Václav Snítil (1 March 1928, in

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; ) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 94,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech R ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

– 19 July 2015, 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 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 ...

violinist and music educator. He first studied with his teacher being Czech violinist Jaroslav Kocián for 8 years from 1942 to 1950, and composition under famed Czech composer

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 ...

for 3 years between 1946 and 1949. In 1953, he graduated from the

Academy of Performing Arts in Prague The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (, AMU) is a university in the centre of Prague, Czech Republic, specialising in the study of music, dance, drama, film, television and multi-media. It is the largest art school in the Czech Republic, wit ...

. He briefly worked as a concert master in the Army Opera and Drama Orchestra of the National Theatro in Prague. As a soloist, he started with works by

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

, KA Hartmann (Czech premieres), and other major works for violins. He regularly performed in the

Prague Spring International Music Festival The Prague Spring International Music Festival (, commonly , Prague Spring) is a classical music festival held every year in Prague, Czech Republic, with symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles from around the world. The first festival ...

. His repertoire includes a number of works by contemporary composers ( Krejčí, Sommer, Srnka, Kalabis, and

Bárta Bárta (feminine: Bártová) is a Czech surname. Barta is a Hungarian surname, but it is also an Anglicized and Germanized form of Bárta. Bárta and Barta are pet forms of the given names Bartoloměj (Czech name) and Bertalan (Hungarian name), both ...

), some of which was credited. He toured extensively thanks to the music scene in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in places such as

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He also did

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 ...

. He was a member of multiple groups: the Vlach Quartet (1957-1970), the Smetana Trio, and from 1975-1988 he was the artistic director and first violinist of the Czech Nonet. In the late 1950s until 1969, he was a member of the famous

ensemble

Ars Rediviva Ars Rediviva was a Czech classical instrumental music group, whose historically informed performances played a key role in the revival of Baroque music in Czechoslovakia. Ars Rediviva chamber ensemble The group was founded in 1951 in Prague b ...

. From 1964 until his death, he was a professor at the very university he graduated from. His most notable pupils include

Václav Hudeček Václav Hudeček (born June 7, 1952 in Rožmitál pod Třemšínem, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech violinist. A former student of David Oistrakh, Hudeček's records have sold many copies in the Czech Republic, especially a 1992 recording of Vivaldi's ...

and

Pavel Šporcl Pavel Šporcl (born 25 April 1973) is a Czech violinist. He was a notable pupil of Václav Snítil Václav Snítil (1 March 1928, in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic – 19 July 2015, in Prague) was a Czech people, Czech violinist and music educa ...

Bibliography

* ''Czechoslovak musical vocabulary individuals and institutions / II (Prague 1963)'' * ''Jan Kozák et al .: Czechoslovak musical artists and chamber ensembles (SHV, Prague 1964)'' * ''Czechoslovak biographical dictionary of the 20th century (Academia, Prague 1992)'' * ''Jos. Tomeš et al .: Czech biographical dictionary of the 20th Century / II (Paseka, Prague 1999)''

References

1928 births Czech classical musicians Czech violinists Musicians from Hradec Králové 2015 deaths 20th-century violinists Academy of Performing Arts in Prague alumni Academic staff of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague {{Violinist-stub