Zdeněk Fibich (, 21 December 1850 in
Všebořice – 15 October 1900 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 of
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
. Among his compositions are chamber works (including two
string quartet
The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...
s, a
piano trio
A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in European classical music, classical chamber music. The term can also ...
,
piano quartet
A piano quartet is a chamber music composition for piano and three other instruments, or a musical ensemble comprising such instruments. Those other instruments are usually a string trio consisting of a violin, viola and cello.
Piano quartets for ...
and a
quintet
A quintet is a group containing five members. It is commonly associated with musical groups, such as a string quintet, or a group of five singers, but can be applied to any situation where five similar or related objects are considered a single ...
for piano, strings and winds),
symphonic poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...
s, three
symphonies, at least seven
opera
Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
s (the most famous probably ''
Šárka'' and ''
The Bride of Messina''),
melodrama
A melodrama is a Drama, dramatic work in which plot, typically sensationalized for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodrama is "an exaggerated version of drama". Melodramas typically concentrate on ...
s including the substantial trilogy ''Hippodamia'', liturgical music including a
mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
– a ''missa brevis''; and a large cycle (a total of 376 pieces, from the 1890s) of piano works called ''Moods, Impressions, and Reminiscences''. The piano cycle served as a diary of sorts of his love for a piano pupil, and one of the pieces formed the basis for the short instrumental work ''Poème'', for which Fibich is best remembered today.
Early life and education
That Fibich is far less known than either
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 ...
or
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 ...
can be explained by the fact that he lived during the rise of
Czech nationalism within the
Habsburg Empire
The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...
. While Smetana and Dvořák gave themselves over entirely to the national cause, consciously writing Czech music with which the emerging nation strongly identified, Fibich's position was more ambivalent. This was due to the background of his parents and to his education. Fibich's father was a Czech forestry official
and the composer's early life was spent on various wooded estates of the nobleman for whom his father worked. His mother, however, was an ethnic German Viennese. She started teaching him how to play the piano when he was six years old.
Home schooled by his mother until the age of nine, he was first sent to a German-speaking
gymnasium in
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
for two years before attending a Czech-speaking gymnasium in Prague where he stayed until he was 15. After this he was sent to
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
where he remained for three years studying piano with
Ignaz Moscheles
Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (; 23 May 179410 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer. He was based initially in London and later at Leipzig, where he joined his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as professor of piano in the Co ...
and composition with
Salomon Jadassohn and
Ernst Richter. After the better part of a year in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, Fibich concluded his studies with
Vinzenz Lachner (the younger brother of
Franz and
Ignaz Lachner) in
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...
. Fibich spent the next few years living with his parents back in Prague where he composed his first opera ''Bukovina'', based on a libretto of
Karel Sabina, the librettist of Smetana's ''
The Bartered Bride
''The Bartered Bride'' (, ''The Sold Bride'') is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The work is generally regarded as a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It ...
''.
Personal life
At the age of 23, he married Růžena Hanušová and took up residence in the Lithuanian city of
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 ...
. where he had obtained a position of
choirmaster
A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...
. After spending two unhappy years there (his wife and newly born twins both died in Vilnius), he returned to Prague in 1874 and remained there until his death in 1900. In 1875 Fibich married Růžena's sister, the operatic
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 ...
Betty Fibichová (née Hanušová), but left her in 1895 for his former student and lover Anežka Schulzová. The relationship between Schulzová and Fibich was important to him artistically, since she wrote the libretti for all his later operas including ''
Šárka'', but also served as the inspiration for his ''Moods, Impressions, and Reminiscences''.
Career
Fibich was given a bi-cultural education, living during his formative early years in Germany,
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
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
in addition to his native Bohemia. He was fluent in German as well as Czech. In his instrumental works, Fibich generally wrote in the vein of the German romantics, first falling under the influence of
Weber,
Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonie ...
and
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 ...
and later
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 ...
. His early operas and close to 200 of his early songs are in German. These works along with his symphonies and chamber music won considerable praise from German critics, though not from Czechs. The bulk of Fibich's operas are in Czech, although many are based on non-Czech sources such as
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
,
Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright.
He was born i ...
and
Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...
. In his chamber music, more than anywhere else, Fibich makes use of Bohemian folk melodies and dance rhythms such as the
dumka. Fibich was the first to write a Czech nationalist tone
poem
Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
(''Záboj, Slavoj a Luděk'') which served as the inspiration for Smetana's ''
Má vlast
(), also known as ''My Fatherland'', is a set of six symphonic poems composed between 1874 and 1879 by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. The six pieces, conceived as individual works, are often presented and recorded as a single work in si ...
''. He was also the first to use the
polka
Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...
in a chamber work, his quartet in A.
Criticisms from Prague's musical community
After his return to Prague in 1874, Fibich's music encountered severely negative reactions in the
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 ...
musical community, stemming from his (and Smetana's) adherence to
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 theories on opera. While Smetana's later career was plagued with problems for presenting Wagnerian-style
music drama
A ''Gesamtkunstwerk'' (, 'total work of art', 'ideal work of art', 'universal artwork', 'synthesis of the arts', 'comprehensive artwork', or 'all-embracing art form') is a work of art that makes use of all or many art forms or strives to do so. ...
s in Czech before a conservative audience, Fibich's pugilistic music criticism, not to mention his overtly Wagnerian later operas, ''
Hedy'', ''
Šárka'', and ''Pád Arkuna'', exacerbated the problem in the years after Smetana's death in 1884. Together with the
music aesthetician Otakar Hostinský, he was ostracized from the musical establishment at the
National Theatre and
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 ...
and forced to rely on his private composition studio. The studio nevertheless was well respected among students, drawing such names as
Emanuel Chvála,
Karel Kovařovic
Karel Kovařovic (9 December 1862 6 December 1920) was a Czech people, Czech composer and conductor from Prague.
Life
From 1873 to 1879 he studied clarinet, harp and piano at the Prague Conservatory.''Dopisy o životě hudebním i lidském, p. ...
,
Otakar Ostrčil
Otakar Ostrčil (25 February 1879 in Prague – 20 August 1935 in Prague) was a Czech composer and conductor. He is noted for symphonic works ''Impromptu'', ''Suite in C Minor'', and ''Symfonietta'', and in his opera compositions '' Poupě'' and ' ...
, and
Zdeněk Nejedlý
Zdeněk Nejedlý (10 February 1878 – 9 March 1962) was a Czech musicologist, historian, music critic, author, and politician whose ideas dominated the cultural life of what is now the Czech Republic for most of the twentieth century. Although ...
, the notorious critic and subsequent politician. Much of the reception of Fibich's music in the early twentieth century is a result of these students' efforts after their teacher's death, especially in Nejedlý's highly polemical campaigns enacted in a series of monographs and articles that sought to redress what he considered to be past inequities. Although this served to bring Fibich's music to greater attention, subsequent scholarship has had to deal with the spectre of Nejedlý's intensely personal bias.
There is a ''Fibich Society'' which has organized projects such as Vladimir Hudec's Thematic Catalog (below) an
much else
Works
Fibich's best-known work, ''Poème'', began life as an unnamed piano piece (no. 139 in D flat) in his cycle ''Moods, Impressions and Reminiscences''. He reused the material in his symphonic idyll ''At Twilight'' from where it was adapted after his death by the violinist Jan Kubelik and given the title ''Poème''.
This has been published and recorded in numerous arrangements, one of which was ''My Moonlight Madonna'' to English lyrics by
Paul Francis Webster
Paul Francis Webster (December 20, 1907 – March 18, 1984) was an American lyricist who won three Academy Awards for Best Original Song, and was nominated sixteen times for the award.
Life and career
Webster was born in New York City, United S ...
. In 1933 the tune was popularly harmonized by
William Scotti.
Bibliography
*Hudec, Vladimír. ''Zdeněk Fibich''. Prague: SPN, t. MTZ,
Olomouc
Olomouc (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants, making it the Statutory city (Czech Republic), sixth largest city in the country. It is the administrative centre of the Olomouc Region.
Located on the Morava (rive ...
, 1971.
*Hudec, Vladimír. ''Zdenek Fibich. Tematicky katalog / Thematisches Verzeichnis.'' Prague: Editio Bärenreiter, 2002. . pp. 850. Thematic catalogue, text in Czech, German and English.
*Jiránek, Jaroslav. ''Zdenek Fibich''. Prague: Státní hudební vydavatelství, 1963.
* Some of this information is paraphrased from the Fibich entry in the Oxford Concise Dictionary of Music (
Michael Kennedy, ed., 4th ed., 1996, revised 2004. . Oxford, New York, Oxford University Press) and from reviews of recordings of the works listed in music journals (especially the ''Moods, Impressions and Reminiscences'' cycle.)
* Opolis, Renz. ''Zdenek Fibich-The Chamber Music'', The Chamber Music Journal, , Vol.XVI Nos.1–3, 2005, Riverwoods, Illinois (The author & The Chamber Music Journal have released the above information which appears in their article under the terms of the GNU License. Some of this information also appears on the website of Edition Silvertrust)
*Locke, Brian S. ''Opera and Ideology in Prague: Polemics and Practice at the National Theater, 1900–1938'' (Rochester, N.Y.: Boydell & Brewer, 2006)
References
External links
*
*
Biographical linkCzech necrologue of Zdeněk FibichQuintetto pro housle, klarinet (nebo housle II), lesní roh (nebo violu), violoncello u klavír = für Violine, Klarinetto (o. II. Violine), Horn (o. Viola), Violoncello u. Klavier : op. 42 / složil Zdenko Fibich.From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
4 Balladen für eine Mittel-Stimme mit Klavierbegleitung. Op. 7.From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
Fruehlingsstrahlen. Jarní paprsky. 14 Lieder mit Klavierbegleitung. Op. 36. Heft I-II.From Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fibich, Zdenek
1850 births
1900 deaths
Composers from Austria-Hungary
19th-century Czech classical composers
19th-century Czech male musicians
Czech nationalists
Czech opera composers
Czech Romantic composers
Czech male opera composers
People from Benešov District
Pupils of Salomon Jadassohn
String quartet composers
Burials at Vyšehrad Cemetery