Josef Slavík (26 March 1806 – 30 May 1833), also known as Josef Slawjk or Joseph Slawik, was a Bohemian violin virtuoso and composer, who was expected by Vienna musical critics to become
Paganini's successor after composing a supposedly unplayable Concerto in
F-sharp minor and teaching himself to play Paganini's "La Campanella" after a single hearing.
Career
The first son of Barbora (born Krásová) and Antonín Slavík, teacher and musician, who started to teach Josef violin in the age of four.
Later on, he was a student of violin by
Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis
Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis (1786 – 20 October 1842) was a German violinist. He became professor of violin at Prague Conservatory and was important in the musical life of Prague.
Life
Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis was born in Mannheim in 1786. His father ...
and music theory and composition by
Friedrich Dionys Weber at the
Prague Conservatory
The Prague Conservatory or Prague Conservatoire ( cs, Pražská konzervatoř) is a music school in Prague, Czech Republic, founded in 1808. Currently, Prague Conservatory offers four or six year study courses, which can be compared to the level ...
. Pixis wondered how anyone could write down such mad, unplayable stuff after seeing some of Slavík's compositions (a concerto, variations, etc.). Before leaving Prague, Slavík proved at a farewell concert at the Prague Conservatory that there was at least one who could play the mad stuff. He went to Vienna in 1825 and became a sensation. He was then a young man of nineteen, but already technically superior to other violinists that had been heard in the Austrian capital. The celebrated Mayseder called him a second Lipinski.
Frédéric Chopin who heard Slavík on several occasions described his skills as:
"With the exception of Paganini, I have never heard a player like him. Ninety-six staccatos in one bow! It is almost incredible! He plays like a second Paganini, but a rejuvenated one, who will perhaps in time surpass the first. Slavík fascinates the listener and brings tears into his eyes... he makes humans weep, more he makes tigers weep."
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...
composed two
violin sonata
A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, often accompanied by a keyboard instrument and in earlier periods with a bass instrument doubling the keyboard bass line. The violin sonata developed from a simple baroque form with no fixed fo ...
-like pieces for Slavík and pianist
Carl Maria von Bocklet: the ''
Rondo in B minor, D 895'' (
1826
Events January–March
* January 15 – The French newspaper '' Le Figaro'' begins publication in Paris, initially as a weekly.
* January 30 – The Menai Suspension Bridge, built by engineer Thomas Telford, is opened between the island ...
), and the ''
Fantasy in C major, D 934'' (
1827
Events
January–March
* January 5 – The first regatta in Australia is held, taking place on Tasmania (called at the time ''Van Diemen's Land''), on the River Derwent at Hobart.
* January 15 – Furman University, founded in 1826, be ...
).
[Richard Wigmore]
Liner notes
t
''Schubert: Complete works for violin and piano''.
Hyperion CDA67911/2, 2013.
Works
* Variations in E Major (1820)
* Violin Concerto in F-sharp minor (1823, conservatory graduation work)
* Capriccios in D Major (1824)
* ''Grand-potpourri'' (1825)
* Rondino for violin and piano (1826)
* Violin concerto in A Minor (1827)
* Piano Polonese in D Major (1828)
* Violin variations on G String for Violin and Piano "Il Pirata" (1832)
References
Sources
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Slavík, Josef
1806 births
1833 deaths
19th-century classical violinists
Czech Romantic composers
People from Příbram District
Burials at Vyšehrad Cemetery