Jaroslav Krček (born 22 April 1939) is a Czech radio producer, conductor, inventor of musical instruments and composer of classical and folk music.

Biography

Jaroslav Krček was born in Čtyři Dvory, today a part of

České Budějovice České Budějovice (; ) is a city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 97,000 inhabitants. The city is located in the valley of the Vltava River, at its confluence with the Malše. České Budějovice is the largest ...

South Bohemian Region The South Bohemian Region () is an administrative unit (''Regions of the Czech Republic, kraj'') of the Czech Republic, located mostly in the southern part of its historical land of Bohemia, with a small part in southwestern Moravia. The western ...

. He studied at the B. Jeremiáš School of Music in České Budějovice before studying composition with

Miloslav Kabeláč Miloslav Kabeláč (1 August 1908 – 17 September 1979) was a distinguished Czech composer and conductor. Kabeláč belongs to the foremost Czech symphonists, whose work is sometimes compared with Antonín Dvořák's and Bohuslav Martinů's. ...

and conducting with Bohumír Liška, both at

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 ...

. Krček was the musical director for

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 ...

Radio and the music editor for the recording company

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 ...

. He is the artistic leader and performer in the folklore group Chorea Bohemica (founded 1967), for which he has composed and adapted a number of songs and dances. Musica Bohemica, a chamber ensemble specialising in Czech (Bohemian) Christmas songs, was created in 1975 by Krček as an offspring of Chorea Bohemica. Some of Krček's music is inspired by early Czech music,

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

and

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

songs, 16th century hymn books and

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

music. Also interested in folk music of the 18th and 19th centuries, Krček has arranged several hundred folksongs and folk dances. He has done extensive and systematic individual, creative work in the realisation of folklore and anonymous musical works. Krček has recorded more than fifty albums of his own compositions and folk songs.

Raab: an electronic opera

''Raab'' (aka Raab The Harlot) or ''Nevěstka Raab (The Prostitute Raab)'' is one of Krček's most renowned compositions. It was created in the ''Prague Electronic Music Studio'' in 1970–71. It is described as an electronic opera. It was banned by the communist regime in 1972, and it was never staged in Czechoslovakia until the

Velvet Revolution The Velvet Revolution () or Gentle Revolution () was a non-violent transition of power in what was then Czechoslovakia, occurring from 17 November to 28 November 1989. Popular demonstrations against the one-party government of the Communist Pa ...

of 1989. Plot The story of Raab (

Rahab Rahab (; ) was, according to the Hebrew Bible in Joshua 2:1-24, a Canaanite who resided within Jericho in the Promised Land and assisted the Israelites by hiding two men who had been sent to scout the city before their attack. In the New Testam ...

in English, Rachav in Hebrew) is based on the account of the Fall of

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

as told in the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Israel from the conquest of Canaan to the Babylonian captivity, Babylonian exile. It tells of the ...

. A Jewish king was planning to conquer the town: ''Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly and instructed them: “Find out what you can about the land, especially Jericho. They stopped at the house of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there'' oshua 2:1 Rahab helps the two spies and hides them from the King of Jericho's guards, thus helping the Israelites conquer Jericho. The libretto is by Zdeněk Barborka using an invented language approximating

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

, the vernacular language of the Jews during most of the Biblical era. The opera opens with an introductory recitation in Czech, followed by one of several long instrumental crescendos built from slow trumpet calls and cymbal crashes, reaching a climax before a long decaying low-pitched rumble: an allusion to the trumpets used by Joshua during the seven-day siege of Jericho. The opera relies mostly on vocals with occasional electroacoustic interjections in the form of processed acoustic instruments like viola, tam-tam or full orchestra, transformed through studio treatment and montage. Vocal deliveries are diverse, ranging from singing to

sprechgesang (, "spoken singing") and (, "spoken voice"), more commonly known as speak-singing in English, are expressionist musical vocal techniques between singing and speaking. Though sometimes used interchangeably, is directly related to the operatic re ...

, from the plaintive to the exalted, from emphatic to hushed voices. The cast included core members of the Chorea Bohemica ensemble, from which the Musica Bohemica ensemble was derived, founded by Krček in 1975. A new production of ''Nevěstka Raab'' was staged in 2003 at Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU) in

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

, with costume and stage design by Radka Mizerová (born 1976). Another production was presented in 2004, by stage director Magdalena Krčková (born 1977) at

Jičín Jičín (; or ''Gitschin'') is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 16,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument reservatio ...

's Cultural House (Kulturní dům v Jičíně). This performance included dancers as well as actors and singers.

Selected works

*Vocal and chamber compositions: Variations For Orchestra, 1967 *Musique concrete: Sonaty Slavičkove (Nightingale Sonatas), 1971 *Opera: Nevěstka Raab, 1971; Bread out of Stones

ate Ate or ATE may refer to: Organizations * Association of Technical Employees, a trade union, now called the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians * Swiss Association for Transport and Environment, a sustainable public transp ...

*Symphony N°1, 1975 *Dialogues With Time, a concert for 2 voices and magnetic tape, 1979 *Chamber Suita Semplice, 1979 *Concerto For Violin And Orchestra, 1980 *Concerto For Oboe, harp and Chamber Orchestra, 1981 *Orchestral suite: Ad Radices, 1982 *Symphony Nº2 for Chorus & Chamber Orchestra, 1983. Chamber music version, 1985 *Testamenti – Vocal and Instrumental Suite to Words of Ancient Phrases, 1984 *Three Love Songs, 1986 *Four Renaissance Miniatures commissioned by Trio Spektrum *Musica per Musica Bohemica, for chamber ensemble, 1990 *Symphony No 4 'Desidearata', premiered at the ''Prague Premieres 2005'' *Symphony No 5 'Renaissance', 2010

Film music

*Škaredá dedina (1975) *Plaché příběhy (1982).... 2. Vražedný útok,3. Modrá chryzantéma *Poslední propadne peklu (1982) *Všichni mají talent (1984) *Moře začíná za vsí (1987) *Tichý společník (1988)

References

External links

Official site of Jaroslav KrčekJaroslav Krček at ClassicsOnlineInterview with Jaroslav Krček at muzikus.cz