Adolf Míšek (29 August 1875 – 20 October 1955) was a Czech
double bassist and composer of the late romantic era.
Born in Modletín (then a part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
), he left for
Vienna at the age of 15 to study with
Franz Simandl
Franz Simandl (August 1, 1840 – December 15, 1912) was a Czech double-bassist and pedagogue most remembered for his book ''New Method for the Double Bass,'' known as the "Simandl book", which is to this day used as a standard study of double ...
at the
Vienna Conservatory. At the age of 23 Míšek joined the orchestra of the state opera in Vienna - a post he held concurrently with the professorship at the conservatory after the departure of Simandl in 1912 - until he left for
Prague in 1918 to join the
National Theatre as principal bassist and soloist. He held this position until his death in 1955.
Míšek's compositions remain part of the bass repertoire. Some pieces that are still popular include his three
sonata
Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...
s for double bass and piano (in A major, E minor, and F major, respectively), the lyrical Legend, and the
virtuosic Concert Polonaise.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Misek, Adolf
1875 births
1955 deaths
Czech classical composers
Czech male classical composers
Czech choral conductors