Karel Husa

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Karel Husa (born August 7, 1921 in Prague , † December 14, 2016 in Apex , North Carolina ) was an American composer of Czech origin.

Life

He studied from 1939 at the Prague Conservatory with Jaroslav Řídký and conducting with Metod Doležil and Pavel Dědeček and at the Prague Music Academy and graduated in 1947. In 1947 he completed his studies in Paris at the Conservatoire de Paris and the Ecole normal de musique . His teachers included Arthur Honegger and Nadia Boulanger for composition , André Cluytens , Eugène Bigot and Jean Fournet for conducting.

In 1954 he became Professor of Composition and Music Theory at Cornell University in Ithaca , New York State, and stayed there until 1992. He also taught composition at Ithaca College . In 1974 he became an elected member of the Royal Belgian Academy of Fine Arts and Sciences . He has also received honorary doctorates several times, including from Coe College , the Cleveland Institute of Music , Ithaca College and Baldwin Wallace College .

In 1959 he became a US citizen.

Both he personally and his works have received numerous prizes and awards. With his String Quartet No. 3 he received the well-known Pulitzer Prize in 1969 and the Grawemeyer Award in 1993 for his cello concerto . In 1994 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters .

His Music for Prague 1968 , with over 7000 performances worldwide, is part of the modern repertoire of good symphonic wind orchestras. In Germany, the Stadtkapelle Wangen was the first to make Karel Husa's music known (and with “Music for Prague 1968” and “Al Fresco” it won several national and international music prizes). Husa made a symphony orchestral version of his “Music for Prague 1968” himself and fulfilled a long-awaited dream when he was able to perform this version on February 13, 1990 in Prague with the Czech Philharmonic.

He has conducted almost all major orchestras in New York , Boston and Washington, DC, as well as those in Paris, London , Prague, Zurich , Hong Kong and Singapore . Every year he visited around 20 universities for guest conducting and as a lecturer for his music.

Henrique de Curitiba is one of the well-known composers who studied with Husa .

Works

Works for orchestra

  • 1948 Divertimento for String Orchestra
    1. Overture
    2. Aria
    3. final
  • 1949 Concertino per klavír a orchestr opus 10
  • 1953 First Symphony
  • 1956–1957 Fantasies for Orchestra
    1. Aria
    2. Capriccio
    3. nocturne
  • 1961 Mosaïques for Orchestra
  • 1963 Fresque
  • 1971 Two Sonnets by Michelangelo
  • 1978 An American Te Deum for Chorus and Orchestra
  • 1979 pastoral
  • 1983 Reflections - Symphony No. 2
  • 1984 Symphonic Suite
  • 1986 Concerto for Orchestra
  • 1987 Concerto for Organ and Orchestra
  • 1987 Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra
  • 1988 Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra
  • 1993 Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
  • 1996 Celebration Fanfare
  • 1997 Celebración
  • 1990 Overture "Youth"
  • Concerto for Brass-Quintet and String Orchestra
  • Evocations de Slovaquie
  • Elegie et Rondeau for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra
  • Overture for Large Orchestra opus 3
  • Portrait for String Orchestra
  • Serenade for Woodwind Quintet with String Orchestra, Xylophone and Harp

Works for wind orchestra

  • 1955/1964 Festive Ode for chorus and wind band - Text: Eric Blackall
  • 1958 Divertimento for Brass Ensemble and Percussion
  • 1967 Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Concert Band
  • 1968 Music for Prague 1968 for Concert Band
    1. Introduction and Fanfare
    2. Aria
    3. Interlude
    4. Toccata and Chorale
  • 1970 Apotheosis of this Earth
    1. Apotheosis
    2. Tragedy of Destruction
    3. Postscript
  • 1970–1971 Concerto for Percussion and Wind Ensemble
  • 1973 Concerto for Trumpet and Wind Orchestra
  • 1973 Al Fresco for Concert Band
  • 1974/1995 Divertimento for Symphonic Winds and Percussion
  • 1976 An American Te Deum for Chorus and Band Text: Henry David Thoreau , Ole Rølvaag , Otokar Březina , folk, traditional, and liturgical sources
  • 1980 Intradas and Interludes for 7 trumpets and percussion
  • 1981 Fanfare for ensemble of brass and percussion
  • 1982 Concerto for (Large) Wind Ensemble (1982)
  • 1984 Concertino for Piano and Wind Ensemble
  • 1984 Smetana Fanfare for Wind Ensemble
  • 1996 Midwest Celebration (Fanfare) for Three Choirs of Brass and Percussion
  • 1997 Les Couleurs Fauves

Stage works

  • 1974 The Steadfast Tin Soldier Ballet, from the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale
  • 1976 Monodrama Ballet
  • 1980 The Trojan Women Ballet

Other works

  • 1945 Suite opus 5, for viola and piano
  • 1945 Sonatina opus 6, for violin and piano (also for flute and piano)
  • 1956 Twelve Moravian Songs for voice and piano
  • 1958 Divertimento for ensemble of brass and percussion
  • 1960 Poem for Viola and Chamber Orchestra, Oboe, Horn and Piano
  • 1968 String Quartet No. 3
  • 1973 Sonata for violin and piano
  • 1974 Divertimento for brass quintet, with optional percussion
  • 1976 Drum Ceremony for 5 percussion
  • 1977 Landscapes for brass quintet
  • 1979 Three Dance Sketches for percussion
  • 1981 Sonata à tre for clarinet, violin, and piano
  • 1982 Recollections for wind quintet and piano
  • 1983 Cantata for male chorus and brass quintet - Text: Edwin Arlington Robinson , Emily Dickinson , Walt Whitman
  • 1990 String Quartet No. 4 ("Poems")
  • 1992 Cayuga Lake (Memories)
  • 1992 Tubafest Celebration Fanfare for tuba quartet
  • 1994 Five Poems for wind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, basson, horn)
  • 1997 Postcard from Home for alto saxophone and piano
  • 2000 Song (Good Night) for a cappella SATB chorus
  • Musique d'amateurs for oboe, trumpet and strings

Works for organ

  • 1987 Frammenti

Works for piano

  • 1943 Sonatina opus 1
  • 1975 Sonata No. 2
  • 1984 Variations for piano quartet

Choral music

  • 1976 There Are From Time To Time Mornings for baritone voice and mixed chorus a cappella
  • 1981 Every Day for mixed chorus a cappella
  • 1981 Three Moravian Songs for mixed chorus a cappella
  • 2000 Song (Good Night) for a cappella SATB chorus

literature

  • Byron Adams: Karel Husa's Music for Prague 1968. An Interpretative Analysis . In: The Instrumentalist . 42, 1987, ZDB -ID 1254768-2 , pp. 19-24.
  • Lawrence W. Hartzell: Karel Husa. The Man and the Music . In: Musical Quarterly 62, 1976, ISSN  0027-4631 , pp. 87-104
  • Susan Hayes Hitchens: Karel Husa. A Bio-Bibliography . Greenwood Press, New York NY et al. 1991, ISBN 0-313-25585-7 , ( Bio-bibliographies in music 31).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karel Husa (1921-2016) - Schott Music . In: Schott Music . December 15, 2016 ( schott-music.com [accessed December 15, 2016]).
  2. ↑ Members: Karel Husa. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed April 5, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Husa, Karel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American composer and professor
DATE OF BIRTH August 7, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague , Czechoslovakia
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 2016
Place of death Apex, North Carolina