Václav (Wenzel) Emanuel Horák (1 January 1800 in

Lobeč Lobeč is a municipality and village in Mělník District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 200 inhabitants. Demographics Sights There is a museum dedicated to life and work of Eduard Štorch. Notable people *V� ...

– 3 September 1871 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 and liturgical musician.

Life

From 1813 Horák attended the Prague Gymnasium while working as a choir boy and later on as a choralist at St. Nicholas's Church in the

Malá Strana Malá Strana ( Czech for "Little Side (of the River)", ) or historically Menší Město pražské () is a district of the city of Prague, Czech Republic, and one of its most historic neighbourhoods. In the Middle Ages, it was a dominant center o ...

quarter.Československý hudební slovník I. (1963), p. 470 At

Prague 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 oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

he first read philosophy, later switching to law. The musical training from

Václav Tomášek Václav Jan Křtitel Tomášek (in German: Wenzel Johann Tomaschek; 17 April 1774, Skuteč, Bohemia – 3 April 1850, Prague) was an Austrian-Bohemian, by other accounts a Czech composer and music teacher. He was known as the Musical Pope of Prag ...

he wished for, was out of his financial reach. Only later did he become a pupil of

Friedrich Dionys Weber Friedrich may refer to: Names *Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' *Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' Other *Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...

's and

Jan August Vitásek Jan Matyáš Nepomuk August Vitásek (or Johann Matthias Wittasek/Wittaschek; February 20, 1770 – December 7, 1839) was a Bohemian composer. Vitásek was born at Hořín. He studied under his father and then under František Xaver Dušek ...

's. He started as an organist at Prague's Trinity Church around 1830, starting as a teacher at Prague Organ School shortly afterwards. In 1833 he was appointed organist at the

Church of Our Lady in front of Týn Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, choir director at Our Lady of the Snows Franciscan church in 1837, and Regens chori at St. Adalbert's Church in 1853. From 1859, he returned to Our Lady Before Týn, having accepted an appointment as Liturgical musician and director there. In his lifetime, he was made an honorary member of many musical associations and academies, e.g. the Salzburg

Mozarteum Mozarteum University Salzburg ( German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the "Mozarteum" name in Salzburg municipality; the International Mozarteu ...

Style

Stylistically, Horák is a scion of late Classicism probably going back to the enduring influence of his patrons Weber and Vitásek, who in their turn were followers 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 ...

. Horák's liturgical works, twelve masses, a single

requiem A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is ...

, a

passion cantata In Christian music, a Passion is a setting of the Passion of Christ. Liturgically, most Passions were intended to be performed as part of church services in the Holy Week. Passion settings developed from medieval intoned readings of the Gosp ...

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...

s and spiritual songs, were widely acclaimed during his lifetime and are still performed today. He also opened two schools of singing and wrote an essay titled ''On the Ambiguity of Chords''.

Selected works

Theoretical works: *''Über die Mehrdeutigkeit der Akkorde'' (On the Ambiguity of Chords) (1846) *''Gesangschule für Sopran und Alt'' (1855) *''Kleine Gesangschule für eine Baßstimme'' (1857) *''Harmonielehre'' - manuscript, one chapter published in 1872. Compositions: *''Missa solemnis'' (1874) *''Hymni pro defunctis'' *''Pět čtverozpěvů'' (1850)

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Horak, Vaclav Emanuel Czech composers Czech male composers 1800 births 1871 deaths People from Mělník District 19th-century composers 19th-century Czech male musicians