Václav Dobiáš (22 September 1909 in Radčice – 18 May 1978 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) was a

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 *Czech (surnam ...

composer.

Life

Dobiáš was born in Radčice,

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

. He studied in

with

Josef Bohuslav Foerster Josef Bohuslav Foerster (30 December 1859 – 29 May 1951) was a Czech composer and musicologist. He is often referred to as J. B. Foerster, and his surname is sometimes spelled Förster. Life Foerster was born in Prague. His ancestors were of ...

and then at the

Prague Conservatory The Prague Conservatory () is a public music school in Prague, Czech Republic, founded in 1808. Currently, the school offers four- or six-year courses, which can be compared to the level of a high school diploma in other countries. Graduates c ...

under

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 ...

. Many of his early works show considerable influence from

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

. Later in his life he became interested in

quarter tone A quarter tone is a pitch halfway between the usual notes of a chromatic scale or an interval about half as wide (orally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which itself is half a whole tone. Quarter tones divide the octave by 50 cents each, a ...

composition, especially after studying with

Alois Hába Alois Hába (21 June 1893 – 18 November 1973) was a Czech composer, music theorist and teacher. He belongs to the important discoverers in modern classical music, and to the major composers of microtonal music, especially using the quarter-to ...

. After working in the Czech Ministry of Information, he became professor at the Prague Academy of Music in 1950. Some of his 1940s and 1950s works, especially his

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s, were written in praise of communism. His work was also part of the music event in the art competition at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

. He died in Prague.

Works

Chamber music

*String Quartet No. 1 (1931) *Sonata for Violin and Piano (1936) *String Quartet No. 2 (1936) *''Říkadla'', Nonet (1938) *String Quartet No. 3 (1938) *Sonata for Cello and Piano (1939) *''Lento'' for 3 harps, 1940 *String Quartet No. 4 (1942) *''Pastorální dechový kvintet'', wind quintet (1943) *Ballade for Viola and Piano (1944) *Little Suite for Cello and Piano (1944) *4 Nocturnes for Cello and Piano (1944) *''Quartettino'' for String Quartet (1944) *Dance for Cello and Piano (1946) *''Taneční fantasie'' (Dance Fantasy), Nonet (1948) *''O rodné zemí'', Nonet (1952)

Other works

*Suite for piano (1939) *Concertino for violin (1941) *''Stalingrad'', cantata (1945) *Sinfonietta (1946) *''Slavnostní pochod'' (1948) *''Buduj vlast, posílíš mir'' (Build Your Country, Strengthen Peace), cantata (1950) *Symphony No. 2 (1956–57) *''Festive Overture'' (1966)

Life

Works

Chamber music

Other works

References

Further reading