Štefan Hoza (20 October 1906,

Smižany Smižany (, ) is a large village and municipality in the Spišská Nová Ves District in the Košice Region of central-eastern Slovakia. With a population of over 8,500 people as of 2021, Smižany is the largest village in Slovakia (a village bei ...

– 6 April 1982,

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

) was a Slovak

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

, educator, music publicist, and historian.Hoza, Štefan Biography at operissimo.com (in German)
/ref> Hoza worked as a teacher before studying singing at the

Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava The Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (, abbr. VŠMU) is a university founded on June 9, 1949. The university consists of three faculties: *''Theatre Faculty'' (Acting, Directing, Dramaturgy, Stage and Costume Design, Puppetry, Theatre Th ...

. Just weeks after graduating, Hoza made his professional opera debut at the

Slovak National Theatre The Slovak National Theater (, abbr. SND) is the oldest professional theatre in Slovakia, consisting of three ensembles: opera, ballet, and drama. Its history begins shortly after the establishment of the first Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. It ...

(SNT) in Bratislava in 1932. He remained at the theatre for the next three decades. He also pursued further vocal training in Prague (1932), Milan (1933), and Vienna (1936). Hoza's repertoire at the SNT encompassed many heroic tenor roles and operetta roles; portraying more than 90 roles at the house during his lengthy career. He was especially praised for his portrayal of Prince Sou-Chong in

Franz Lehár Franz Lehár ( ; ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is '' The Merry Widow'' (''Die lustige Witwe''). Life and career L ...

's ''

The Land of Smiles ''The Land of Smiles'' (German: ') is a 1929 romantic operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German language libretto was by Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Löhner-Beda. The performance duration is about 100 minutes. This was one of Lehár's late ...

''. He notably portrayed the role of Ondrej Zimoň in the world premiere of Eugen Suchoň's '' Krútňava'' on 10 December 1949. He also co-wrote the libretto for that opera with Suchoň. He also wrote the librettos for two operas by

Ján Cikker Ján Cikker (29 July 1911 – 21 December 1989) was a Slovak composer, a leading exponent of modern Slovak classical music. He was awarded the title ''National Artist'' in Slovakia, the Herder Prize (1966) and thIMC-UNESCO International Music Pr ...

, ''Juro Jánošík'' (1954) and ''Beg Bajazid'' (1957). In addition to performing, Hoza worked as

dramaturge A dramaturge or dramaturg (from Ancient Greek δραματουργός – dramatourgós) is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and pr ...

at the SNT from 1939–1947. He also served as an opera director at the house for several productions between 1958–1962. Hoza also worked as an actor in a few Czech films, portraying Bolko Baranský in '' Polská krev'' (1934), Stepan Urbanec in ''Hudba srdcí'' (1934), and the Head physician in ''Na pochode sa vzdy nespieva'' (1961). He also sang for the soundtracks of the first two aforementioned films and for ''Zem spieva'' (1933). As a music historian he published three books related to the history of opera in Slovakia: ''Tvorcovia hudby'' (1943), ''Opera na Slovensku'' (1954), and ''Večer v opere'' (1975). He also published a two volume autobiography, ''Ja svoje srdce dám'', in 1989. After retiring from the stage in 1962, Hoza joined the voice faculty of the Bratislava Conservatory, where he taught up until his death. He had already begun teaching singing privately in 1952. In 1968 he was named a National Artist by the government of Czechoslovakia. In 1977, he signed the Anticharta, the reaction of the ruling

Communist Party of Czechoslovakia The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia ( Czech and Slovak: ''Komunistická strana Československa'', KSČ) was a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Czechoslovakia that existed between 1921 and 1992. It was a member of the Com ...

Charter 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoza, Stefan 1906 births 1982 deaths Slovak operatic tenors Opera librettists 20th-century dramatists and playwrights Czechoslovak male opera singers