Václav Suk (16 November 186112 January 1933) was an Austrian-born violinist, conductor and composer who operated in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. He was also known as Váša Suk,Tchaikovsky Research
/ref> Vyacheslav Suk, Vyacheslav Ivanovich (Вячеслав Иванович Сук) and Vjačeslav Ivanovič Suk.

Biography

Suk was born in

Kladno Kladno (; ) is a city in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 70,000 inhabitants. It is the largest city in the region and has a rich industrial history. Administrative division Kladno consists of six municipal parts ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

. He is said to have been related to the composer Joseph Suk. From 1873 to 1879 Suk studied violin 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 ...

as a pupil of

Antonín Bennewitz Antonín Bennewitz (also Anton Bennewitz; 26 March 1833 – 29 May 1926) was a Bohemian violinist, conductor, and teacher. He was in a line of violinists that extended back to Giovanni Battista Viotti, and forward to Jan Kubelík and Wolfgang ...

. Concurrently he studied also

counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

with Josef Krejčí, and, privately, composition with

Zdeněk Fibich Zdeněk Fibich (, 21 December 1850 in Všebořice – 15 October 1900 in Prague) was a Czech composer of classical music. Among his compositions are chamber works (including two string quartets, a piano trio, piano quartet and a quintet for pia ...

. In 1880 he went to

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

as a violinist in the Warsaw Philharmonic, but a short while later he was already engaged as a concert master in the Imperial Orchestra of

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

(from 1880 to 1882). In 1885 his career as an opera conductor began with the Philharmonic Society in Moscow, where from 1882 he had served as a violinist with the Bolshoi orchestra, but he proved his abilities as

kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

of the opera in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

(1885–1886).

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

recommended him to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, but Suk went to

Taganrog Taganrog (, ) is a port city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, on the north shore of Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov, several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don (river), Don River. It is in the Black Sea region. Population: Located at the site of a ...

instead, where he began to also conduct symphonic works. His later employment with a private opera orchestra in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

lasted from 1890 to 1894, and this was followed by guest performances or shorter engagements in many of the larger places in Russia, e.g. in Kharkiv, Moscow, Saint Petersburg,

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

, and

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

. In 1906 Suk returned to Moscow and became the kapellmeister of the opera of the

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈat(ə)r, t=Grand Theater) is a historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolutio ...

. He conducted there for more than 25 years, until 1932, from 1928 on as its conductor-in-chief, and from 1927 he conducted also at the Stanislavski Opera Theatre in Moscow. He asserted himself also as a symphonic conductor, and promoted the works of Czech composers in Russia. - particularly works by

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8September 18411May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predec ...

and

Bedřich Smetana Bedřich Smetana ( ; ; 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival". He has been regarded ...

. After the Revolution he was commissioned with the organization of the Moscow Philharmonic Concerts, and in 1923 he was given the honour of conducting a special production at the Bolshoi of

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's ''

Lohengrin Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wo ...

'' on the dual occasion of the 40th anniversary of the composer's death and of the 25-year stage jubilee of the famous Lohengrin-singer Leonid Sobinov. Suk, who had a reputation of being an authentic interpreter of Tchaikovsky's music and of Rimsky-Korsakov's operas, some of which he premiered, Friedrich Frick
''Kleines biographisches Lexikon der Violinisten: Vom Anfang des Violinspiels bis zum Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts''. p. 508 was awarded many more honours during his Russian career. He died, aged 71, in Moscow, and the "orchestral foyer" in the ''Great Theatre'' was posthumously named after him.

Selected works

Piano * ''Two Czech Dances'', Op. 2 * ''Four Pieces'', Op. 3 * ''Variations to the words of Czech Folksong'' Chamber * ''Czech Folksongs'' - for string quartet * ''Four Pieces'' - for violin and piano Symphonic * ''Jan Hus'' - symphonic poem * ''Symphony'', Op. 13 * ''Festive March to the Memory of

'' * ''Serenade in E-flat major'' * ''Serenade in D major'' - for string orchestra Songs * ''Czech Songs'' - for voice and piano * ''My Wish''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suk, Vaclav 1861 births 1933 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century classical musicians 19th-century conductors (music) Soviet conductors (music) Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the Russian Empire Concertmasters Czech classical violinists Czech conductors (music) Czech male classical composers Czech Romantic composers Classical violinists from the Russian Empire Composers from the Russian Empire Conductors (music) from the Russian Empire Male classical violinists People from Kladno Classical composers from the Russian Empire Soviet classical composers Prague Conservatory alumni