Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek (; ''Johann Hugo Worzischek'', 11 May 1791, in Vamberk,

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 ...

– 19 November 1825, in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

) 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 def ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

Life

Voříšek was born in the town of Vamberk,

, where his father was schoolmaster, choirmaster and

. As a

child prodigy A child prodigy is, technically, a child under the age of 10 who produces meaningful work in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to describe young people who are extraordinarily talented in some f ...

, he started to perform publicly in Bohemian towns at the age of nine.Sleeve note of the CD (Supraphon, SU 3678-2001)
/ref> His father taught him music, encouraged his playing the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and helped him get a scholarship to attend the University of Prague, where he studied philosophy. He also had lessons in piano and composition from Václav Tomášek. He found it impossible to obtain sufficient work as a musician in Prague and in 1813, at the age of 22, moved to

to study law, hoping to meet

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 ...

. In Vienna Voříšek was able to greatly improve his piano technique under

Johann Nepomuk Hummel Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 177817 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was a pupil of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Salieri, and ...

, but once more failed to gain full-time employment as a musician. Although Voříšek was enthralled by the classical style of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

, he was more intrigued by the incipient romanticism of Beethoven. In 1814, as he was starting to compose, he did indeed meet Beethoven in Vienna. He also met other leading musicians there, including the composers

Louis Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten symphonies, ...

Ignaz Moscheles Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (; 23 May 179410 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer. He was based initially in London and later at Leipzig, where he joined his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as professor of piano in the Co ...

, Hummel, and especially

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

with whom he became fast friends. He completed his law studies in 1821 and was appointed barrister to the Court Military Privy Councillor, for whom he mainly drafted legal documents. But in 1822, he at last found musical employment as second court organist and ended his legal career. He was appointed first organist in 1824. He soon won esteem as a composer of orchestral, vocal and piano music for orchestra. In 1818 he became conductor of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna. Vorišek died, in

, of

respiratory arrest Respiratory arrest is a serious medical condition caused by apnea or respiratory dysfunction severe enough that it will not sustain the body (such as agonal breathing). Prolonged apnea refers to a patient who has stopped breathing for a long period ...

in 1825 at the age of 33. He was buried at the common cemetery in

Währing Währing () is the 18th Districts of Vienna, district of Vienna and lies in northwestern Vienna on the edge of the Vienna Woods. It was formed in 1892 from the unification of the older suburbs of Währing, Weinhaus, Gersthof, Pötzleinsdorf, Neus ...

(today's Währinger Park).

Music

Voříšek wrote only one symphony, his Symphony in D major, in 1821. In his capacity as imperial court organist, Voříšek composed a Mass in B-flat major. Together with his single symphony, some of his piano works and his Violin Sonata in G major, Op. 5, and the Mass have been recorded. The first recorded use of

impromptu An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...

as a musical term occurred in 1817, in the ''Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung''. His Impromptus Op. 7 were published in 1822, pieces known to his friend Schubert who subsequently used the description for several sets of music for piano, as did

Frederic Chopin Frederic may refer to: Places United States * Frederic, Wisconsin, a village in Polk County * Frederic Township, Michigan, a township in Crawford County ** Frederic, Michigan, an unincorporated community Other uses * Frederic (band), a Japanese r ...

and numerous other composers. In 1823–24, he was, like Schubert, one of the 50 composers to contribute a variation on the same waltz by

Anton Diabelli Anton (or Antonio) Diabelli (5 September 17818 April 1858) was an Austrian music publisher, editor and composer. Best known in his time as a publisher, he is most familiar today as the composer of the waltz on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote ...

for the '' Vaterländischer Künstlerverein'' on which Beethoven composed his 33 variations (Op. 120).

Selected discography

* ''Grand Rondo Concertante'' for Piano, Violin, Cello and Orchestra op25 (B09QNG2NC2), released 2022, coupled with Beethoven Triple Concerto
Lobkowicz Trio
on Rubicon Classics
Cedille Records
recording (CDR 90000 058) of Voříšek's Symphony in D major and Mass in B-flat major with Paul Freeman and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra & Prague Chamber Choir, with program notes by Andrea Lamoreaux
Cantus Classics
1993 recording (CACD 8.0019 D) of Voříšek's Symphony in D major and Mass in B-flat major with Oldrich Vlchek (resp. Václav Neumann) and the Virtuosi di Praga & Prague Chamber Choir.
ArkivMusic.com
first CD recording of Voříšek's chamber music including his Violin Sonata (Praga 250204), played by the Kocian String Quartet with program notes by James Reel, FANFARE
Hyperion Records
recording (CDA 66800) Voříšek's Symphony in D, with Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. * Opus 111 recording OPS 30241 Fantasia Op. 12, Impromptus Nos 1-6 Op. 7, Sonata in B flat minor and Variations in B flat Op. 19. Olga Tverskaya (piano)

recording RRC1224 Six Impromptus Op. 7, Sonata in B flat minor Op. 20, Variations in B flat Op. 19 and Fantasie Op. 12, also for piano.

recording (CRC 3022) of select pieces for solo piano performed by David Gross

Footnotes

External links

Classical Composers
entry to Voříšek
Calendar of Composers
entry to Voříšek * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vorisek, Jan Vaclav 1791 births 1825 deaths 19th-century Czech classical composers 19th-century classical pianists 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century Czech male musicians 19th-century organists Czech classical organists Czech classical pianists Composers from the Austrian Empire Czech male classical composers Czech Romantic composers Czech male classical pianists Czech male classical organists People from Vamberk Tuberculosis deaths in the Austrian Empire

Life

Music

Selected discography

Footnotes

Further reading

External links