Josef Suk (composer)
Josef Suk (January 4, 1874 – May 29, 1935) was a Czech composer and violinist who achieved great fame as a leader in the musical art of composing extended harmonies.
Suk was born in Křečovice. He studied at the Prague Conservatory from 1885 to 1892, where he was a pupil of Antonín Dvořák (he married Dvořák's daughter in 1898). He formed the Czech Quartet with three of his fellow students — Suk played second violin with them for most of his life. From 1922 he taught at the Prague Conservatory where his pupils included Bohuslav Martinů and Rudolf Firkušný. He later became the rector of the conservatory. He died in Benešov.
Suk's early works show the influence of Antonin Dvořák and Johannes Brahms, while later pieces use more extended harmonies to create a more personal and complex style. These extended harmonies were based on chromatic polyphony with a direction towards rejecting any key framework for the freedom of atonal music. This concentration on dissonance created music which always showed a tension due to the absence of any musical relaxation. Arnold Schoenberg referred to atonal music as not corresponding to the nature of tone and Suk explored this deviation very pointedly. Unlike many of his countrymen, Suk made little use of Czech folk music. His best known works are probably the youthful Serenade for Strings (1892) and the symphony, Asrael (1906), a work written in response to the deaths of his wife and Dvořák. Other pieces include the Fairy Tale Suite (1900), the cycle of piano works Things Lived and Dreamed (1909), and the trilogy of symphonic poems A Summer's Tale (1909), The Ripening (1917) and Epilog (1929, for chorus and orchestra).
He won a silver medal at the Art competitions at the Olympic Games during the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California with his work Into a New Life.
Suk was the grandfather of the violinist Josef Suk.
Chronological list of compositions:
1888 String Quartet (0) d: Barcarolle Bb & Andante con moto survive
1889 op2 rev1890-91 Piano Trio c
1890 Ballade d, for string quartet or violin & piano
1890 op3/1 rev1898 Ballade d, cello & piano
1890 op3/2 rev1898 Serenade A, cello & piano
1891 Three Songs without Words, piano
1891 op1 Piano Quartet a
1891-92 op4 Dramatic Overture a, orchestra
1891-93 op7 Six Pieces for piano
1892 op5 Fantasy-Polonaise, piano
1892 op6 Serenade for Strings Eb
1893 Melody for young violinists, for 2 violins
1893 op8 rev1915 Piano Quintet g
1894 op9 rev1926 A Winter's Tale, Shakespeare Overture for orchestra
1894 or 1897? Humoresque C, piano
1895 Album Leaf, piano
1895 op10 Five Moods, piano
1895-96 op12 Eight Pieces, piano
1896 op11 rev1915 String Quartet 1 Bb: Finale Allegro Giocoso (second version)
1896 op11 String Quartet 1 Bb
1897 op13 Piano Sonatina g: Andante, included in Four Episodes for piano
1897 op13 rev1900 op21 Suite for piano
1897 op13 rev1900 op21a arr19?? Piano Sonatina g: Minuet arr string quartet
1897 Village Serenade for piano
1897-98 op16 rev1912 Raduz & Mahulena: A Fairy Tale Suite for orchestra
1897-99 op14 Symphony 1 E
1898 op14 Bagatelle (originally the third movement of Symphony 1 E), piano
1900 op17 Four Pieces for violin & piano
1901 op20 arr1911-2 Under the Apple Tree, cantata after Zeyer for mezzo-soprano & orchestra
1902 op22a Spring, five pieces for piano
1902 op22b Summer Impressions, three pieces for piano
1902 op23 Elegy for violin, cello, string quartet, harmonium & harp; also arranged for Piano Trio
1903 op24 Fantasy g, violin & orchestra
1903 op25 Fantastic Scherzo, orchestra
1904 op26 Prague, symphonic poem for orchestra
1905-6 op27 Symphony 2 c, Asrael
1907 op28 About Mother, five pieces for piano
1907-8 op29 A Summer's Tale, orchestra
1909 Ella-Polka, included in Four Episodes for piano
1909 op30 Things Lived & Dreamed, ten pieces for piano
1909 Spanish Joke, piano
1910-12 op33 Six Lullabies, piano
1911 op31 String Quartet 2
1912-17 op34 Ripening, symphonic poem for orchestra
1914 op35a Meditation on the Saint Wenceslas Chorale, strings or string-quartet
1917 Bagatelle with Nosegay in Hand, flute violin & piano
1919 Album Leaf, included in Four Episodes for piano
1919 Minuet, violin & piano
1919-20 op35b Legend of Dead Victors, Commemoration for orchestra
1919-20 op35c Toward a New Life, Sokol March, orchestra
1920 op36 About Friendship, piano
1920-29 op37 rev1930-33 Epilogue, text from Zeyer & Psalms, for soprano, baritone, bass, mixed chous & orchestra
1924 About Christmas Day, included in Four Episodes for piano
1932 Beneath Blanik, march arr Kalas for orchestra
1935 Sousedska, for five violins, double-bass, cymbals, triangle, side-drum & bass-drum
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Berkovec, Jire, "Josef Suk", Praha, Supraphon, 1969. OCLC 60700
- Dvorak, Antonin; Janacek, Leos; Suk, Josef; Klaviertrio, Dresdner, "Trio e-Moll 'Dumky' fur Violoncello und Klavier [i.e. Violine, Violoncello und Klavier] Nr. 4", Holzgerlingen, Germany: Hanssler Classic, 2005. OCLC 70189099
- Yeomans, David, "Piano music of the Czech romantics: a performer's guide", Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-253-21845-4
