Josef Suk (composer)
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Josef Suk (4 January 1874 – 29 May 1935) 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 ...
and
violinist The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists, notable violinists from the baroque era onwards * List of contemporary classical violinists, notable contemporary classical violinists * List of violinist/composers, ...
. He studied under
Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...
, whose daughter he married.


Biography

From a young age, Josef Suk (born in
Křečovice Křečovice is a municipality and village in Benešov District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 800 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages and hamlets of Brdečný, Hodětice, Hořetice, Hůrka, Krchleby, Lho ...
,
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 ...
) was deeply involved and well trained in music. He learned organ, violin, and piano from his father, Josef Suk Sr., and was trained further in violin by the Czech violinist Antonín Bennewitz. His theory studies were conducted with several other composers including
Josef Bohuslav Foerster Josef Bohuslav Foerster (30 December 1859 – 29 May 1951) was a Czechs, 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 ...
, Karel Knittl, and Karel Stecker. He later focused his writing on chamber works under the teachings of
Hanuš Wihan Hanuš Wihan (5 June 1855 – 1 May 1920) was a renowned Czech cellist, considered the greatest of his time. He was strongly associated with the works of Antonín Dvořák, whose Cello Concerto in B minor, Rondo in G minor, and the short pi ...
. Despite extensive musical training, his musical skill was often said to be largely inherited. Though he continued his lessons with Wihan another year after the completion of his schooling, Suk's greatest inspiration came from another of his teachers, Czech composer
Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czechs, Czech composer. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravian traditional music, Moravia and his native Bohemia, following t ...
.Tyrell, Grove. Page 1 Known as one of Dvořák's favorite pupils, Suk also became personally close to his mentor.Novak, "Non-Obstinate." Page 86 Underlying this was Dvořák's respect for Suk, reflected in Suk's 1898 marriage to Dvořák's daughter, Otilie, marking some of the happiest times in the composer's life and music. However, the last portion of Suk's life was punctuated with tragedy. Over the span of 14 months around 1905, not only did Suk's mentor Dvořák die, but so did Otilie. These events inspired Suk's '' Asrael Symphony''. Owing to a shared heritage—and the coincidence of their dying within a few months of one another—Suk has been closely compared, in works and style, to fellow Czech composer
Otakar Ostrčil Otakar Ostrčil (25 February 1879 in Prague – 20 August 1935 in Prague) was a Czech composer and conductor. He is noted for symphonic works ''Impromptu'', ''Suite in C Minor'', and ''Symfonietta'', and in his opera compositions '' Poupě'' an ...
. Suk, alongside Vitezslav Novak and Ostrčil, is considered one of the leading composers in Czech Modernism, with much shared influence among the three coming in turn from Dvořák. Eminent German figures such as composer
Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
and critic
Eduard Hanslick Eduard Hanslick (11 September 18256 August 1904) was an Austrian music critic, aesthetician and historian. Among the leading critics of his time, he was the chief music critic of the ''Neue Freie Presse'' from 1864 until the end of his life. H ...
recognized Suk's work during his time with the Czech Quartet. Over time, well known Austrian composers such as
Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
and
Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
also began to take notice of Suk and his work. Although he wrote mostly instrumental music, Suk occasionally branched out into other genres. Orchestral music was his strong suit, notably the Serenade for Strings, Op. 6 (1892). His time with the Czech Quartet, though performing successful concerts until his retirement, was not always met with public approval. Several anti-Dvořák campaigns came into prominence; criticism not only being directed at the quartet, but towards Suk specifically. The leftist critic
Zdeněk Nejedlý Zdeněk Nejedlý (10 February 1878 – 9 March 1962) was a Czech musicologist, historian, music critic, author, and politician whose ideas dominated the cultural life of what is now the Czech Republic for most of the twentieth century. Although ...
accused the Czech Quartet of inappropriately playing concerts in the Czech lands during World War I. While these attacks diminished Suk's spirits, they did not hinder his work.


Private life

Suk married Dvorak's daughter, Otýlie, in 1898. They had one child, a son, also named Josef, in 1898. Otýlie died of heart failure aged 27 in 1905, a year after her father. Josef Suk Jr. in turn was father of the acclaimed violinist Josef Suk, who died in 2011. Suk retired in 1933, although he continued to be a valuable and inspirational public figure to the Czechs. Suk died on 29 May 1935, in
Benešov Benešov (; german: Beneschau; also known as Benešov u Prahy) is a town in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. The town is known for the Konopiště Castle. Administrative parts Villages of Baba, ...
,
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
(now
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 ...
); he was buried in the cemetery of St Luke's Church,
Křečovice Křečovice is a municipality and village in Benešov District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 800 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages and hamlets of Brdečný, Hodětice, Hořetice, Hůrka, Krchleby, Lho ...
.


Musical style

Suk's musical style started off with a heavy influence from his mentor, Dvořák. The biggest change of Suk's style came after he reached a "dead end" in his early musical style (music played less of a role in Suk's life outside of his schooling), just before he began a stylistic shift during 1897–1905, perhaps realizing that the strong influence of Dvořák would limit his work. Morbidity was always a large factor in Suk's music. For instance, he wrote his own funeral march in 1889 and it appears significantly also in a major work, the "funeral symphony" ''
Asrael ''Asrael'' is a ''leggenda'' or opera in four acts by composer Alberto Franchetti and librettist Ferdinando Fontana. The plot, based on German fairy tale and folklore, displays the conflict between the spirit of evil and the spirit of Christian l ...
'', Op. 27. ''
Ripening Ripening is a process in fruits that causes them to become more palatable. In general, fruit becomes sweeter, less green, and softer as it ripens. Even though the acidity of fruit increases as it ripens, the higher acidity level does not make the ...
'', a
symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...
, was also a story of pain and questioning the value of life. Other works, however – such as the music he set to
Julius Zeyer Julius Zeyer (26 April 1841 – 29 January 1901) was a Czech prose writer, poet, and playwright. Personal life Zeyer was born on 26 April 1841 in Prague. His mother, Elisabeth Eleonora (née Weisseles), came from a German Jewish-turned-Catholic ...
's drama '' Radúz a Mahulena'' – display his happiness, which he credited to his marriage with Otilie. Another of Suk's works, '' Pohádka'' (Fairy Tale), was drawn from his work with ''Radúz a Mahulena''. The closest Suk came to opera is in his
incidental music Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as t ...
to the play ''Pod jabloní'' (Beneath the Apple Tree). The majority of Suk's papers are kept in Prague. There is also a new catalogue of Suk's works that contains more manuscripts than any before it, some of them also containing sketches by Suk. Suk said of himself: "I do not bow to anyone, except to my own conscience and to our noble Lady Music… and yet at the same time I know that thereby I serve my country, and praise the great people from the period of our wakening who taught us to love our country."Beckerman, Michael. "In Search of Czechness in Music." 19th-Century Music, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Summer, 1986). Page 63, date accessed: 2 October 2012.


See also

*
Josef Suk Museum Josef Suk Memorial is a museum in Křečovice, a village in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It was the home of the composer and violinist Josef Suk (1874–1935), and is now a museum dedicated to him. Description The house was ...
, formerly the composer's home in Křečovice


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * *


External links

* at the 'Indian Summer in
Levoča Levoča (; hu, Lőcse; rue, Левоча) is a town in the Prešov Region of eastern Slovakia with a population of 14,700. The town has a historic center with a well preserved town wall, a Gothic church with the highest wooden altar in the wo ...
' Festival, 2008. * Photo of Josef and Otilie Suk in
Dvořák Family Photo Gallery
*





Soundbites and discussion of works
Josef Suk's academic genealogy entry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suk, Josef (composer) 1874 births 1935 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century classical violinists 19th-century Czech male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century classical violinists 20th-century Czech male musicians Czech classical violinists Czech male classical composers Czech Romantic composers Male classical violinists Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic competitors in art competitions Olympic silver medalists for Czechoslovakia Olympic silver medalists in art competitions People from Benešov District People from the Kingdom of Bohemia