Robert Kurka

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Robert Frank Kurka (born December 22, 1921 in Cicero (Illinois) , † December 12, 1957 in New York City ) was an American composer .

Kurka learned the violin , did extensive self-study in composition and became a student of Otto Luening and Darius Milhaud . From 1948 to 1951 he taught at the City College of New York , later at Queens and Dartmouth College . Kurka received the Guggenheim grant .

He became known to a wide audience with the opera The Good Soldier Schweik based on Jaroslav Hašek's Der brave Soldat Schwejk , which premiered on April 23, 1958 in the New York City Opera . In addition, he wrote 2 symphonies, concert music, chamber music, choral music and piano pieces.

Kurka died of leukemia in 1957 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Horst Seeger : Musiklexikon Personen AZ / Deutscher Verlag für Musik Leipzig (1981), page 434