Václav Riedlbauch

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Portrait of Václav Riedlbauch (mid-2013)

Václav Riedlbauch (born April 1, 1947 in Dýšina near Pilsen , † November 3, 2017 in Prague ) was a Czech composer, university professor, cultural manager and politician. Riedlbauch wrote orchestral works, an organ concert, chamber and vocal music, and compositions for children.

biography

Václav Riedlbauch grew up in Strakonice , where he is also buried. He was one of 6 children of the mechanical engineer Rudolf Riedlbauch (1914–2003) and his wife Veronika Riedlbauchová (1922–1984). His siblings are:

  • the academic painter and art teacher Rudolf Riedlbauch, (born June 14, 1944 in Dýšina);
  • the industrial engineer Anna Černíková (née Riedlbauch, born September 14, 1945 in Dýšina);
  • the flutist, poet, music teacher and professor at the Prague Conservatory Jan Riedlbauch (born November 29, 1948 in Strakonice);
  • the first violinist of the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK Josef Riedlbauch (born September 2, 1950 in Strakonice);
  • the violinist Marie Vaňková (born Riedlbauch, born January 30, 1957 in Strakonice), who plays in several orchestras. Her husband is the bassoon player Lumír Vaněk.

Václav Riedlbauch was married to the musicologist and music editor Yvetta Koláčková (born December 16, 1958 in Bohumin ).

Education

From 1962–1968 Riedlbauch studied accordion with Josef Smetana and composition with Zdeněk Hůla at the Prague Conservatory . This was followed by further studies in composition at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (AMU). He belonged to Václav Dobiáš's class and graduated here in 1973. This was followed by master composition courses at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena with Franco Donatoni and with Witold Lutosławski and Tomasz Sikorski at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland .

University professor

During his studies at the AMU, Riedlbauch taught at the Prague Conservatory from 1970 and continued this teaching activity until 1978. At the same time, from 1971, before completing his studies there, he worked as an assistant professor in the composition department within the music faculty of the AMU. In 1978 he was appointed associate professor there and in 1985 a lecturer. Since 2000 he was a professor there. From 1990 to 2004 Riedlbauch headed the composition department of the music faculty of the AMU and from 1996 to 2000 also its concert department. According to Ivan Kurz , it is largely thanks to Riedlbauch's work during this time that the cultural public became aware of the Prague Liechtenstein Palais as a new music venue, where the faculty's concert life could take place in historical performance rooms.

Riedlbauch ended his teaching at the AMU in 2016.

During his long career in music education, Riedlbauch trained a number of music students, many of whom became leading figures of their generation. Among them were Adam Klemens, Martin Hybler and Josef Marek, among others.

In addition to teaching at the AMU, Riedlbauch has been teaching cultural management at the Prague University of Economics since 2010 .

Cultural manager

From 1973 to 2005 the annual Young Stage Festival (Mladé pódium) took place in Karlovy Vary . For Ivan Kurz, the creation of this platform for young musicians under the age of 35 (both composers and interpreters of classical music) is one of the first ventures by Riedlbauch as a cultural manager, who played a key role in initiating and organizing the festival. According to Kurz, it was this festival that pioneered the artistic path for the vast majority of the generation of Czech musicians born in the late 1940s, early 1950s and even later. The festival took place in cooperation with the so-called active youth group within the Union of Czech Composers and Concert Artists (Svaz českých skladatelů a koncertních umělců) and was continued in Pardubice from 2006 to 2009 .

Further positions as cultural manager were:

  • 1987 - 1989: Artistic director of the Opera of the National Theater in Prague.
  • 1990 - 1993: Program director of the Palace of Culture in Prague.
  • 1992 - 1997: Member of a committee of the OSA, the Copyright Association for Rights in Musical Works (Ochranný svaz autorský pro práva k dílům hudebním), a professional association of composers, poets and music publishers. In 1995 he was one of its vice-presidents. and was a member of their accounting commission in 2007.
  • 1993 - 1995: chief producer of the Panton publishing house, from 1996 its director. The Panton publishing house was founded in 1958 by liberal Czech composers to publish contemporary Czech music at a time when a slight political thaw set in in Czechoslovakia. In 1972 the publishing house became the publishing house of the state-run Czech Music Fund . After the fall of communism in 1989, the music fund ran into financial difficulties and in 1993, for financial reasons, had to sell the Panton publishing house to the German Schott Music International , which continued the publishing house under the name Schott Music Panton .
    Ivan Kurz also mentions the Triga publishing house founded by Riedlbauch , which has published contemporary Czech music in particular (sheet music and scores).
  • 2001 - 2009: Managing Director of the Czech Philharmonic in Prague.
    Shortly after the start of his term of office, he had to face two challenges: In August 2002, a flood of the Vltava flooded the basement of the Rudolfinum , the orchestra's main venue, and flooded an area of ​​5,000 square meters. After 70 days of drying, the concert hall was able to open the season at the end of September 2002 under provisional conditions. In 2002 Riedlbauch also had to find a successor to the Philharmonic's chief conductor, Wladimir Dawidowitsch Aschkenasi , who gave up his post after five and a half years. In agreement between Riedlbauch and the orchestra musicians, Zdeněk Mácal was hired at the beginning of November 2002 , who took up his post in 2003. This choice turned out to be unfortunate, however, because Mácal left the Philharmonic Orchestra in 2007 due to bad reviews.
    During his tenure, Riedlbauch founded the Prague Premieres Festival , which took place from 2006 to 2009 and was primarily dedicated to contemporary music.
    During this time Riedlbauch was also a member of the Standing Committee of the Concertino Praga , an international radio competition for young instrumentalists.
    Riedlbauch announced in 2008 that he would give up his position as managing director of the Czech Philharmonic. In May 2009, he named as the reasons for his move, differences with orchestra members who were no longer willing to work with him. The core of these differences were the orchestra musicians' demands for higher salaries and their demand to share in the income from the sale of sound carriers. The previously quoted article from the Prager Zeitung from January 2003 shows that this was not a new conflict . At that time, Riedlbauch already mentioned the lack of appreciation that orchestral musicians received because of their low pay and feared emigration to countries with better income opportunities.
  • 2006 - 2009: Chairman of the dramaturgical management of the Czech Touches of Music festival .
  • May 2009 - 2010: Czech Minister of Culture (see below)
  • In the last phase of his life he headed the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation, named after the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů , and shaped the festival program of the Bohuslav Martinů Days . He had previously been associated with the ENSEMBLE MARTINŮ, founded by his brother Jan, as a composer.
  • Riedlbauch was also a member of the permanent competition committee for the musical Prague Spring - an annual culture and music festival.

Politics and politicians

Riedlbauch completed the first part of his training in the years before the Prague Spring , i.e. at a time when the ČSSR was in a profound economic and social crisis. The second part of his training took place in the years after the Prague Spring, in a phase of so-called normalization , in which the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia consolidated its power after the popular uprising was suppressed. During this period of normalization, Riedlbauch began his academic and non-university career, during which he became artistic director of the opera at the National Theater in 1987. It is more than unlikely that this would have been possible without cooperation with the communist power apparatus or membership in the Communist Party, and so it is said in an obituary by Czech television on November 3, 2017 that, according to contemporary documents and witnesses, he was still in the November 1989 stood on the side of the collapsing communist power. In 2010 he confirmed that he had been a member of the Communist Party, but had no problem with it because it was a thing of the past for him.

The accusation of being on the side of the collapsing communist power related to Riedlbauch's role during the strikes at the State Opera at the turn of the year 1989. According to the spokesman for the strike committee at the time, Riedlbauch is supposed to impose financial sanctions on the striking actors and lose their jobs threatened and prevented them from addressing the audience directly. Twenty years later, on October 28, 2009, the Czech television minister of culture Riedlbauch gave the opportunity to comment on these allegations. He denied any threat to the strikers and claimed that he had read out a letter from the superior authority, which the theater, ballet and opera theater, ballet and opera theater, ballet and opera theater, ballet and opera theater, ballet and opera theater, ballet and opera theater, ballet and opera theater, ballet and opera theater, ballet and opera members were to be made aware of the possible consequences of their strike.

Riedlbauch recalled that at the end of the first week of the revolution he had offered to resign as head of the opera ensemble and protested:

"I did nothing wrong. I was not a staunch supporter of the communist regime. I haven't harmed anyone, I haven't threatened anyone. However, because of my position and responsibilities, I was not on the side of the strike. Who knew exactly what would happen on November 20th? "

- Václav Riedlbauch

In November 1989 Riedlbauch left the State Opera.

The arguments about Riedlbauch's role in the turning point of 1989 took place in 2009, in which he entered politics directly and was appointed Czech Minister of Culture in the Jan Fischer government. Riedlbauch, who was a non-party member of this government at the suggestion of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), held office from May 2009 to July 2010.

The relatively short term of office of the Fischer government, which was actually only supposed to guarantee the Czech EU Council Presidency in 2009 , during which its ministers presided over the Council of the European Union , left little room for major domestic political activities. Nevertheless, as Minister of Culture, Riedlbauch was able to initiate and support a number of projects, so that an article about him says:

“Originally, Riedlbauch was only supposed to sit in government for four months and almost nothing was expected of him. In the end, however, his mandate was extended due to the postponed elections, and in the last eight months he has managed to move things in the ministry that no one before him dared. "

- Jan H. Vitvar : S bičem nad hlavou (With a whip over his head)

Some examples:

  • He transferred responsibility for the Rudolfinum Gallery to the Museum of Applied Arts, thereby ending the dispute between the then director of the gallery and the then general director of the Czech Philharmonic, to which the gallery originally belonged.
  • He moved the magic lantern to the National Theater .
  • He took care of the provision of European and Czech funds for the renovation of the Teplá Monastery, the Plasy and Velehrad monasteries and the listed Witkowitz ironworks . The funds Riedlbauch acquired for this totaled 2 billion Czech crowns (almost 73 million euros).
  • Under Minister Riedlbauch, the Ministry of Culture developed a concept to support Czech cinematography and the film industry, which the Fischer government was no longer able to implement.
  • Riedlbauch was also able to sign a financing agreement that made it possible to renovate historical buildings in Theresienstadt .

In an obituary it is said that, unlike his predecessor as minister, Riedlbauch supported a lively culture to which he himself was close. In 2010, Vitvar had also given it “a clear priority for living culture”.

At the same time, the “workaholic” Riedlbauch also has a technocratic character trait and he has agreed to plan. He wanted to continue as minister, but the subsequent elections prevented this. Czech television did not seem very sad about this, as an article published on June 9, 2010 shows: “The farewell to Minister of Culture Václav Riedlbauch has a bitter taste. The man who started the government with the Chunkov slogan 'I don't do politics, I solve problems' walks with a tainted trust sign whose motto is: 'Problems created, politics made'. ”However, this assessment primarily refers to personnel decisions that Riedlbauch did not address or only hesitantly made.

Musician and composer

Ivan Kurz writes that despite the many academic, administrative and political activities for Riedlbauch, the most important thing was his primarily creative activity, composing. He left behind over 80 works, which encompass all areas and genres of classical music: orchestral, chamber, vocal and teaching works as well as a ballet. After Kurz, Riedlbauch firmly believed that the task of music goes beyond aesthetics ; it is a special communication system in which the formulation is often much closer to the truth than a factual expression that is often unsuitable for conveying the whole of reality and the underlying emotional charge. It was irrelevant to Riedlbauch whether music was communicated as a symphony, song, chamber music or anything else; what counts are the transmitted emotions.

The Riedlbauch ensemble together with the painter Rudolf Riedlbauch (right). The photo was taken in the early 1990s in the studio of the painter Rudolf Riedlbauch (right) and shows from the left: Václav and Jan Riedlbauch, their brother-in-law Lumír Vaněk and Josef Riedlbauch.

Václav Riedlbauch played as a musician, the harpsichord in the ensemble Riedlbauch , along with his brothers Jan (flute) and Joseph (violin) and the brother Lumír Vaněk (bassoon). The first two appearances of the ensemble after the fall of 1989/90 in the West took place in November 1992 in Wiesbaden. The reason for this was an exhibition by Rudolf Riedlbauch in the gallery in the administrative court in Wiesbaden, the opening of which on November 5, 1992 was accompanied by music by the ensemble. This was followed by an appearance by the ensemble in the Wiesbaden cultural institution Villa Clementine .

Works

As already mentioned above, more than 80 works are by Václav Riedlbauch. Briefly describes the ballet Macbeth - based on Macbeth by William Shakespeare - as one of Riedlbauch's key works. It exists in two versions:

  • A game with Macbeth (Hra s Macbethem), the first version of which was performed as a ballet for solo and ensemble dancers and a large orchestra from 1979 to 1984. Riedlbauch was responsible for the libretto and composition. After a revision, a second version was created:
  • Macbeth , ballet for solo and ensemble dancers and large orchestra, which was performed at the National Theater in Prague from 1984 to 1990. On his website it says that the music came from Riedlbauch, the libretto was a joint arrangement by Antonín Moskalyk ( director ), Daniel Wiesner ( choreographer ) and Václav Riedlbauch.
    A review and an interview for this play appeared in the magazine Theater der Zeit in 1985 , in which Riedlbauch described his first Macbeth version as too current, which is why the revised version should stay closer to Shakespeare's original. In a joint effort by Riedlbauch, Wiesner, Moskalyk, the costume designer Josef Jelinek and the scenographer Daniel Dvořák, a new libretto was created, on the basis of which the participants wanted to create - in their words - a total work of art that went beyond classical ballet. In Daniel Wiesner's definition: “We were striving for» ballet theater «; To do this, we tried a synthesis of all suitable means of expression such as classical ballet, expressive dance, pantomime. ”Riedlbauch took up this and at the same time related it to the Macbeth material:

“When revising the 700 pages of the score , I let myself be guided by the idea of ​​the» ballet theater «. I accepted suggestions from my partners and created some parts from scratch. We decided to produce the music in the studio. This opened up new possibilities for me, for example electro-acoustic, to realize my ideas. I often saw too much action at Shakespeare performances; it was more about using music to express the inner conflict of Macbeth more. I see witches as a kind of inner voice. Macbeth's subconscious as a refraction of his personality, a reflection of his conflict. [..] Ballet is also theater for the audience, so I had to interrupt "theater time", the action, for dance scenes. So I could say something not only horizontally, but also vertically. The basic element of my music are motifs that I varied that correspond to the Macbeth theme. For a second level - courtly - I was inspired by Renaissance music. These historicizing parts create an “old-new contrast”. In the course of the performance, more and more percussion and other rhythmic elements come into play - acting against the melodic that initially dominates, so to speak, which also results in refraction. "

- Václav Riedlbauch : Theater of Time , issue 7/85, p. 51 ff.

In addition to the two ballet works, the booklet for the CD Reminiscence is mentioned in the compilation of selected works :

  • 13 symphonies and concertante works
  • 10 solo pieces
  • 31 chamber music works for 2 to 9 musicians
  • 10 vowel pieces
  • 6 textbooks

Ivan Kurz, who knows Riedlbauch by name, mentions the ballet Macbeth already mentioned, "the extensive orchestral piece" Temptation and Nude "(a Macbeth analogy), two symphonies or a fantasy called Vision; String quartet No. 1 (in memory of Josef Capek and others like him) stands out from his extensive chamber music work ”. In addition, he refers to a number of unfinished works that are not listed in the booklet compilation, but that the composer described as almost completed.

Discography

Awards

Riedlbauch has received several awards:

  • In 2000 the European Union of the Arts awarded him the Gustav Mahler Europe Prize for outstanding achievements in the field of music.
  • The international festival Czech Touches of Music in Prague in 2018 dedicated an evening to memory Václav Riedlbauch.

Biographical sources

Web links

Commons : Václav Riedlbauch  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e All biographical information is based - if no other sources are named - on the articles CV , obituary Czech Ministry of Culture: - Prof. Václav Riedlbauch (see Biographical Sources ).
  2. ↑ For a first overview see: Horst Schäfer: Speech for the vernissage by Rudolf Riedlbauch in Blatná (see web links )
  3. ↑ Profile Rudolf Riedlbauch (in Czech)
  4. ↑ Databazeknih.cz: Jan Riedlbauch (in Czech)
  5. ↑ Homepage of the orchestra FOK (FOK stands for film opera concert)
  6. ↑ Czech Center Munich: ENSEMBLE MARTINŮ
  7. ↑ Artist info: Marie Vaňková
  8. ↑ 2018: Lumír Vaněk ends his career
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Ivan Kurz about the life and work of Václav Riedlbauch (see discography )
  10. ^ Lichtenstein Palace (Ledebour Palace) in Prague
  11. ↑ musivbase.cz: Adam Klemens
  12. ↑ Homepage Martin Hybler & musivbase.cz: Martin Hybler
  13. ↑ Homepage Josef Marek
  14. ↑ Viktor Velek: Karlsbad (German for Czech Karlovy Vary) , in: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon online , accessed on May 11, 2020
  15. ↑ Czech Music Dictionary of Persons and Institutions: Union of Czech composer and concert artist , in Czech, accessed on May 11, 2020
  16. ^ About the OSA
  17. ^ The board of the OSA
  18. ↑ OSA Yearbook 2007 (in Czech)
  19. ^ The free Library: Music publishers in the Czech republic , accessed May 11, 2020
  20. ↑ a b c Uwe Müller: Czech Republic's model musicians struggle for recognition , Prager Zeitung from January 16, 2003
  21. ^ Matthew Westphal: Angry Over Bad Review, Conductor Zdenek Mšcal Abruptly Quits Czech Philharmonic. In: Playbill . September 11, 2007 (English).;
  22. ↑ People get to know each other best in the rain (Lidé se nejlíp poznají v lijáku), Týdeníku Rozhlas, May 28, 2001. Interview on the occasion of Riedlbauch's appointment to the Czech Philharmonic. For the history of the Conertino Praga see: About Concertino Praga
  23. ↑ Václav Riedlbauch will not run for director of the Czech Philharmonic (Václav Riedlbauch se nebude ucházet o funkci ředitele České filharmonie), ČT24, September 22, 2008
  24. ^ Václav Riedlbauch - a man who wants to leave the Czech Philharmonic (Václav Riedlbauch - muž, který se chystá z České filharmonie odejít), Muzikus.cz, April 24, 2009
  25. ↑ The Philharmonic and the trade unions agreed to reform (Filharmonie se dohodla s odbory na reformě) , Česká televize, June 20, 2011
  26. ↑ Homepage Czech Touches of Music & The Fine Art Archive: Václav Riedlbauch
  27. ↑ ENSEMBLE MARTINŮ - CONCERT , Munich 2005
  28. ↑ a b Václav Riedlbauch in the National Theater archive (see biographical sources )
  29. ↑ a b c d Václav Riedlbauch died, he headed the Ministry of Culture and the Czech Philharmonic (Zemřel Václav Riedlbauch, řídil ministerstvo kultury i Českou filharmonii), Česká televize, November 3, 2017
  30. ↑ a b c d e Jan H. Vitvar: S bičem nad hlavou (With a whip over your head) , Týdeník Respekt, January 24, 2010 (the full article is only available against payment)
  31. ↑ a b The minister of culture denies the allegations from '89 that he allegedly did not threaten the actors (Ministr kultury obvinění z roku '89 odmítá, hercům prý nevyhrožoval) , Česká televize, October 28, 2009. Riedlbauch's reply went on October 25 In 2009, a television report about the allegations made against him. This message can no longer be found in the database of Czech television, the link to it is dead: Minister Riedlbauch threatens striking artists in November '89 - 24T24, October 25, 2009
  32. ↑ In the original: “Neudělal jsem nic špatného. Nebyl jsem Skalním zastáncem komunistického režimu. Nikomu jsem neškodil, nikomu jsem nevyhrožoval. Na straně stávky jsem ale vzhledem ke své funkci a jejím povinnostem nebyl. Kdo 20. listopadu přesně věděl, co se stane? "
  33. ↑ "Původně měl Riedlbauch do vládního křesla usednout jen na čtyři měsíce a skoro nic se od něj nečekalo. Nakonec se mu však mandát kvůli odloženým volbám prodloužil a během dosavadních osmi měsíců stihl na ministerstvu pohnout s věcmi, na které si před ním nikdo netroufl. "
  34. ↑ Ostravské Hradčany naposled "ve Starém" , Česká televise 13 October, 2009
  35. ↑ Questions on Czech cinematography and the film industry (Otazníky nad českou kinematografií a filmovým průmyslem), Česká televize, July 4, 2010
  36. ↑ Theresienstadt will receive half a billion euros from European funds for reconstruction (Terezín získá na obnovu půl miliardy z evropských fondů) , Česká televize, May 4, 2010
  37. ↑ Zoufalé odcházení ministra Riedlbaucha (Desperate departure of Minister Riedlbauch) , Česká televize, June 9, 2010
  38. ^ The Fine Art Archive: Ensemble Riedlbauch . Rudolf Riedlbauch (painter) also mentioned in this link did not belong to the ensemble.
  39. ↑ Wiesbaden Administrative Court: To the "Gallery in the Justice Center"
  40. ^ House music with the Riedlbauch family , in: Wiesbadener Tageblatt, November 6, 1992
  41. ↑ Compilation of selected works by Václav Riedlbauch in the booklet for the CD Reminiscence (see discography )
  42. ^ Česko-Slovenská filmová databáze: Biography of Antonín Moskalyk
  43. ^ Archives of the National Theater: Daniel Wiesner
  44. ↑ Internet Movie Database (IMDb): Josef Jelínek, Costume Designer, Actor
  45. ↑ Filmová databáze (FDb): Daniel Dvořák
  46. ^ All quotations on Macbeth from Dietmar Fritzsche: Succumb to own unscrupulousness. »Macbeth« by Riedelbauch / Wiesner in Prague & conversation with Daniel Wiesner (choreographer), Václav Riedlbauch (composer), Antonin Moskalyk (director) and Daniel Dvořák (scenographer) . In: Theater of Time. Organ of the Association of Theater Professionals of the GDR , 40th year 1985, issue 7/85, p. 51 ff.
  47. ↑ Českých doteků hudby se dotkla tvorba skladatele Jiřího Matyse , Česká televize, January 3, 2018
  48. ↑ Horst Schäfer was a judge at the Wiesbaden Administrative Court and head of the art gallery there for many years.
personal data
SURNAME Riedlbauch, Václav
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czech composer, musician, cultural manager and politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Dýšina
DATE OF DEATH 3rd November 2017
Place of death Prague