Karel Bendl, or german: Karl Bendl, pseudonym: ''Podskalský'' (16 April 1838, Prague, Bohemia,

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

20 September 1897, Prague) was a Czech composer. Praha, Bubenec - Karel Bendl

Life

Bendl was born and died 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 ...

. He studied at the organ school, where he met and befriended Antonín Dvořák one year before graduating with honors in 1858. By then he had already composed a number of small choral works. In 1861 his ''Poletuje holubice'' won a prize and at once became a favorite with the local choral societies. In 1864, Bendl went to

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, where for a short time he held the post of second conductor of the opera. After visiting

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

and

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. In Paris, he became influenced by the stage works of

Charles Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

and

Ambroise Thomas Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas '' Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet'' (1868). Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the Conservatoire de ...

and especially by Giacomo Meyerbeer. By 1865, he was back in Prague where he was appointed conductor of the choral society known as ', and he held the post until 1879, when Russian (originally from Hamburg), includes engaged his services for his private band. Bendl's first opera ''Lejla'' was successfully produced in 1868. It was followed by ''Břetislav a Jitka'' (1870), ''Starý ženich'', a comic opera (1883), ''Karel Škréta'' (1883), ''Dítě Tábora'', a prize opera (1892), and ''Máti Míla'' (1891). Other operas by Bendl are ''Indická princezna'', ''Černohorci'', a prize opera, and the two operas ''Čarovný květ'' and ''Gina''. His ballad ''Švanda dudák'' acquired much popularity; he published a

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

in D minor for male voices and another mass for a

mixed choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

; two songs to "Ave Maria"; a

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 ...

and a string quartet Op.119 in F Major; and a quantity of songs and choruses, many of which have come to be regarded as national possessions of Bohemia.

Notes

References

External links

Karel Bendl String Quartet in F, Op.119

Twelve Gipsy songs. 1st and 2nd series. With pianoforte accompaniment
(From the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection)
Quartet, strings, op. 119, F major
(From the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection) *
Detailed biography
:Some of the information on this page appears on the website of Edition Silvertrust but permission has been granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. ---- {{DEFAULTSORT:Bendl, Karel 1838 births 1897 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century conductors (music) 19th-century Czech people Czech male classical composers Czech conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Czech opera composers Male opera composers Musicians from Prague Czech Romantic composers