Johann Baptist Georg Neruda (

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

: ', – ) was a Czech classical composer, violinist and cellist.

Life

Neruda's dates of birth and death (taken from the '' Grove Dictionary'') are only approximations. He was born in

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czec ...

, now part of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, to a well-respected musical family. After spending his earlier years gaining a good reputation as a violinist and conductor in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

and Germany, Neruda became '' Konzertmeister'' of the Dresden court orchestra. He died in Dresden around 1780. His sons Antonín and Ludvík were also members of Staatskapelle Dresden. Organist Josef Neruda was his great-grandson. Cellist Franz Xaver Neruda was his great-great-grandson. Violinists

Wilma Neruda Wilhelmine Maria Franziska Neruda (1838–1911), also known as Wilma Norman-Neruda and Lady Hallé, was a Moravian virtuoso violinist, chamber musician, and teacher. Life and career Born in Brno, Moravia, then part of the Austrian Empire, N ...

and Maria Neruda were his great-great-granddaugters.

Works

His compositional output includes eighteen symphonies, fourteen instrumental concertos (including a

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

and a

bassoon concerto A bassoon concerto is a concerto for bassoon accompanied by a musical ensemble, typically orchestra. Like bassoon sonatas, bassoon concerti were relatively uncommon until the twentieth century, although there are quite a few bassoon concerti ...

), sonatas, sacred works and an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

''Les Troqueurs''. One of the composer's most significant works is the ''Concerto in E-flat for Trumpet and Strings'' written for Johann Georg Knechtel. Originally written for the "corno da caccia" or "

post horn The post horn (''also'' post-horn) is a valveless cylindrical brass instrument with a cupped mouthpiece. The instrument was used to signal the arrival or departure of a post rider or mail coach. It was used especially by postilions of the 18 ...

" using only the high register, it is now rarely performed on anything other than an E-flat or B-flat

. Incidentally, the Corno da Caccia for which Neruda wrote is not to be confused with the 4-valved hunting horn which has recently been given the same name. The manuscript for this piece is in the

National Library A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant wo ...

in Prague, along with several other unusual works for brass instruments.

References

Bibliography

* * Contains a symphony in A written between 1745 and 1770 by Neruda (name given as Jan Křtitel Jiří Neruda)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neruda, Johann Czech Classical-period composers Czech male classical composers Czech conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Czech Baroque composers 1707 births 1780 deaths 18th-century Bohemian musicians 18th-century classical composers 18th-century male musicians 18th-century conductors (music)