František Neumann (16 June 187425 February 1929) was a Czech conductor and composer. He was particularly associated with the National Theatre in

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

, and the composer Leoš Janáček, the premieres of many of whose operas he conducted.

Biography

František Neumann was born in

Přerov Přerov (; german: Prerau) is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 41,000 inhabitants. It lies on the Bečva River. In the past it was a major crossroad in the heart of Moravia in the Czech Republic. The historic centre ...

, Moravia in 1874. He attended school in Prostějov and Chrudim, then went to work in Prague while studying music under K. Sebor. He spent a year in voluntary military service at Olomouc, then joined his father's smoked meat business.''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', 5th ed, 1954, Vol. VI, pp. 53-54 His serious music studies commenced in 1896 at the Leipzig Conservatory under

Carl Reinecke Carl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke (23 June 182410 March 1910) was a German composer, conductor, and pianist in the mid-Romantic era. Biography Reinecke was born in what is today the Hamburg district of Altona; technically he was born a Dane, as ...

and

Salomon Jadassohn Salomon Jadassohn (13 August 1831 – 1 February 1902) was a German pianist, composer and a renowned teacher of piano and composition at the Leipzig Conservatory. Life Jadassohn was born to a Jewish family living in Breslau, the capital of the ...

, and continued under

Felix Mottl right Felix Josef von Mottl (between 29 July/29 August 1856 – 2 July 1911) was an Austrian conductor and composer. He was regarded as one of the most brilliant conductors of his day. He composed three operas, of which ''Agnes Bernauer'' (Weima ...

in Karlsruhe, where he worked as chorus master at the local theatre. Further posts were at Hamburg,

Ratisbon Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

, Linz,

Liberec Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...

, Teplice and Frankfurt, where he remained until 1919. He returned to Czechoslovakia and became Chief Conductor at the National Theatre in

, becoming its director in 1925. In his first season 1919-20 he introduced regular subscription concerts, and he brought a much needed discipline to the fledgling organisation. There, among other achievements, he premiered four of Leoš Janáček's operas: * '' Káťa Kabanová'' (1921) * '' The Cunning Little Vixen'' (1924) * '' Šárka'' (Janáček's first opera, composed 1887 but not performed until his 70th birthday in 1925) * '' The Makropulos Affair'' (1926). Neumann was also the first to conduct Janáček's orchestral rhapsody '' Taras Bulba''. He also conducted the first performance in Czechoslovakia of Debussy's opera '' Pelléas et Mélisande'', and new works by

Vítězslav Novák 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 e ...

and

Otakar Ostrčil Otakar Ostrčil (25 February 1879 in Prague – 20 August 1935 in Prague) was a Czech composer and conductor. He is noted for symphonic works ''Impromptu'', ''Suite in C Minor'', and ''Symfonietta'', and in his opera compositions '' Poupě'' and ...

. He also taught conducting at the Brno Conservatory from its founding in 1919 until his death in 1929, aged 54. His students included Zdeněk ChalabalaKarla Hartl, ''The Kápralová Companion''
/ref> and Břetislav Bakala, who conducted the premiere of '' From the House of the Dead'' in 1930, after Neumann's death.

Compositions

Neumann's own works include eleven operas, two ballets, two cantatas, a Moravian Rhapsody, a Piano Trio, an Octet, and many other works.

External sources

''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music''

''Encyklopedie Brna''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neumann, Frantisek 1874 births 1929 deaths Czech conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Czech composers Czech male composers Czech music educators Musicians from Přerov