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• Major Operas
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

Composed: 1900 Premiered: 1901, Prague Libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil after Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué’s Undine Act I Rusalka, a water nymph, has fallen in love with a prince. She longs to leave the water and acquire human form. Vodník, a water spirit, tells her that Ježibaba the witch can grant her every human power except ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Late Romantic

(An’-to-nyen Dvôr’zhak) 1841–1904 Czech composer Dvořák was the pre-eminent composer of the Czech national revival. Arguably his achievement was less fundamental than Smetana’s, but he developed a strong international profile and for millions his style epitomizes ‘Czechness’ in music. The Czech influence in his work is hard to demonstrate and he almost never quoted folksong, but the appeal of his ...

• Personalities
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

1841–1904, Czech While Dvořák is best known for his contribution to the symphonic repertoire, opera was a vital part of his musical make-up and he produced 10 stage works during his life. His musical education was traditional: at the Prague Organ School he studied harmony, counterpoint, fugue and chorales. On graduating, he joined the Provisional Theatre ...

• Instruments
• Keyboards

Often regarded as the country cousin (and hence the bumpkin) of the organ family, the harmonium did add a touch of warmth to many nineteenth-century rural homes, where the purchase of a piano would have been an unaffordable luxury. But the two instruments often cohabited, too. Harmonium Compositions Today, unlike the piano, the harmonium is a ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Late Romantic

(Be’-der-zhikh Sma’-ta-na) 1824–84 Czech Composer Smetana was the founding father of the Czech national musical revival. Born to middle-class parents on 2 March 1824, he showed considerable talent as a pianist by the time he was six. He went to study in Prague in 1839, subsequently making a living as a teacher and player. In 1848 he opened a music ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Modern Era

(Frantz La’-här) 1870–1948 Austrian composer Of Hungarian ancestry and Czech training (his contemporary Dvořák helped him as a young man), Lehár began his career as an army bandmaster, while also writing waltzes in his spare time. These were so successful that he was able to leave the army in his early thirties to begin a long career composing operettas. Welcomed ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Instrumentalist
• Late Romantic

(Yo’-sef Sook) 1874–1935 Czech violinist and composer Suk was second violinist with the Czech String Quartet from 1892 to 1922, then became a professor at the Prague Academy where, in 1892, he had been a favourite student of Dvořák. He later married Dvořák’s daughter, Otilie, and his love for her inspired many works, such as the ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Instrumentalist
• Modern Era

1906–86 French cellist Fournier studied the piano, but turned to the cello after an attack of polio. He was a student and a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire, and in 1943 replaced Casals in the Cortot-Thibaud-Casals piano trio. His elegant and refined playing can be heard in recordings of the Bach suites and the Dvořák Cello Concerto. Introduction | ...

• Personalities
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

1850–1900, Czech Although little known today, during his lifetime Fibich was fêted as the successor to Smetana and certainly commanded operatic attention equal to Dvořák. He studied initially with his mother in Prague, then in Leipzig, Paris and Mannheim. His early adult life was far from easy, with the death of his wife less than a ...

• Styles & Forms
• Classical
• Early Romantic

Beethoven’s shadow looms large over the Early Romantic period. Many of the age’s most remarkable composers – Schubert, Berlioz, Wagner, Brahms – revered him above all. He had stretched the logic of tonal harmony, weakening its tonic-dominant foundations. In the process, the dramaturgy of the Classical sonata had been altered. Schubert’s Lieder The Romantic imagination was ...

• Personalities
• Opera
• Turn of the Century

1878–1933, Czech Born in Prague as Ema Kittl, Destinn studied with Marie Loewe-Destinn, whose name she adopted out of gratitude. She made her debut at the Hofoper in Berlin with the role of Santuzza from Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana. Her most famous performances are those of Minnie in the premiere of Puccini’s La fanciulla del West at the Metropolitan ...

• Personalities
• Classical
• Composer
• Late Romantic

(On-re’ Düpärk’) 1848–1933 French composer Duparc’s small but exquisite output influenced the development of French ‘mélodie’ through Fauré and Debussy. Duparc studied with Franck, whose circle he joined alongside Chausson, Chabrier and D’Indy, absorbing the Wagnerian style through visits to Bayreuth and Munich. From 1868 to 1884 Duparc produced the 13 songs upon which his reputation is founded: each ...