Vincent Frank "V.F." Safranek (March 24, 1867 in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

– September 7, 1955 in

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) was a Czech American musician. Safranek came to the United States at an early age. His father John was Chief Musician in the 34th Infantry in 1899. Safranek studied at the Conservatory of Music in Prague. After graduation he applied for a

bandmaster A bandmaster is the leader and conductor of a band, usually a concert band, military band, brass band or a marching band. British Armed Forces In the British Army, bandmasters of the Royal Corps of Army Music now hold the rank of staff s ...

position and was selected for training and sent to the 25th Infantry band at

Fort Missoula Fort Missoula was established by the United States Army in 1877 on land that is now part of the city of Missoula, Montana, Missoula, Montana, to protect settlers in Western Montana from possible threats from the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

. Safranek served in the

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and

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. He developed ideas on the concept of the military band and added such instruments as

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

and

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

oboes The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

French horns The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

and

flugelhorns The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some a ...

to his band. Many of the military band arrangements were designed for brass bands with extra reed parts. As a result of his work combing and balancing the instrumentation of the military band, Safranek became the chief band arranger for the Carl Fischer publishing house. He made contributions to the band repertoires including marches, overtures and novelty numbers. He composed two popular suites for band, the ''Atlantis'' (1913) and ''Don Quixote'' (1914) suites. In 1916 he published a book on military music, ''Complete Instructive Manual for Bugle, Trumpet, and Drum,'' and in 1923 he published another on harmony called ''Safranek's Guide to Harmony.'' He served for 30 years as a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

bandmaster and retired in 1930 from the army. Although many of his arrangements have disappeared from the band repertoire, his ''International Peace'' march medley and ''Master Melodies'' remain as classic band works.Gillett, Gary. "V.F. Safranek, Frontier Bandsman." ACB Journal, February 2021, pp. 18-21.

Notable works

*Academic Festival Overture (as arranger) (1914) *Andante Cantabile (as arranger) (/1913) *Atlantis (1913) *Cleopatra (as arranger) (1920) *Don Quixote (1914) *Finale from Symphony in F minor No 4 (as arranger; ed. Ragsdale) (1878/1912/2004) *Largo (as arranger) (1893/1912) *Les Contes d'Hoffmann (as arranger) (1880/1910) *Poet and Peasant Overture (as arranger) (1845/1911) *Raymond Overture (as arranger) (1851/1912) *Roman Carnival Overture (as arranger) (1844/1962) *Semiramide (as arranger; ed. Robertson) (1823/1939) *Slavonic Dance No. 3, Op 46 (as arranger) (1878/1912) *Tannhäuser Overture (as transcriber) (1913) *Way Down Upon the Swanee Ribber (as arranger) (1914) *Zampa Overture (as arranger) (1831/1912)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Safranek, Vincent Frank 1867 births 1955 deaths American people of Bohemian descent Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States United States military musicians