Vladimír Sommer (28 February 1921 in Dolní Jiřetín near

Most Most or Möst may refer to: Places * Most, Kardzhali Province, a village in Bulgaria * Most (city), a city in the Czech Republic ** Most District, a district surrounding the city ** Most Basin, a lowland named after the city ** Autodrom Most, moto ...

– 8 September 1997 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 ...

) was a Czech composer. Sommer began his studies 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 ...

, where he studied violin with Bedřich Voldan and composition with Karel Janeček. He then continued his education at the Academy of Arts and Music with

Pavel Bořkovec Pavel Bořkovec (10 June 1894, in Prague – 22 July 1972, in Prague) was a Czech composer and music teacher. Bořkovec studied at the Prague Conservatory under Josef Suk. From 1946 to 1967 he taught at the Academy of Musical Arts in Prague. ...

. His first job was a composition teacher, and he eventually became a professor in the Music Department of

Charles University Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest universities in the world in conti ...

. Sommer wrote three

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

, an

overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") is a music instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overtures which ...

, one cello concerto and one violin

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

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 ...

, and choral pieces. He died in 1997 in

Selected works

*''Sonata for two Violins'', 1948 *''Violin Concerto'' in G minor, 1950 *''Antigone'', Overture to the Tragedy of

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

, 1957 *''Vocal Symphony'' for

Contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

, Speaker, Choir, and Orchestra, 1958 *''Prince Bajaja'', Orchestral Suite, 1970 *''Symphony for Strings'', 1977 *''Sinfonia da Requiem'' for Soloists, Choir, and Orchestra, 1978 *''Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra'', 1979 *''Piano Sonata'', 1980 *''String Quartet'' in B minor, 1981 *''String Quartet'' in D minor, 1955

References

*The information in this article is based on that in its German equivalent.

External links

Vladimir Sommer Biography
(in Czech) 1921 births 1997 deaths Czech classical composers Czech male classical composers Czechoslovak classical composers People from Horní Jiřetín Prague Conservatory alumni Academic staff of Charles University 20th-century Czech male musicians Czechoslovak musicians {{CzechRepublic-composer-stub