Otto Albert Tichý (14 August 1890 – 21 October 1973) was a Czech

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, teacher and organist.

Early life and education

Otto Albert Tichý was born in Martínkov,

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...

, in a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

family of a provincial teacher. He studied different instruments and played the organ from an early age. He began composing as a boy. He became a devoted student of

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 ...

at the Prague Conservatory. However, he interrupted his study to work nine years at the most spiritual publisher of this time,

Josef Florian Josef Florian (9 February 1873 – 29 December 1941, both in Stará Říše in Moravia) was a Czech book publisher and translator. He was famous for the high quality of books he published in his small publishing company in Stará Říše. Both lo ...

, solely for room and board. In 1919 he resumed his study as a pupil of

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and teacher

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the Par ...

at the

Schola Cantorum The Schola Cantorum de Paris is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera. History La Schola was founded i ...

. Tichý initially studied organ,

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...

and composition, then contrapuntalism and concord. At

he got the opportunity to experience music from the 16th to the 18th centuries in vocal

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

Career

After he successfully finished his study, he lived as a private music teacher and organist. He spent six years in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and after his marriage moved to Lausanne with his family, where he worked as organist in cathedral Notre Dame and as professor of music at Dominican gymnasium. In 1936 he returned to Czechoslovakia. After ten years he became choirmaster and organist at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague and worked as a teacher at Prague Conservatory. He taught choir, Gregorian chant, improvisation, organ accompaniment, conducting, Latin and French. During the Communist period, Tichý remained at Prague Conservatory as a teacher thanks to then Conservatory director Václav Holzknecht and to Tichý's knowledge and skills, especially in languages and music for twenty long years. He left Prague Conservatory at age 75. He also resigned as the organist at St. Vitus. Until the end of his life he wrote music and translated books. Otto Albert Tichý died at 83, close to his organ-loft. Few of the composer's works are performed regularly today. His best known pieces are the ''Missa festival in honorem Sti Alberti Magni'', ''Missa pastoralis in honorem Jesu Infantis in Praga'' or ''A Notre-Dame du Chene'', and ''Tantum ergo sacramentum'', and ''Ave Maria'', and some other vocal compositions and very nice compositions for small chamber brass or string ensembles. Tichý's works include orchestral music,

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 ...

, piano music and songs.

Works

*''

List of compositions by Otto Albert Tichý The following is a list of compositions by the Czech composer, Otto Albert Tichy. Chorus Cantatas and Mass settings *Kyrie and Gloria (20) for mixed choir ''a capella'' *Nativité (43) *Narozeni Páně (Lord's born) - Christmas cantata for so ...

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tichy, Otto Albert 1890 births 1973 deaths 20th-century classical composers Czech classical composers Czech male classical composers People from Třebíč District Pupils of Vincent d'Indy Schola Cantorum de Paris alumni 20th-century Czech male musicians