Václav Snítil (1 March 1928, in

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; german: Königgrätz) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 91,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected by law as an ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

– 19 July 2015, in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

) 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' Places *Czech, ...

violinist and music educator. He first studied with his teacher being Czech violinist

Jaroslav Kocián Jaroslav Kocián (22 February 1883 in Ústí nad Orlicí – 8 March 1950 in Prague) was a Czech people, Czech violinist, classical composer and teacher. Together with Jan Kubelík he is considered as the most important representative of "Ševč ...

for 8 years from 1942 to 1950, and composition under famed Czech composer

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 ...

for 3 years between 1946 and 1949. In 1953, he graduated from the

Academy of Performing Arts in Prague The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague ( cs, Akademie múzických umění v Praze, AMU) is a university in the centre of Prague, Czech Republic, specialising in the study of music, dance, drama, film, television and multi-media. It is the larg ...

. He briefly worked as a concert master in the Army Opera and Drama Orchestra of the National Theatre in Prague. As a soloist, he started with works by

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

, KA Hartmann (Czech premieres), and other major works for violins. He regularly performed in the

Prague Spring International Music Festival The Prague Spring International Music Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní hudební festival Pražské jaro, commonly cs, Pražské jaro, Prague Spring) is a classical music festival held every year in Prague, Czech Republic, with symphony orchestras an ...

. His repertoire includes a number of works by contemporary composers ( Krejčí,

Sommer Sommer is a surname, from the German, Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian languages word for the season "summer". Notable people with this name include: A–L * Alfred Sommer (born 1943), American academic * Alice Herz-Sommer (1903–2014), Czech-born J ...

, Srnka, Kalabis, and Bárta), some of which was credited. He toured extensively thanks to the music scene in

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

in places such as

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. He also did

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 ...

. He was a member of multiple groups: the Vlach Quartet (1957-1970), the Smetana Trio, and from 1975-1988 he was the artistic director and first violinist of the Czech Nonet. In the late 1950s until 1969, he was a member of the famous

ensemble Ensemble may refer to: Art * Architectural ensemble * ''Ensemble'' (album), Kendji Girac 2015 album * Ensemble (band), a project of Olivier Alary * Ensemble cast (drama, comedy) * Ensemble (musical theatre), also known as the chorus * ''En ...

Ars Rediviva Ars Rediviva was a Czech classical instrumental music group, whose historically-informed performances played a key role in the revival of Baroque music in Czechoslovakia. Ars Rediviva chamber ensemble The group was founded in 1951 in Prague ...

. From 1964 until his death, he was a professor at the very university he graduated from. His most notable pupils include

Václav Hudeček Václav Hudeček (born June 7, 1952 in Rožmitál pod Třemšínem, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech violinist. A former student of David Oistrakh, Hudeček's records have sold many copies in the Czech Republic, especially a 1992 recording of Vivaldi's ...

and Pavel Šporcl.

Bibliography

* ''Czechoslovak musical vocabulary individuals and institutions / II (Prague 1963)'' * ''Jan Kozák et al .: Czechoslovak musical artists and chamber ensembles (SHV, Prague 1964)'' * ''Czechoslovak biographical dictionary of the 20th century (Academia, Prague 1992)'' * ''Jos. Tomeš et al .: Czech biographical dictionary of the 20th Century / II (Paseka, Prague 1999)''

References

1928 births Czech classical musicians Czech violinists Musicians from Hradec Králové 2015 deaths 20th-century violinists {{Violinist-stub