František Rauch (4 February 1910 – 23 September 1996) was a Czechoslovak pianist and music teacher.

Life and career

Born in

Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...

, the son of a music instrument dealer, Rauch attended a business school in Plzeň before studying piano 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 ...

and composition with

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 ...

. Before he began his career as a pianist, he worked for several months in the piano factory of

August Förster August Förster is a German piano manufacturing company (also rendered "Foerster," occasionally "Forster," officially "August Förster GmbH Kunsthandwerklicher Flügel-und-Pianobau") that currently has a staff of 40 employees and produces around ...

. Rauch became known as a

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

ian, including pianist of the esteemed Pražské Trio with and , and as a concert pianist. His repertoire focused on compositions by

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

, Smetana,

Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic period. With a diverse body of work spanning more than six decades, he is considered to be one of the most pro ...

Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

and

. In Poland he was in demand as interpreter of the works of Chopin. Rauch made around 60 recordings (mainly for

Supraphon Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, oriented mainly towards publishing classical music and popular music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers. History The Supraphon name was first registered as a trademark in 1932. Th ...

), including the piano cycle Pan and other piano works by his teacher Novák. As president of the Czech Chopin Society, he was the promoter of the Chopin Festival in

Mariánské Lázně Mariánské Lázně (; ) is a spa town in Cheb District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. Most of the town's buildings come from its Golden Era in the second half of the 19th century, when many c ...

. He taught at the Prague Conservatory from 1939 for more than forty years and was the teacher of musicians such as

Petr Eben Petr Eben (22 January 1929 – 24 October 2007) was a Czech composer of modern and contemporary classical music, and an organist and choirmaster. Life and career Born in Žamberk in northeastern Bohemia, Eben spent most of his childhood an ...

, Valentina Kameníková, Ivan Klánský and the harpsichordist

Zuzana Růžičková Zuzana Růžičková () (14 January 1927 – 27 September 2017) was a Czech harpsichordist. An interpreter of Classical music, classical and Baroque music, baroque music, Růžičková was the first harpsichordist to record Johann Sebastian Bach' ...

. In 1975 he acted as a jury member for the first Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition."Winners, Juries, Orchestras and Guest Artists – II International Competition 1975"
Santander Piano Competition Rauch died 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 ...

at age 86.

References

External links

* * * Rauch's discography i
Český hudební slovník

František Rauch
on NKCR
František Rauch on Allmusic

Rauch plays Novák
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rauch, Frantisek 1910 births 1996 deaths Musicians from Plzeň Czechoslovak classical pianists Academic staff of the Prague Conservatory Merited Artists of Czechoslovakia Prague Conservatory alumni