school in 1900. As a high school student he founded his own singing quartet, string quartet and school orchestra and began to compose. After graduating from high school, he moved to Prague and studied at the Prague Conservatory from 1902 to 1905 . When Josef Klicka he learned organ , instrument teaching, harmony and score reading at Karel Knittl the conducting and Karel plug composition . His musical role models were the Czech classics Antonín Dvořák , Bedřich Smetana and Zdeněk Fibich and later also the representatives of Czech modernism, Vítězslav Novák and Josef Suk .

After studying for a year in Berlin (1905–1906), he moved to Russia (1906–1909) for three years and taught music theory, harmony and chamber play at the Imperial Music School in Yekaterinoslav . There he founded an orchestra with which he performed works by Antonín Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana. In Russia he made friends with the composers Alexander Glazunov and Sergei Taneyev . Jaroslav Křička was impressed by Russian poetry and Russian music, especially the composers Michail Glinka and Modest Mussorgski gave him significant impulses for his own work. Many compositions were written in Yekaterinoslav, including one of his most famous songs, Albatros , from the Severní noci (Nights in the North) cycle . Mussorgski's nursery rhyme cycles inspired him to compose his own nursery rhymes.

From 1909 he lived in Prague. From 1911 to 1920 he directed the Prague Choir Hlahol . With Hlahol he studied numerous works by contemporary Czech composers such as Leoš Janáčeks , Vítězslav Nováks, Otakar Jeremiáš 'and also directed the premiere of Novák's cantata Svatební košile (The Wedding Shirt) , op.48 . During this time he was working on his first major work - of the opera Hipolyt . From 1911 he represented Karel Stecker at the Prague Conservatory and after his death in 1919 he was appointed full professor of composition at the Conservatory.

On October 14, 1918, he married the pianist and singer in the Hlahol Choir, Marie Krbová, a student of Josef Bohuslav Foerster . Together with his student Jaroslav Řídký, Křička directed the Philharmonic Choir of the Czech Philharmonic from 1922 to 1930 . From 1942 to 1945, during the critical period of the Second World War and the German occupation , he was the rector of the conservatory.

During his many years of teaching at the conservatory, Jaroslav Křička trained many composers, including Jaroslav Řídký , Karel Hába , Emil Hlobil , Karel Janeček, Václav Trojan, Ján Cikker , Jan Kapr and Jarmil Burghauser . He spent the end of his life in the quiet surroundings of the foothills of the Bohemian Forest , in the village of Červené Dvorce near Sušice . Here he devoted himself only to composing.

He is buried in the Vyšehrad cemetery in Prague.

Honors

Jaroslav Křička was elected a member of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1921, and in 1957 he received the honorary title of Honored Artist (Zasloužilý umělec) . The Křička Brothers Museum is located in his hometown of Kelč .

Works

Jaroslav Křička's work encompasses almost all musical genres, according to the composer, "from passion music to operetta". The focus is on vocal and vocal-instrumental compositions. In addition to song cycles and cantatas , he also composed operas , operettas , theater music, symphonies , string quartets and chamber music works. The compositions for children are significant and unique in his time; he wrote numerous children's song cycles and the first Czech children's opera , Ogaři (1918). At the end of the silent film era , his collaboration with film began. In 1929 he wrote the music for the historical film Svatý Václav , which was filmed for the millennium of the death of the Bohemian patron. After 1945 he also composed several operettas.

He wrote many essays on music and regularly published articles in the music magazines Hudební revue and Hudební rozhledy .

Song cycles

  • Severní noci , op. 14 (1909/1910) - “Nights in the North”, four songs based on poems by Konstantin Balmont . 1. Albatros, 2. Labuť, 3. Ukolébavka, 4. U skandinávských Skal
  • O lásce a smrti , op. 15 (1910) - “About love and death”, four songs based on texts by Konstantin Balmont
  • Písně rozchodu , op. 19 (1916) - “Farewell Songs”, four songs based on texts by Otakar Theer .
  • Tři bajky pro soprán a klavír (1917) - “Three fables for soprano and piano” based on fairy tales from Božena Němcová and Afanasjev's fables
  • Jaro pacholátko , op. 29 (1919) - three recitatives for a high voice and piano
  • Jiříčkovy písničky , op. 36 (1917, 1922–1923) - collection of children's songs
  • Daniny písničky a říkadla , op. 49 (1928) - children's songs and rhymes for toddlers
  • Míšovy písničky (1932) - collection of children's songs
  • Naše paní Božena Němcová , op. 112 (1954) - five songs for mezzo-soprano and orchestra based on texts by František Halas .

Cantatas

  • Pokušení na poušti , op. 34 (1922) - “Temptation in the Desert”, cantata for soloists, choir, orchestra and organ based on the Gospel of Matthew , text from the Kralitz Bible
  • Studentské vzpomínky - “Student Memories”, cantata for solos, choir and orchestra
  • Tyrolské elegie , op. 52 (1930) - “Tiroler Elegien”, cantata for soloists, male choir and orchestra based on a poem by Karel Havlíček Borovský
  • Moravská kantáta , op. 65 (1935) - “Moravian cantata” for small solos, mixed choir and orchestra
  • Valašská jitřní mše (1941) - “Wallachian Morning Mass” for solos, mixed choir and orchestra based on a text by František Táborský
  • Requiem in memoriam fratris dilectissimi , op. 96 (1949) - in memory of his brother Petr

Orchestral works

  • 1st symphony in d minor ("Jarní") (1905) - "Spring Symphony"
  • 2nd symphony in a minor ("Letní") (1907) - "Summer Symphony "
  • Modrý pták , op. 16 (1911) - "Blue Bird", overture to the fairy tale by Maurice Maeterlinck .
  • Adventus , op.33 (1921)
  • Horácká suita , op.63 (1936) - won 3rd prize in the composers' competition for the 1936 Summer Olympics

Chamber music

  • 1st string quartet in D major ("Ruský") (1907)
  • Divertimento Novodvorico (1921) - Serenade for a string quartet
  • Sonata in E minor for violin and piano , op. 40 ("Památce Jana Štursy") (1925) - "In memory of Jan Štursa "
  • Piano trio , op. 38 ("Malé domácí trio") (1934)
  • 2nd string quartet in E minor (1938)
  • 3rd string quartet ("Valašský") (1949)

Incidental music

Incidental music by Jaroslav Křička

  • Zmoudření Dona Quijota , op. 18 (1914) - “The Entanglement of Don Quixote ”, music for the play by Viktor Dyk
  • Hipolyta , op.20 (1916) - Opera, premiere in the National Theater on October 10, 1917
  • Ogaři , op. 27 (1918) - “Shepherd Boy”, children's opera based on texts by Ozef Kalda
  • Bílý pán aneb Těžko se dnes duchům straší , op. 50 (1929) - "Haunted Castle or Bad Times for Ghosts", musical comedy based on the novella by Oscar Wilde The Ghost of Canterville
  • Tlustý pradědeček, lupiči a detektývové aneb Dobře to dopadlo , op. 56 (1932) - "The fat great-grandfather, robber and detectives or It is well done", a musical play for children
  • České jesličky , op. 69 (1937) - "Czech Nativity", Christmas Singspiel
  • Hra na květinky. Aoieu, jaro již je tu! , op. 71 (1937) - “Flower game. Spring is already here! ”, Singspiel for children's choirs
  • Král Lávra , op. 73 (1939) - “King Lávra”, sung ballet based on a poem by Karel Havlíček Borovský
  • Psaníčko na cestách , op. 79 (1941) - “The little letter on the move”, a children's song based on a fairy tale by Karel Čapek
  • Jáchym a Juliana , op. 90 (1948) - “Joachim and Juliane”, opera
  • Zahořanský hon , op. 98a (1949) - “The Hunt in Zahořany”, musical comedy based on a story by Alois Jirásek
  • Český Paganini aneb Slavík a Chopin (1951) - "Czech Paganini or Slavík and Chopin", operetta
  • Kolébka , op. 101 (1950) - "The Cradle", musical comedy with songs and dances based on a story by Alois Jirásek .
  • Tichý dům , op. 105 (1952) - "The silent house", an operetta based on a story by Jan Neruda
  • Polka vítězí , op. 111 (1954) - “Polka wins”, operetta
  • Cirkus Humberto , op.118 (1955) - Operetta
  • Kalhoty (1962) - "The Pants", Singspiel
  • Pohádka o 12 měsíčkách (1962) - “The Tale of the 12 Months ”, a musical play for school children based on a fairy tale by Božena Němcová
  • Dvě komedie televizní: 1. Měsíc divů; 2. Šlechetný kasař aneb s poctivostí nejdál dojdeš (1963) - “Two TV comedies: 1. The Miracle Month ; 2. The noble box office thief or honest lasts the longest ”, two opera miniatures

Film music

Film music by Jaroslav Křička

  • Svatý Václav (1929)
  • Naši furianti (1937)
  • Cech panen kutnohorských (1938)
  • Jarní píseň (1944)
  • Nikola Šuhaj (1947)
  • Štika v rybníce (1951)

literature

  • Ondřej Maňour:  Křička, Jaroslav. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 10 (Kemp - Lert). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2003, ISBN 3-7618-1120-9 , Sp. 712–715 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  • Jaromíra Trojanová: Jaroslav Křička: personální bibliography . Státní vědecká knihovna, Brno 1984 (Czech, 81 pages).

Web links

Commons : Jaroslav Křička  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Blanka Bartoňová: Křička, Jaroslav. In: Český hudební slovník osob a institucí. October 12, 2017, accessed May 25, 2020 (Czech).
  2. ↑ Petr Křička. In: osobnostivalasska.cz. November 20, 2019, accessed May 25, 2020 (Czech).
  3. ↑ Pavla Homolková-Křičková. In: osobnostivalasska.cz. November 20, 2019, accessed May 25, 2020 (Czech).
  4. ↑ a b Křička Jaroslav. In: musica.cz. 2017, archived from the original on September 12, 2014 ; accessed on May 25, 2020 (Czech).
  5. ↑ Grave of the composer Jaroslav Křička in the Vyšehrad cemetery, section 5, grave no. 101. (jpg graphic; 1.2 MB) In: Správa pražských hřbitovů. January 1, 2012, accessed May 25, 2020 (Czech).
  6. ↑ Muzeum bratří Křičků v Kelči. In: CzechTourism kudyznudy.cz. (Czech). Museum of the Křička Brothers in Kelč.
  7. ↑ Jaroslav Křička. In: fdb.cz. (Czech).
  8. ↑ Křička, Jaroslav, stage work. In: operone.de.
  9. ↑ Jaroslav Křička. In: filmovyprehled.cz. 2018 (Czech).;
personal data
SURNAME Křička, Jaroslav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak composer
DATE OF BIRTH August 27, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Kelč , Moravia
DATE OF DEATH 23rd January 1969
Place of death Prague