František Rauch (4 February 1910 – 23 September 1996) was a Czechoslovak pianist and music teacher.
Life and career
Born in
Plzeň
Plzeň (; German and English: Pilsen, in German ) is a city in the Czech Republic. About west of Prague in western Bohemia, it is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 169,000 inhabita ...
, the son of a music instrument dealer, Rauch attended a business school in Plzeň before studying piano at the
Prague Conservatory and composition with
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 ...
. Before he began his career as a pianist, he worked for several months in the piano factory of
August Förster
August Förster is a German piano manufacturing company (also rendered "Foerster," occasionally "Forster," officially "August Förster GmbH Kunsthandwerklicher Flügel-und-Pianobau") that currently has a staff of 40 employees and produces around ...
.
Rauch became known as a
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
ian, including pianist of the esteemed
Pražské Trio with and , and as a concert pianist. His repertoire focused on compositions by
Beethoven,
Smetana,
Liszt,
Schumann and
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 ...
. In Poland he was in demand as interpreter of the works of
Chopin.
Rauch made around 60 recordings,
including the piano cycle Pan and other piano works by his teacher Novák. As president of the Czech Chopin Society, he was the promoter of the Chopin Festival in
Mariánské Lázně. He taught at the Prague Conservatory from 1939 for more than forty years and was the teacher of musicians such as
Petr Eben
Petr Eben (22 January 1929 – 24 October 2007) was a Czech composer of modern and contemporary classical music, and an organist and choirmaster.
His life
Born in Žamberk in northeastern Bohemia, Eben spent most of his childhood and early ad ...
,
Valentina Kameníková
Valentina Kameníková ''nee'' Valentine Mikhaylovna Wax (20 December 1930 in Odessa, Soviet Union – 29 November 1989) was a Czech pianist and Ukrainian music teacher, respectively. She came from a musical family. During World War II in 194 ...
,
Ivan Klánský and the harpsichordist
Zuzana Růžičková.
In 1975 he acted as a jury member for the first
Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition.
"Winners, Juries, Orchestras and Guest Artists – II International Competition 1975"
Santander Piano Competition
Rauch died in Prague at age 86.
References
External links
*
*
* Rauch's discography i
Český hudební slovník
František Rauch
on NKCR
František Rauch on Allmusic
Rauch plays Novák
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rauch, Frantisek
1910 births
1996 deaths
Musicians from Plzeň
Czechoslovak classical pianists
Academic staff of the Prague Conservatory
Merited Artists of Czechoslovakia