Viera Janárčeková

Viera Janárčeková

Viera Janárčeková (born September 23, 1941 in Svit ) is a Slovak composer living in Germany .

Life

Viera Janárčeková was born in the Slovak High Tatras Mountains. From 1956 to 1961 she studied piano and conducting at the State Conservatory in Bratislava and music theory with Juraj Pospíšil . This was followed by five years at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (1962–1967): piano with Ilona Štěpánová-Kurzová , harpsichord with Zuzana Růžičková and music theory with Jaroslav Zich .

After graduating, she worked as a pianist and teacher and recorded for the Slovak radio . Because she did not conform to the regime, she finally had to emigrate in 1972. She was granted political asylum in the Federal Republic of Germany, and later also German citizenship. She became a lecturer at the University of Church Music in Rottenburg . She perfected her piano playing under Rudolf Firkušný in Lucerne. He passed on his personal knowledge of Leoš Janáček's music to them.

Viera Janárceková increasingly devoted himself to the composition, continued his education by using the library at the International Music Institute Darmstadt , their lectureship announced, pulled with the writer Ulrich Holbein in a converted house in beekeepers Allmuthshausen and has since worked as a freelance composer. Since 2010 she has lived mainly in Bamberg .

In 1986, 1990, 1992 and 1998 she took part in the International Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt, where she had formative encounters with Morton Feldman , Brian Ferneyhough , Wolfgang Rihm and György Kurtág .

Viera Janárčeková made guest appearances and wrote for the festivals Vom Schweigenfrei in Kassel, female composers yesterday - today in Heidelberg, unheard music in Berlin, evenings for new music in Moscow, musica viva in Lisbon and Melos-Étos in Bratislava. In 2000 she was invited by Gidon Kremer to the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival as composer in residence . There were four world premieres by the Kremerata baltica and Roman Kofman : Quadratura , Pulsator , Sixth String Quartet and Dotyk .

Viera Janárčeková founded the OWP (East-West Podium) for European cultural exchange with the cellist Barbara Brauckmann and the journalist Gertrud Salm. She is a member of the Slovak Composers Association Spolok Slovenských skladateľov and friends with the Slovak composer and thinker Roman Berger. She is closely connected to the composer Ivan Buffa and the musicians from Quasars Ensemble. Her works were played by the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and recorded by the BR ( torsion : Hannes Krämer; De aeternitatis concentu : Werner Pees , Concerto per Pianoforte : Ivan Buffa, Jonathan Nott ).

Music genre

In her early works Janárčeková ties in with the traditions of her homeland. The melody and especially the free rubato style of the folk songs led to an expressive spelling. Her guiding star is Leoš Janáček, whose granddaughter and heiress she was chosen by the critics.

In the works of the middle period, one notices the growing formal and structural precision, compression. Alban Berg , Anton Webern , György Ligeti , Iannis Xenakis and Giacinto Scelsi were the godparents. From the 1990s Janárčeková found his own style based on years of sound experiments.

The result is most similar to spectral music, including the puzzling area between noise and tone. The form processes are organic, almost biological, fractal, irreversible, open to surprises and moments of overturning.

Literary mention

Christine Brückner , who got to know the composer Viera Janárčeková following her request regarding the setting of Donna Laura and who exchanged letters, wrote about her:

“She studied in Bratislava and Prague, became a pianist, lecturer at a music academy, but then playing music was no longer enough. She wanted to compose. "

- From: Christine Brückner, The Hour of the Partridge, Frankfurt a. M. 1995

Works (selection)

Orchestral works

• Double Concerto for Clarinet, Accordion and Strings / 2013;
• De aeternitatis concentu / string orchestra with bells and viola solo / 2012, (commissioned for the 1000th anniversary of Bamberg Cathedral );
• Torsion / large orchestra / 2010–2011; Piano concerto / 2008;
• Quintessenzen / bass flute and string orchestra / 1998;
• Dotyk / string orchestra / 1996;
• Oceanic Second / 1994;
• Irre Parabel / 1993;

Chamber music

• 8th String Quartet / 2015 / Premiere: 2016 by Asasello Quartet ;
• Four tango mutants / Acc. Vc. / 2012;
• Unequal twins / Org. Acc. / 2012;
• Districts / Acc. / 2011;
• Nonett / 2009;
• Narratorium / Septet / 2008;
• A Midsummer Night's Dream / Fl. Vc. Pf .;
• Seventh String Quartet / 2007;
• Quadrature / Vc. / 2000;
• Fifth String Quartet / 1992;
• A touch of Zen / Fl. Vc .;
• Samorast / Sure. Vc. Pf;
• wabi-sabi / V. Vc. Acc .;
• Three-window duo / Vc. Acc .;
• H septet;
• Duo extatico / Vio. Pf .;
• Tree listener trio / alto fl. Git. Schlgz .;
• Cinderella Trio / Clear. Vc. Pf .;
• Solipsism for two / Vc. Pf .;
• crazy wisdom / bass class Pos .;

Vocal works

• The mysterious boat / Sopr. Vc. / 2011;
• Spievanky, 5 Slow. Folksongs / Mzzs. Fl. / 2008;
• At the beginning of the gloom / Mzzs. / 1998;
• Astral Tongues / 1997;
• Six dormice / 1990;
• Donna Laura / Dram. Scene / Mzzs. 15 instruments, text: Christine Brückner / 1989;

Awards

• First prize for Lieder auf der Flucht for mezzo-soprano and septet at the Fanny Mendelssohn Competition for Composition , 1987.
• Second prize for the orchestral works Oceanic Second and Gianozzo at the International Competition for Women Composers of the City of Mannheim, 1994.
• First prize for the fifth string quartet at the Bratislava Chamber Music Competition, 1996.
• Wolfgang Zippel Prize for the Sixth String Quartet , 1997.
• Third prize for A Midsummer Night's Dream by the Korean Society of the 21st Century Music , Seoul 2009.
• 2010–2011 scholarship holder of the international artist house Villa Concordia in Bamberg .

Footnotes

1. ↑ Viera Janárčeková in the Music Center Slovakia portal , accessed on December 19, 2014.
2. ↑ Bottom line in the taz of January 17, 1995

Web links

• Viera Janárčeková at Discogs (English)
• Viera Janárceková's website , there also an overview of her radio recordings and interviews