Otto Albert Tichý (14 August 1890 – 21 October 1973) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

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 ...

, teacher and organist.

Early life and education

Otto Albert Tichý was born in Martínkov,

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

, in a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family of a provincial teacher. He studied different instruments and played the organ from an early age. He began composing as a boy. He became a devoted student of

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 ...

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 ...

. However, he interrupted his study to work nine years at the most spiritual publisher of this time, Josef Florian, solely for room and board. In 1919 he resumed his study as a pupil of French

and teacher

Vincent d'Indy Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy (; 27 March 18512 December 1931) was a French composer and teacher. His influence as a teacher, in particular, was considerable. He was a co-founder of the Schola Cantorum de Paris and also taught at the Pa ...

at the

Schola Cantorum The Schola Cantorum de Paris ( being ) is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera. History The Schol ...

. Tichý initially studied organ,

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...

and composition, then contrapuntalism and concord. At

he got the opportunity to experience music from the 16th to the 18th centuries in vocal

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chord ...

Career

After he successfully finished his study, he lived as a private music teacher and organist. He spent six years in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and after his marriage moved to Lausanne with his family, where he worked as organist in cathedral Notre Dame and as professor of music at Dominican gymnasium. In 1936 he returned to Czechoslovakia. After ten years he became choirmaster and organist at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague and worked as a teacher at

. He taught choir, Gregorian chant, improvisation, organ accompaniment, conducting, Latin and French. During the Communist period, Tichý remained at Prague Conservatory as a teacher thanks to then Conservatory director Václav Holzknecht and to Tichý's knowledge and skills, especially in languages and music for twenty long years. He left Prague Conservatory at age 75. He also resigned as the organist at St. Vitus. Until the end of his life he wrote music and translated books. Otto Albert Tichý died at 83, close to his organ-loft. Few of the composer's works are performed regularly today. His best known pieces are the ''Missa festival in honorem Sti Alberti Magni'', ''Missa pastoralis in honorem Jesu Infantis in Praga'' or ''A Notre-Dame du Chene'', and ''Tantum ergo sacramentum'', and ''Ave Maria'', and some other vocal compositions and very nice compositions for small chamber brass or string ensembles. Tichý's works include orchestral music,

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 ...

, piano music and songs.

Works

*'' List of compositions by Otto Albert Tichý''

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tichy, Otto Albert 1890 births 1973 deaths Czechoslovak classical composers Czech classical composers Czech male classical composers People from Třebíč District Pupils of Vincent d'Indy Schola Cantorum de Paris alumni 20th-century Czech male musicians Prague Conservatory alumni