Vítězslav Novák

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Vítězslav Novák
Novák in 1899
Born
Viktor Novák

(1870-12-05)5 December 1870
Kamenice nad Lipou, Bohemia
Died18 July 1949(1949-07-18) (aged 78)
Skuteč, Czechoslovakia
EducationPrague Conservatory
Occupations
  • Composer
  • Academic teacher
OrganizationsPrague Conservatory

Vítězslav Augustín Rudolf Novák (5 December 1870 – 18 July 1949) was a Czech composer and academic teacher at the Prague Conservatory. Stylistically, he was part of the neo-romantic tradition, and his music is considered an important example of Czech modernism.[1]: 155  He worked towards a strong Czech identity in culture after the country became independent in 1918. His compositions include operas and orchestral works.

Biography

Early years

Novák (baptized Viktor Novák) was born in

modernist movement.[citation needed
]

Beginning in the late 1890s, Novák began to explore influences beyond the prevailing

bitonality and non-functional, parallel harmony. Finally, after the Prague premiere of Salome in 1906, Novák formed an attachment to the music of Richard Strauss
that would remain for the rest of his career.

Musicology and feud

Shortly after the turn of the century, Novák began teaching composition privately in Prague. From 1909 to 1920, he taught at the Prague Conservatory himself, and this occasionally occupied him to a greater degree than composing. Among his students were

Prague University
. When Novák signed a protest against Nejedlý's anti-Dvořák propaganda, Nejedlý engaged in fierce criticism of Novák's music. The impact of this criticism on Novák was long-lasting and ushered in a crisis in his creative life.

Political affairs

Upon the independence of Czechoslovakia in 1918, Novák turned his focus toward the administration of culture in the new democratic regime. In this capacity, he led the push toward de-Germanification and nationalization of the Conservatory, during which process his

interwar
generation of musicians, despite the increasing conservatism of his compositions in the 1920s.

Renewal and death

Vítězslav Novák

In the 1930s, Novák went through a period of artistic renewal with the premieres of some large-scale compositions. After the collapse of democracy and the subsequent

Second World War, he wrote a lengthy memoir, entitled O sobě a jiných (Of Myself and Others, publ. 1970), in which he aired many of his long-standing grudges, especially toward his main rival, Otakar Ostrčil, but also even his close friend Josef Suk. He died in Skuteč
in Eastern Bohemia, where he had spent much of his last years.

Compositional career

Novák's music retained at least some elements of the late-

Grieg.[3] In his earliest years after graduating from Prague Conservatory, his work began to show some influence from Moravian and Slovak folk music
, which he began to collect and study in the late 1890s. Within the decade he had assimilated the basic intervallic and rhythmic characteristics of these folksongs into a very personal compositional style. The first works to reveal this change are the Second String Quartet, op. 35 (1905), and the path-breaking solo piano work, Sonata Eroica, op. 24 (1900).

The next influence was that of French

Tatras
, op. 26, 1902) and the song cycle Údolí nového království (Valley of the New Kingdom, op. 31, 1903) combined with his discovery of the music of Strauss: the result was the tone poem, Toman a lesní Panna (Toman and the Wood Nymph, op. 40, completed 1907).

The height of his compositional career was considered, including in the criticism of the day, to consist of two principal achievements, both completed in 1910: Pan, the five-movement tone poem for piano solo (totalling some sixty pages of music, op. 43), and Bouře (The Tempest, op. 42, to a text by Svatopluk Čech).[3] The latter was a grandiose symphonic cantata for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, running to just under an hour of unbroken music; its attention to musico-dramatic detail was evidence of Novák's increasing interest in opera, a style in which he had not written at that point.

His conflict with Nejedlý brought about a sharp change in Novák's attitude to composition, wherein fear of rejection became more important than artistic exploration. The negative response from the public to the orchestrated version of Pan (1912) and the next cantata, Svatební košile ("The Wedding Shirt", 1913),[6] based on the same Erben text as Dvořák's more famous work) caused severe self-doubt and depression. Novák attempted to turn the situation around with two operas about Czech historical subjects, a transparently nationalist move during wartime. Zvíkovský rarášek (The Zvíkov Imp, 1915, a comedy based on Stroupežnický) and Karlštejn (Karlštejn castle, 1916, a more serious work based on Vrchlický) both met with mixed reviews, although the latter became a fixture in the repertoire of Czech opera houses through the mid-century. These works exemplified Novák's tendency toward bitonality, latent in the early folksong work.

Czechoslovak independence in 1918 sparked several patriotic compositions, dedicated to the "President-Liberator"

reactionism
.

With two ballet-pantomimes completed in 1928–29, Signorina Gioventù and Nikotina, Novák regained some of the respect he had lost among his colleagues; the layering of orchestral effects (including mixed meters and even references to tango) won him the approval of some younger composers, such as Iša Krejčí and Alois Hába.[3] In the 1930s he returned to chamber music, but also large forms such as the epic choral/orchestral work, Podzimní symfonie (Autumn Symphony, op. 62, premiered 1934).

During the Nazi occupation, Novák rose again in the estimation of his compatriots as a result of his patriotic works: the symphonic poems with organ, De Profundis (op. 67, 1941) and Svatováclavský triptych (

Saint Wenceslas Triptych, op. 70, 1942) and the Májová symfonie (May Symphony, op. 73, dedicated to Stalin
as liberator of the Czechs and premiered after the war in 1945) demonstrate these sentiments. In his remaining years he was primarily engaged with choral works based on South-Bohemian folksong.

Works

Dramatic works

  • Zvíkovský rarášek, Op. 49, comic opera, 1913–14
  • Karlštejn, Op. 50, opera, 1914–15
  • Lucerna, Op. 56, musical fairytale, 1919–22
  • Dedův odkaz (Grandfather's legacy), Op. 57, opera, 1922–25
  • Signorina Gioventu, Op. 68, ballet pantomime, 1926–28
  • Nikotina, Op. 59, ballet pantomime, 1929
  • Žižka, Op.78, incidental music, 1948

Symphonies

Orchestral works

  • Korzár (The Corsair), overture after
    Byron
    , 1892
  • Serenade, Op. 9, for small orchestra, 1894-1895, revised 1949
  • Piano Concerto in E minor, 1895
    1. Allegro energico
    2. Andante con sentimento
    3. Allegro giusto
  • Maryša, Op. 18, dramatic overture, 1898
  • V Tatrách (In the Tatra mountains), Op. 26, symphonic poem, 1902
  • Slovácká svita, Op. 32 (Slovak Suite), for small orchestra,1903
  • O večné touze, Op. 33 (Eternal Longing), after Hans Christian Andersen, 1903-05
  • 2 Valašské tance, Op. 34, 1904
  • Serenade, Op. 36, for small orchestra, 1905
  • Toman a lesní panna, Op. 40 (Toman and the Wood Nymph), symphonic poem, 1906-07
  • Lady Godiva, Op. 41, overture after the tragedy by Vrchlicky, 1907
  • Pan, Op. 43, symphonic poem, 1910
  • Jihočeská svita (South Bohemian Suite), Op. 64, 1936-37
  • De Profundis, Op. 67, symphonic poem‚ 1941
  • Svatováclavský triptych, Op. 70 (St. Wenceslas triptych), for organ and orchestra, 1941

Voice and orchestra

  • Melancholické písně o lásce (Melancholic songs about love), Op. 38, for soprano and orchestra, 1906
  • Bouře, Op. 42 (de storm), voor solisten, koor en orkest, 1908-10
  • Svatební košile, Op. 48, after Erben, for soloists, choir and orchestra, 1912-13
  • 3 české zpěvy, Op. 53 (3 Czech songs), for male choir and orchestra, 1918
  • 2 romances, Op. 63 (on a text by Jan Neruda), 1934
  • In memoriam, Op. 65, 4 songs for mezzo-soprano, string orchestra, harp, and tamtam, 1936-37
  • 2 legendy na slova lidové‚ poesie moravské (2 legends on Moravian folk poetry), Op. 76, for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, 1944
  • Hvězdy, for female choir and orchestra, 1949

References

  1. ISBN 9788670254633
    . Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  2. ^ The Strad. Orpheus. 1980. p. 613.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-385-14278-6
    .
  4. ^ "Vítězslav Novák | Romanticism, Symphonies, Orchestral Works". Britannica. Retrieved 2024-02-20.
  5. ^ Fanfare. J. Flegler. 1989. p. 259.
  6. ^ Vladimír Lébl (1968). Vitězslav Novak. Supraphon. p. 36.
  • Schnierer, Miloš, and John Tyrrell. 2001. "Novák, Vítězslav [Viktor] (Augustín Rudolf)". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

External links

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