Biographical lexicon of the Prague Violinists
ANGER, JOHANN
Johann Anger was born on April 6th, 1831 in Karlové Vary. He studied violin with Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1843 and 1849. After the studies, he moved to Warsaw, where he was active as a violinist and composer.
ASBÓTH, WILHELM VON
Wilhelm von Asbóth was born on March 18th, 1821 (according to some other sources on May 20th, 1821) in Rădăuți (Romania). He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1834 and 1837 but left without a diploma. Between 1842 and 1861 he was a military music director in the 58th Infantry Regiment and later in the 10th Hussar Regiment. He wrote Wallonen-Marsch and died on March 6th, 1877 in Budapest.
BAUDIS, JOHANN (Jan Baudis, Jan Baudish)
Johann Baudis was born on June 25th, 1860 in Kutná Hora. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1870 and 1876. After his studies, he was orchestra director at the Royal Provincial German Theater in Prague for six years and a first violin teacher and concertmaster at the Linz Music Association. Later he moved to Basel, where he was concertmaster and conductor at the General Music Society (Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft) for three years. In 1892 he came to Ljubljana, where he became a violin teacher at the Music Society (Glasbena Matica).
BENNEWITZ, ANTON (Antonín Benevitz)
Anton Bennewitz was born on March 26th, 1833 in Přívraty. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner between 1846 and 1852. After his studies, he was appointed at the Estates Theater in Prague for eight years. During that period, he founded a string quartet and piano trio (Antonín Bennewitz, Bedřich Smetana, František Hegenbart). In 1861, he was appointed concertmaster of the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, and from 1863 he was a Royal Chamber musician in Würtenberg and a second concertmaster of the Court Opera Orchestra in Stuttgart. In 1866, he became a violin professor at the Prague Conservatory, where he taught numerous successful violinists. He died on May 29th, 1926 in Doksy.
BEZDEK, FRIEDRICH WENZEL (Bedřich Václav Bezděk)
Friedrich Wenzel Bezdek was born on September 24th, 1804 in Prague. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Pixis between 1813 and 1819. In 1824, he became music director at the City Theater in Budapest (Buda), where he remained until 1832. He founded a music school and directed the Italian Opera in Trento. After Pixis’ death in 1842, he was appointed as provisional violin teacher at the Prague Conservatory and director of the Estates Theater Orchestra in Prague. In 1846, he became a member of the Vienna Imperial Opera and from 1861 a member of the Vienna Imperial Chapel. He composed a violin concerto, a string quartet, and some other works. Bezdek must have been an excellent violinist to have been appointed to such a prestigious position at the Vienna Imperial Chapel among the best violinists of the time, which included Joseph Mayseder, Joseph Böhm (1795–1876), Leopold Jansa, Jakob Dont (1815–1888), Heinrich Proch (1809–1878), Joseph Benesch, and Georg Hellmesberger Sr. (1800–1873). During Taborsky’s time in Budapest Friedrich Wenzel Bezdek, another Prague violinist mentioned above, was active as music director at the Budapest City Theater. He came to Budapest in 1824 and remained there until 1832. He died on December 27th, 1877 in Vienna.
BIGANOVSKÝ, VÁCLAV (Václav Bieganovský)
Václav Biganovský was born on September 16th, 1889 in Horní Krč. He studied violin with Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1903 and 1909. After the studies, he was concertmaster of the Court Orchestra in Sofia (1910/1911), music teacher in Kroměříž (1911/1912). He was concertmaster in the symphony orchestras in Charkov, Kiev, and Tbilisi between 1912 and 1917. Later, he was a director of Music School in Písek. He died on July 8th, 1946 in Poděbrady.
BLAHA, ANTON (Antonín Blaha)
Anton Blaha was born on August 16th, 1882 in Prague. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1898 and 1903. In 1903, he migrated to the U.S and was active as a violinist in the Philadelphia Orchestra (1906–1908, 1909–1912) and in the San Francisco Symphony (1922–1926).
BLÁHA, JOSEF
Bláha Josef was born on October 6th, 1859 in Luži. He studied violin with Bennewitz between 1870 and 1876. Later he was a violin professor at the Royal Academy of Music and a member of the Crystal Palace Orchestra in London.
BLECHA, ADALBERT (Vojtěch Blecha)
Adalbert Blecha was born on October 1st, 1822 in Prague. He studied violin with Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1834 and 1840. In 1842, he became the first violinist and soloist at the Theater Orchestra in Wroclaw and from 1843 a violin teacher at Moritz Schön’s violin school. Blecha would stay active in Wroclaw for almost thirty years, where he died on January 13th, 1870.
BOROVANSKÝ, JAROMIR
Jaromir Borovanský was born on September 11th, 1851 in Dírná. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1864 and 1870. He was a military music director of the 17th Infantry Regiment (1878-1881) that was stationed in Ljubljana.
BÖHM, JOSEPH (Josef Böhm)
Joseph Böhm was born on January 9th, 1831 in Karlové Vary. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1843 and 1849. In 1851, he was appointed a violinist at the Vienna Imperial Opera, where he remained until his death in 1884.[7] He should not be confused with the famous Viennese violinist Joseph Böhm (1795–1876).
BOUZEK, BOHUMIL (Bohumil Bouček)
Bohumil Bouzek was born on April 29th, 1894 in Prague. He studied violin with Jindřich Bastář at the Prague Conservatory between 1912 and 1913. Between 1915 and 1916 he played viola in the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb.
BRUNETTI, FRIEDRICH (Federico Brunetti)
Friedrich Brunetti, who was of Italian origin and a cousin of the famous Prague violinist Johann Kalliwoda, was born on February 4th, 1837 in Eger. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1849 and 1855. After his studies, he became a music teacher at the Army music school in Prague. He moved to Belgrade 1862, where he found work as a music director, and later he was once again a music teacher in Belgrade, Niš, Negotin, Požarevac, Kruševac, and Smederevo. He wrote also some compositions that are lost. He died in 1917.
BŮCHTELE, JAN (Jan Buchtele)
Jan Bůchtele was born on July 7th, 1874 in Písek. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1888 and 1894. He served as concertmaster in Berlin, Warsaw, and Helsinki. From 1908 until 1933, he was concertmaster of the National Theater Orchestra in Prague. He also wrote several violin compositions. He died on April 19th, 1941 in Prague.
BUNZMANN, KARL
Karl (Carl) Bunzmann was born on April 21st, 1821 in Zelená Ves. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1834 and 1840. Later he was a military music director in the 60th Infantry Regiment, 14th Border Infantry Regiment, and 12th Uhlan Regiment. He died in 1871.
CANTANI, EMANUELE
Emanuele Cantani was born on September 13th, 1854 in Prague. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1867 and 1873. Later he was a violin teacher at the Music Conservatory in Naples.
CASPER, FERDINAND (Ferdinand Kaspar)
Ferdinand Casper was born on September 20th, 1828 in Bečov. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1840 and 1846. After his studies he moved to Graz, where he was a member of the opera orchestra until 1892. At the same time, he was also orchestral director and concertmaster at Styrian Music Association until 1896. His violin students included the notable violinists Richard Sahla and Gabriele Wietrowetz. He died in 1911 in Graz.
CADEK, JOSEPH OTTOKAR (Josef Otákar Czadek)
Czadek was born on January 27th, 1868 in Prague. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1879 and 1885. He migrated to the United States in 1892 to join the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He gave concerts in Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Baltimore, and elsewhere. He gave a violin recital at the White House during President William McKinley’s administration. He was a violin teacher at the Chattanooga School of Music (from 1893), at the Southern Conservatory of Music (1902–1904), and the Cadek Conservatory of Music (from 1904). He died in 1927.
CHAPEK, JOSEPH HORYMIR (Josef Čapek)
Joseph Horymir Chapek was born on March 12th, 1859 in Jestřebice. At an early age he moved with his father to the U.S. (Milwaukee). He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1880 and 1882. After his studies, he returned to the United States, where he introduced Ševčík’s Violin Method and continued to promote it throughout his career. In Milwaukee he was a member of several chamber ensembles and concertmaster of the Bach Symphony Orchestra. Later he settled in Chicago, where he was a first violinist of the Theodore Thomas Orchestra (later Chicago Symphony Orchestra) and a violin teacher at the Chicago Conservatory College. In 1910, he established there the “Chapek Music School”. He gave many concerts and taught at several music schools, including his own. He gave the first American performance of Smetana’s Quartet No. 1 (“From My Life”) and Dvořák’s Quartet, op. 51 and wrote several pieces for violin and piano. One of his pupils was also Joseph J. Kovarik. After Chapek’s death, the Chapek Music School was taken over by his son Joseph Edward Chapek (1895–1977), pupil of Otakar Ševčík and Jindřich Feld.
CHWOY, WENZEL
Wenzel Chwoy (1802–?) was born in 1802 in Vepřek and studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1816 and 1822. After completing his studies, Chwoy was a member of the Prague Theater Orchestra. Around 1828 he moved to Graz, where he became a member of Estates Theater Orchestra and a violin teacher at the Styrian Music Association.
CZAPEK, JOSEPH (Josef Čapek, Cžapek)
Joseph Czapek was born on March 19th, 1825 in Prague. He studied violin with Pixis and composition with Weber at the Prague Conservatory between 1837 and 1843. After completing his studies, he became the first violin at the Theater Orchestra in Prague, leader of concerts in Berlin, and music director at Styrian Music Association in Graz between 1843 and 1844. In 1847, he settled in Göteborg, where he was given numerous functions and would become the most influential person for the development of the city’s musical life in the second half of the nineteenth century. Together with Bedřich Smetana, who was active in Göteborg between 1856 and 1861, Czapek introduced new concert forms and repertoires to the city. He engaged many foreign and military musicians from the local regiment and a group of amateur musicians to form a new orchestra, which was needed especially with the establishment of the New Theater in 1859. The professional Göteborg Orchestra was established in 1862 with Czapek being its conductor. Czapek was also a music director in the Göta Artillery Regiment and, among other things, conductor at the Grand Theater and Harmonious Society as well as being a singing teacher in several schools. In addition to orchestral and vocal music, he also composed chamber music. He died on July 6th, 1915 in Ljungskile.
CZERNÝ, KARL (Carl Czerny, Karel Černý)
Karl Czerný was born on August 27th, 1838 in Kouřím. He studied violin with Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1852 and 1858. Later, he was a music director in the Royal War Navy in Pula.
ČERMÁK, JOSEF
Josef Čermák was born on November 10th, 1871 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz and composition with Karel Šebor at the Prague Conservatory between 1885 and 1891. After his studies, he was initially a violinist at the German Theater in Prague until 1894, when he moved to Zagreb. After leaving the National Theater Orchestra in 1899, he moved to Varaždin, where he became the military music director of the 70th Infantry Regiment. Between 1925 and 1928, he was a violin teacher at the Music Society in Maribor. He died in 1933 in Novi Sad.
ČERNÝ, LADISLAV
Ladislav Černý was born on April 13th, 1891 in Plzeň. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1906 and 1912 with F. Lachner and J. Bastář. In 1919, he moved to Ljubljana to become solo violist of the Slovene National Opera Orchestra and a teacher at the Music Society. From 1940, he was teaching viola at the Prague Conservatory, from 1946 viola and chamber music at the Academy of Music in Prague. He died on July 13th, 1975 in Dobříš.
DREYSCHOCK, FELIX RAIMUND (Raymund Dreyšok)
Felix Raimund Dreyschock was born on August 30th, 1824 in Žaky. He studied violin with Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1834 and 1840. After his studies he went on a concert tour, giving well-attended concerts with his brother, the famous pianist and composer Alexander Dreyschock (1818–1869). In 1850 he moved to Leipzig, where he served as a violin professor at the Leipzig Conservatory and as the second concertmaster of the Gewandhaus Orchestra until 1869. Between 1851 and 1863 he and the famous violinist Ferdinand David held the shared position of first violin of the Gewandhaus Quartet. One of his pupils went on to become a famous violinist and composer in his own right: Oskar Rieding (1844–1916). Raimund Dreyschock wrote a few violin compositions and died on February 6th, 1869 in Leipzig.
DROBEČEK, JOHANN (Ivan Drobiček)
Johann Drobeček was born on October 27th, 1858 in Heřmanův Městec. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Antonín Bennewitz from 1873 to 1879. In 1884, he was a violin and piano teacher at the Ljubljana Music Society. He died on January 31st, 1885 in Heřmanův Městec.
DUK, AUGUST (Augustin Duck)
August Duk was born in 1798 in Krůmlov. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1816 and 1822. In 1826 he moved to Graz, where he became a violin teacher at the Styrian Music Association. Later he established his own music school in Graz that was based on the Prague Conservatory teaching system and included also classes in organ and singing. Between 1831 and 1840 he was a teacher at the Graz Grabenpfarre School. In 1840 he moved to Vienna, where he was music director at the St. Anna Church Music Association (Kirchenmusikverein) in Vienna, where he taught music theory.
DURAS, JOSEF (Joseph Duras)
Josef Duras was born on April 23rd, 1857 in Pchery. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1870 and 1876. Later, he was as a violinist engaged at the Court Music Chapel in Darmstadt.
FELD, JINDŘICH
Jindřich Feld was born on May 23rd, 1883 in Prague. He studied violin with Suchý and Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1897 and 1903. After the studies, he was music teacher in Košice (1904–1906), concert master in Zhořelec (1906–1908), music teacher in Klagenfurt (1908), and a violin teacher at the Croatian Music Institute and a member of the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb between 1909 and 1910. From 1910, he was teaching violin at the Prague Conservatory. Among his pupils were many successful violinists. He died on October 5th. 1953 in Prague.
FEIST, GOTTFRIED (Bohumír Feist)
Gottfried Feist was born on November 10th, 1880 in Prague. He studied violin with Otakar Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1898 and 1902. In 1908, he moved to Vienna and became a violin teacher at the Vienna Conservatory. Between 1909 and 1951, Feist taught at the Academy of Music, ten of those years (1909–1919) side-by-side with his teacher Otakar Ševčík (1852–1934). During the war, Feist’s pedagogic work was briefly interrupted due to military service, but most of the war he continued his teaching at the Academy. Over his long teaching career, he trained numerous successful violinists, including members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and founded the Feist String Quartet, which performed many contemporary chamber works. He died on January 11th, 1952 in Vienna.
FREUND, EDWARD (Eduard Freund)
Freund was born on November 19th, 1886 in Chicago. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1904 and 1906 and with O. Ševčík. After the studies, he was active as a kapellmeister in France. Then he moved to the United States, where he was a member of Steindel Trio in Chicago (1912–1913) and was a head of the violin department of Madison Musical College (1913–1914), head of the violin department of Rockford College (s. 1914) as well as the department head at Lake Forest School of Music (1916–1917). Later, he was a violin teacher at the Pontiac Music School and at the Chicago Conservatory College (from 1919). He died in 1947.
GERSTNER, HANS (Johann Gerstner, Jan Gerstner)
Johann Gerstner was born on August 17th, 1851 in Žlutice. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Moritz Mildner and Antonín Bennewitz from 1864 to 1870. In 1871, he moved to Ljubljana, where he was concertmaster, teacher, and soloist. During World War I, he was an eminent teacher and performer in Ljubljana and the director of the Philharmonic Society. In his long career as a violin pedagogue at the Philharmonic Society, he educated numerous brilliant violinists, the most famous being Leo Funtek (Leon Funtek; 1885–1965), who was later concertmaster in Helsinki and Stockholm and became a famous music figure. He died on January 9th, 1939 in Ljubljana.
GILMAN, HARRY
Harry Gilman was born on November 2nd, 1884 in Chicago. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1902 and 1905. Later he was a concert violinist and radio music producer in Chicago.
GLAESER, JOSEPH FRANZ (František Glaeser)
Joseph Franz Gläser was born on April 19th, 1798 in Horní Jiřetín. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1813 and 1816. Even though Pixis considered him a capable and good violinist, his ambitions were not to become an accomplished virtuoso. As a future composer, he only wanted to obtain practical knowledge of one of the most important instruments. After his studies in violin and composition he moved to Vienna, where he served as music director in three places: the Leopoldstadt Theater from 1817, the Josefstadt Theater from 1822, and the Theater on the Vienna River from 1827. When the Josefstadt Theater was re-opened in 1822, Ludwig van Beethoven composed the overture The Consecration of the House (Die Weihe des Hauses), Op. 124, for the occasion. Despite his poor hearing, Beethoven conducted the first performance of the work himself, aided by Gläser as his assistant, who helped him through the performance. Gläser not only assisted Beethoven at the première but also conducted the subsequent performances. In 1830 Gläser moved to Berlin, where he became music director at the Königsstadt Theater (Königsstädtisches Theater). Under his leadership in the period 1830–1839 the orchestra achieved a great reputation and many successes. In Berlin he wrote his most famous and successful opera Des Adlers Horst, which premièred in 1833. In 1839, he would settle in Copenhagen, where he worked at the National Theater and was the court music director from 1842 until his death in 1861. He died on August 29th, 1869 in Copenhagen.
GREGORA, BOHUMIL
Bohumil Gregora was born on September 11th, 1890 in Netolice. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1907 and 1912. After his studies, he moved to Moscow in 1913 and became a member of the Opera Orchestra. During World War I he was a music teacher in Nizhny Novgorod. Later, he was a music teacher at the Music Society branches in Ptuj (1921) and Maribor (1922), where he died in 1924.
GRUNEWALD, JULIUS (Julius Grunnwald)
Julius Grunewald was born on August 21st, 1832 in Poznan. He studied violin with Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1845 and 1849. Mildner considered him one of his best violin pupils. In 1851 he moved to Berlin, where he became a member of Friedrich-Wilhelm City Theater, and from 1854 he was its concertmaster. Two years later he moved to Cologne, where he was appointed a violin professor at the Cologne Conservatory and concertmaster of the orchestra. He died on April 17th, 1863 in Cologne.
HABADA, JOSEPH (Josef Habada)
Joseph Habada was born on November 11th, 1891 in Chicago. He studied violin with Jindřich Bastář at the Prague Conservatory between 1906 and 1911. Later he was active in Chicago as a concert violinist and founded Joseph Habada College.
HACHLA, RUDOLF
Rudolf Hachla was born on April 16th, 1878 in Holešov. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1892 and 1893, after which he was concertmaster in Klagenfurt until 1906, when he moved to Novo Mesto. There, he was a bandmaster of the city orchestra, and a private violin teacher. He gave a few virtuoso concerts and “dazzled the audience with his wizard violin.”
HAJEK, STANISLAVA (Stanislava Hajková)
Stanislava Hajek was born on August 19th, 1895 in Linz to Czech parents. She studied violin with Jindřich Feld at the Prague Conservatory between 1909 and 1915. In 1916 she moved to Ljubljana, where she was a violin and piano teacher at the Music Society until 1918.
HÁJEK, JAROSLAV
Jaroslav Hájek was born on November 11th, 1892 in Hradec Králové. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1896 and 1902. Then he became concertmaster and soloist of the Philharmonic Orchestra in Helsinki, where he remained until 1904.
HALL, MARIE PAULINE
Marie Pauline Hall was born April 8th, 1884 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. After first music lessons with her father and a local teacher, Hildegarde Werner, she continued to study under several well-known teachers, including Edward Elgar, August Wilhelmj in London, Max Mossel in Birmingham and Kruse in London. Upon the advice of Jan Kubelik after they met in London, she went to study with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1901 and 1902. In Prague she had a fantastic debut in 1902 and became a sensation in London. She made her debut in the United States in 1905. The New York Times reported about her success in London, where she “won the enthusiastic praise of the severest critics” that her violin technique was “amazing and bids fair to rival that of Kubelik.” During the war, in 1916, she recorded an abridged version of the Elgar Violin Concerto with the composer conducting. She died on November 11th, 1956 in Cheltenham.
HALIŘ, KARL (Carl Halir)
Karl Haliř was born on February 1st, 1859 in Vrchlabí. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1867 and 1873, and with Joachim in Berlin between 1874 and 1876. Between 1876 and 1879, he was a member of Benjamin Bilse’s Kapelle in Berlin. He was concertmaster of the orchestras at Königsberg (1879), Mannheim (1881) and Weimar (1884). In 1893, he became concertmaster of the Court Opera Orchestra and a violin teacher at the College (Hochschule für Musik). He founded his own String Quartet, Piano Trio and became the second violinist of the Joachim Quartet in 1897. He trained many eminent violinists, among them also many Americans. He gave many successful solo performances in Europe and in the United States. He died in 1909 in Berlin.
HENDEL, JOHANN
Johann Hendel was born in 1814 in Střibro. He studied violin with W. Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1828 and 1834. Soon after finishing his studies, he became a music teacher at the Music Society in Varaždin but resigned from the position already in August in 1835.
HERITES KOHN, MARIE (Marie Heritesová Kohnová)
Marie Herites was born on March 23rd, 1881 in Vodňany. As a child she moved to Cleveland (Ohio), where she attended elementary school. She studied violin with Otakar Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1894 and 1900. After the studies she gave concerts in London and some other European cities and in 1904 she went on concert tour in the U.S. From 1916 she was a violin teacher at the Northwestern Conservatory in Minneapolis and later became a teacher in Oklahoma and Denton (Texas) at the State College for Women. Finally, she formed her own violin studio in New York. She died in 1970.
HERNER, KARL (Carl Herner)
Karl Herner was born on January 23rd, 1836 in Rendsburg. He studied at the Prague Conservatory, both violin (with Moritz Mildner) and piano between 1852 and 1855. After completing his studies, he lived in Copenhagen between 1855 and 1856 and was a violin virtuoso in Brussels. At the beginning of 1858 he became a member of Imperial Theater Orchestra in Hannover, where he continued his violin studies with Joseph Joachim. There he became one of the first members of the Joachim String Quartet, which would become very popular in the early 1860s. In 1864 he went on a concert tour, where he accompanied Henri Vieuxtemps, Eduard Jaell, and others. He was active as first violinist, choir director, conductor, and music director until his retirement in 1900. He composed twenty compositions for ballet, opera, choir, and orchestra. He died on July 16th, 1906 in Hannover.
HLADKY, FRANK (Franz Hladky)
Frank Hladky was born on December 15th, 1867 in Prague. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1885, and emigrated to Chicago in 1891. He was a violinist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra between 1893 and 1916.[32] He died after 1939.
HOFFMANN, FRANZ ALEXANDER (František Hofmann)
Franz Alexander Hoffmann was born ca. 1811 in Nové Město. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1826 and 1831. Soon after completing his studies he moved to Graz, where he was the second orchestral director at the Estates Theater from 1833 and its concertmaster from 1841. Between 1834 and 1853 he was a violin teacher at the Styrian Music Association and for thirty-five years he directed performances at the Graz Cathedral. He died in 1871 in Graz.
HOLÝ, EMIL VÁCLAV
Emil Václav Holý was born on February 18th, 1885 in Nová Ves. He studied violin with Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1902 and 1907. After the studies, he was a teacher and director of the National Music School in Voronezh between 1908 and 1919.
HOREJŠI, JOSEF (Josef Hořejší)
Josef Horejši was born on March 28th, 1861 in Modřovice. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1876 and 1882. Soon after his studies he moved to Augsburg, where he was active as a violin teacher at the Augsburg Music School (which was a Conservatory from 1925) and a violinist in the Speidel Piano Trio.
HŘÍMALÝ, BOHUSLAV
Bohuslav Hřímaly was born on April 18th, 1848 in Plzen into a famous family of musicians. His brothers were the successful violinists Adalbert (Vojtěch) and Johann (Jan, Ivan) Hřímaly. Bohuslav Hřímaly studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1858 and 1864. Between 1868 and 1872 he was a violinist and later violist in the Prague Theater Orchestra. He was a member of the Hřímalý String Quartet and the Smetana Piano Quartet. In 1875, he moved to Helsinki, where he was a member of the Opera Orchestra and a violin pedagogue at the Helsinki Music Institute. He died on October 11th, 1894 in Helsinki.
HŘÍMALÝ, JAN (Johann Hřimalý, Ivan Voytekhovich Grzhimali)
Jan Hřímalý was born on April 13th, 1844 in Plzeň. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1855 and 1861. After completing his studies, he was concertmaster of the Amsterdam Orchestra between 1862 and 1868. In 1869, he moved to Moscow to teach violin at the Imperial Conservatory and in 1874 he succeeded Ferdinand Laub as professor and married his daughter. He was considered an outstanding teacher. His notable students included Iosif Kotek, Reinhold Glière, Paul Juon, Vladimir Bakaleinikov, Arcady Dubensky, Stanisław Barcewicz (also a pupil of Laub), Nikolai Roslavets, Konstantin Saradzhev, Alexander Petschnikoff, Mikhail Press, Alexander Schmuller, and possibly Mitrofan Vasiliev, who was Jean Sibelius’ first teacher. Together with his brothers, he founded the Hřímalý String Quartet, which was one of the earliest string quartets in Bohemia. In Moscow, he was active as a leader in symphony concerts and leader of the string quartet that gave the first performances of Tchaikovsky’s Third String Quartet and Piano Trio. For the latter Tchaikovsky entrusted the bowing of the string parts to him. He made a very early recording on wax cylinders of the Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor by Anton Arensky, with the composer at the piano and Anatoliy Brandukov as cellist. This recording was made shortly after its composition and it is the first recording made of it, although it is incomplete. Hřímalý entertained the social and cultural elite of Russia, including Tchaikovsky, Chaliapin, Rachmaninoff, and many others, at his home, which was in the Moscow Conservatory building. He published several technical exercises and studies, among them Doppelgriff-Übungen and Tonleiter Studien.
HŘÍMALÝ, VOJTĚCH (Adalbert Hřimali)
Hřímalý was born on June 30th, 1842 in Plzen to a famous family of musicians. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1855 and 1861. After his studies, he was appointed as concertmaster of the Opera Orchestra in Rotterdam and one year later he moved to Göteborg, where he was also active as an organist. After achieving success in Göteborg, he returned to Prague as concertmaster of the Theater Orchestra. He was a member of the Hřímalý String Quartet along with his brothers. In the 1870s he was the director of the Philharmonic Society in Černovice (today’s Ukraine), where he significantly contributed to its musical life. He died on June 15th, 1908 in Vienna.
HRUSA, GEORGE (Jiří Hrůša)
George Hrusa was born on January 8th, 1890 in Chicago. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1904 and 1909. He founded the George Hrusa Music Conservatory in Chicago and also the Hrusa String Quartet. He died in 1960.
HUML, VÁCLAV (Wenzel Huml)
Václav Huml, who is today considered the founder of the Zagreb violin school, was born on September 18th, 1880 in Beroun. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1893 and 1899. He was shortly concert master of the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1903, he moved to Zagreb, where he was a violin teacher at the Music Institute until 1920, except between 1914 and 1916, when he served the war. He spent the last years of the war performing as a soloist and with chamber ensembles. After the war, he co-founded the Zagreb String Quartet and taught at the Academy of Music until 1953. In his long teaching career, he taught most of the important violinists from all over Yugoslavia and markedly influenced the development of violin playing in the region. He died on January 6th, 1953 in Zagreb.
JAKSCH, FRANZ (František Jakš)
Franz Jaksch was born on October 9th, 1851 in Nová Bystřice. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1865 and 1870. Later, he was a music director in the Royal War Navy in Pula.
JÍLEK, FRANTIŠEK
František Jílek was born on February 2nd, 1865 in Písek. He studied violin (1884) with Antonín Bennewitz at the Organ School (Varhanická škola) and composition (1887) with Zdeňek Fibich. After his studies, he was active as a violinist and orchestra director in several orchestras. In 1893, he became the orchestra director of the Theater Orchestra in Sarajevo, and one year later he moved to Zagreb. There, for almost eleven years, he was a teacher of violin, chamber music, and opera singing. Soon after an incident in 1904, when he was accused of physically harassing a pupil (which was not the first accusation of its kind) he resigned, and returned to his homeland in 1905. There, he became the conductor of the National Theater Orchestra in Prague, where he died in 1911. He also wrote a few compositions.
JOANELLI, ERNST (Ernest pl. Joanelli)
Ernst Joanelli was born on December 23rd, 1843 in Karlovac. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1855 and 1860, but left without diploma. Later, he was a music teacher in Petrinja.
JOHANNIS, JOHANN (Jan Johannis, Johann Iogannis, Ivan Ivanovič)
Johann Johannis was born c. 1810 in Domašin. He studied violin with Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1822 and 1828. Around 1830 he moved to Russia, where he would be active until 1850, particularly in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Penza.
JUNGWIRTH, ADALBERT VON (Vojtěch von Jungwirth)
Adalbert von Jungwirth was born c. 1815 in Bratislava. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1825 and 1831. After the study, he became a member of the Leopoldstadt orchestra. He died in 1834 in Vienna at the tender age of nineteen.
KADLETZ, ANDREAS (Karel Ondřej Kadlec)
Andreas Kadletz was born on February 18th, 1859 in Dobříš. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1870 and 1876 and at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Leopold Auer. From 1885 for the next twenty years, he was a violinist and later conductor at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg and a professor at the conservatory in Samara, where he died on February 6th, 1928. In addition to other compositions, he also wrote a violin method book.
KALLIWODA, JOHANN WENZEL (Jan Křitel Kalivoda)
Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda was born on February 21st, 1801 in Prague. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1811 and 1817. After his graduation, he joined the Prague Theater Orchestra in 1816. In 1821 he went on a concert tour to Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, where he met the prince, who invited him to become music director at his court in Donaueschingen, a position he held until in 1865. Kalliwoda conducted the court orchestra, performed as a violin soloist, managed musical activities at the local cathedral, directed the court opera, and gave musical instruction to the prince's children. He wrote over 450 works, among them instrumental music, salon and character pieces, and violin method books. He died on December 3rd, 1866 in Karlsruhe.
KARBULKA, JOSEF (Josip Karbulka)
Josef Karbulka was born on June 24th, 1866 in Prague. At the age of eight, he began with private classes for violin, piano and signing. At the age of fourteen, he continued with violin studies with Anton Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory, where he remained until 1885. After finishing his studies, he was a military music director’s assistant in the 93rd Infantry Regiment and then concertmaster in Italy. In 1889, he moved to Berlin to continue with his violin studies with Joseph Joachim at the Music College (Hochschule für Musik). In August 1891, he applied for the position of the first violin teacher at the Croatian Music Institute. He became a violin teacher, concertmaster and leader of the Music Institute’s Orchestra. He performed on several Institute’s concerts as a soloist and a chamber musician together with other musicians, such as: V. Moser, Anka Barbot Krežma, Anton Stöckl and Hinko Geiger. He gave a few concerts also in Vukovar and Križevci. After the minor conflict with the management of the Institute in October 1893, he resigned from his position. In 1894, he settled in Odessa, where he became violin teacher at the Odessa Imperial Musical Society School, that was in 1897 set up by Russian Music Society. Among his pupils was until 1898 also Pyotr Solomonovich Stolyarsky (1871–1944), who would later become the world-famous teacher of David Oistrakh (1908–1974), Nathan Milstein (1904–1992) and many others. After leaving Odessa, Karbulka became a violin professor at the Music Institute in Mikolaiv (from 1906 its director). During his holiday stay in Prague, he was caught by the outbreak of the War and was interned in Raabs (1914–1916) as a Russian citizen. After his return to Mikolaiv, he took over his previous function of the Music Institute that was after the revolution promoted to the Music Conservatory. He wrote several pieces for violin and piano and died in 1920 in Mikolaiv.
KASTL, JOSEPH
Joseph Kastl was born on August 26th, 1893 in Detroit. He studied violin with Jindřich Feld at the Prague Conservatory between 1909 and 1911. Later he was as a violinist active in Detroit.
KOCIAN, JAROSLAV
Jaroslav Kocian was born on February 22nd, 1883 in Ústí and Orlicí. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1896 and 1901. He gave successful performances all over Europe. Having worked in Odessa between 1907 and 1909 as a member of a String Quartet, and also given concerts in St. Petersburg, he attracted the attention of Grand Duke Mecklenburg, who offered him the position of first violin in the St. Petersburg Court Quartet, of which he was the sponsor. After a year with the quartet, he returned to his homeland and gave concerts all over the world. In 1917 he was offered the position of violin professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory after Leopold Auer, but he did not accept the offer. In 1921 he became Ševčík’s assistant at the Prague Conservatory and trained many successful violinists. He gave over eighty concerts also in the U.S. and Canada. He died on March 9th, 1950 in Prague.
KOLAR, VICTOR (Viktor Kolář)
Viktor Kolar was born on February 12th, 1888 in Székesfehérvár. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1900 and 1904, but left without diploma. He made his name in New York mostly as composer. He migrated to the U.S. in 1905. After a tour as violin soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, he was for a first violinist in the Pittsburgh Orchestra three years. Then, until 1920, he was a violinist at the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He wrote several compositions, many of them inspired by Native American melodies. Between 1914 and 1916, his two compositions Americana (1914) and Symphony in D (1916) were premièred by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He died in 1957.
KOMZÁK, KAREL JR. (Karl Komzak)
Karel Komzák, Jr. was born on November 8th, 1850 in Prague. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner and Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1861 and 1867. After completing his studies, he worked in his father’s (Karel Komzák Sr.; 1823–1893) band and in 1870 became the second music director at the Linz Estates Theater. At the end of 1871 he was appointed music director in Innsbruck, where he also directed the Innsbruck Choral Society (Innsbrucker Liedertafel). From 1883 he was music director of the 84th Infantry Regiment in Vienna, which under his leadership won the title of best military band in the world at the Paris World Exposition in 1889. Komzák was regarded as one of the leading military composers in Europe. One of Komzák’s important contributions to the development of Austrian military music was his use of string instruments. His band contained fourteen first violins and could therefore be compared with the typical concert orchestras of the period. He died on April 23rd, 1905 in Baden.
KOPECKY, OTTOKAR (Otakar Kopecký)
Ottokar Kopecky was born on April 29th, 1850 in Chotěbor. He studied violin with both Mildner and Bennewitz between 1864 and 1870. After completing his studies, he became music director at the theater and a violin teacher in Brno. In 1873, he was engaged as a violinist and later as concertmaster of the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, where he remained until 1878. At the Salzburg concerts he mostly performed chamber music. He settled in Hamburg, where he became concertmaster of the Laub Orchestra. He served as a teacher at the Bernuth Conservatory between 1890 and 1896 and became concertmaster of Hamburg’s Philharmonic Society Orchestra. He formed the very successful Kopecky String Quartet and in 1896 devoted himself entirely to violin teaching and concertizing. Among his numerous violin pupils were German crown prince Friedrich Wilhelm (1882–1951) and Prince Adalbert of Prussia (1884–1948). Kopecky was given the title “Royal Prussian professor and chamber virtuoso of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen.” He died in 1907 in Hamburg.
KOPTA, VÁCLAV
Václav Kopta was born on March 21st, 1845 in Kožlany. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1858 and 1864. Already in 1866, Václav Kopta (1845–1916) moved to the U.S. and became concertmaster and first soloist of the New York Opera Orchestra (probably the Academy of Music Opera House in New York). He also performed in New York also as a soloist and gave several concerts in some other cities in the United States. During World War I, Kopta retired, and he died on July 16th, 1916 in Santa Monica.
KOVARIK, JOSEPH JAN (Josef Jan Kovářík)
Joseph J. Kovarik was born on July 11th, 1870 in Spillville, Iowa to Czech emigrants. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1888 and 1892. In Prague he met Antonín Dvořák and accompanied him and his family on their journey to the U.S. in 1892. At Kovarik’s invitation, the Dvořák’s spent the summer holiday in Kovarik’s birthplace Spillville, where Dvořák finished his Symphony “From the New World.” At Dvořák’s recommendation, Kovarik was appointed professor of violin at the New York Conservatory of Music. Between 1895 and 1936 he was a violinist and later head of the viola section of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra of the Philharmonic Society). As a member of the Dannreuther Quartet, he gave the American première of Dvořák’s String Quartet in A-flat major. Kovarik was proclaimed one of the best violists in the U.S. by the Russian conductor Vasily Safonov (1852–1918). As a viola soloist, he gave several concerts with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall between 1905 and 1926 and performed works such as Berlioz’s Harold in Italy and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. He died on February 19th, 1951 in New York.
KOZEL, OTTOKAR (Otakar Kozel)
Ottokar Kozel was born on October 28th, 1869 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1879 and 1885. After his studies he moved to Kiev, where he was concertmaster of the City Theater Orchestra until 1897. In 1897 he returned to Prague, where he was concertmaster of the National Theater until 1908. Later he was active as a violin teacher. He died on August 7th, 1941 in Prague.
KRAL, JOHANN (Jan Král)
He was born on May 16th, 1823 in Kolinec. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Pixis between 1837 and 1843. Until 1850 he was a member of the Estates Theater in Prague, where he played viola. In 1851, he became a member of the Vienna Imperial Opera Orchestra, where he remained until 1885. He was mostly known as a brilliant viola d’amore player, and for that reason Héctor Berlioz wrote him a letter in 1855 to consult him for the second edition of his Treatise on Orchestration. Kral wrote several arrangements for viola d’amore and also the treatise Anleitung zum Spiele der Viole d’amour, which was published in Leipzig in 1870. He died on June 10th, 1912 in Vienna.
KRAMER, LEOPOLD
Leopold Kramer was born on April 11th, 1870 in Mühlhausen. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1888. After his studies, he was concertmaster of the Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (1892–1894). In 1897 he moved to Chicago. From 1924, he taught Prague at least until 1936. In the concert season a year before the outbreak of World War I in 1913, Leopold Kramer became concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He moved to Chicago in 1897 to join Theodor Thomas’s Chicago Symphony Orchestra. There he also founded the Chicago String Quartet. After a conflict with the new music director Frederick Stock in 1909, he joined the Chicago Grand Opera Orchestra and became concertmaster in New York in 1913. During that season, he was a soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra on several concerts, playing Bruch’s and Beethoven’s Violin concertos alongside the famous violinists of the time, including Mischa Elman, Carl Flesch, Jacques Thibault and others. He went to Europe for the summer holidays in 1914, and was, because of the outbreak of the war and subsequent military duty, prohibited from returning to New York. As such, because of the war, he had to give up the concertmaster position of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. It is worth noting that a performance of his of the Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto” had been already announced in the newspapers. A few years after the war, he returned to New York, where, between 1922 and 1923, he was concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He was also a violin teacher at the Institute for Musical Arts (later renamed Julliard) between 1920 and 1924. In the summer of 1924, he returned to Prague to teach, where he lived at least until 1936.
KRATINA, JOSEPH
Joseph Kratina was born on May 2nd, 1862 in Olovnice. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1876 and 1882. About two years later he became a violinist in Dresden’s Music Chapel, where he remained until 1921. Kratina was also a significant violin professor at the violin master school at the Music Conservatory in Dresden, where he was the only one to use Ševčík’s violin method. He died in Dresden in 1942.
KRAUS, JULIO (Julije Kraus)
Julio Kraus was born on November 10th, 1881 in Ruševo. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1899 and 1900. Later, he was a violinist of the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb. He died in 1941.
KREBS, FLORIAN
Florian Krebs was born on January 1st, 1888 in Prague. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Ferdinand Lachner between 1904 and 1909. After finishing his studies, he moved to Helsinki, where he stayed for just one year.[59] From 1911 until the outbreak of World War I, he was a violin professor at the Lviv Music Conservatory. During the war, he was concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. After the war, he returned to the Lviv Music Conservatory and became concertmaster of the Lviv Theater Orchestra.
KREJSA, JAN (Johann Krejsa, Jan Krejza)
Jan Krejsa was born on November 25th, 1880 in Mníšek. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1892 and 1898. After the studies, he became concertmaster of Opera Orchestra in Odessa, and member of the Russian Imperial Orchestra (today’s Mariinsky Theater) in St. Petersburg, and Orchestras in Moscow and Kiev.
KRESZ, GÉZA DE
Géza de Kresz was born on June 11th, 1882 in Budapest. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1900 and 1902. After the studies, he was the concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He was later appointed at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin and ultimately settled in Toronto, Canada.
KYRLACH, EDUARD
Eduard Kyrlach was born on December 10th, 1893 in Ostřetín. He studied violin with Bastář at the Prague Conservatory between 1908 and 1914. In the concert season 1919/1920, he was playing viola at the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb.
KUBÁNEK, JAROSLAV
Jaroslav Kubánek was born on November 27th, 1874 in Chotěboř. He studied violin with Lachner at the Prague Conservatory between 1888 and 1895. Soon after his studies at the Prague Conservatory in 1896, he became concertmaster of the Nizhny Novgorod Symphony Orchestra. From 1897 until 1900, he was music director of the Music Society in Narva (Estonia). Then he moved to St. Petersburg and became the concertmaster of the Italian Opera Orchestra and from 1912 was a member of the Russian Imperial Orchestra. During the war, he was imprisoned in his homeland as a Russian citizen. After the war, he was a teacher and member of the Brno String Quartet and the National Theater Orchestra in Brno. He died on January 8th, 1958 in Brno.
KUBELIK, JAN (Johann Kubelík)
Jan Kubelík was born on July 5th, 1880 in Prague. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1892 and 1898. After great success following his debut in Vienna, and in London, he toured in the U.S in 1901 for the first time. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he was highly regarded and immensely famous violinist in the United States. Described also as a “reincarnation of Nicolo Paganini,” he began recording for the Gramophone Company. He was amongst the earliest world-class violinists to make solo recordings, initially for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company in 1902 and later for other record companies.[61] During his concert tours, he gave hundreds of concerts only in the United States. One of the most successful was held in 1907 in the Hippodrome Theater in New York, where he played before an audience of “astonishing size,” about five thousand people. During the war in 1915, he removed himself from the concert circuit and turned his attention to composition, but still made several recordings. After the war, he tried to make a comeback as soloist, but due to the arrival of new rising stars such as Jascha Heifetz (1901–1987) and Mischa Elman (1891–1967) on the concert scene, Kubelik never managed to achieve his previous status again. He died on December 5th, 1940 in Prague.
KUČERA, KAREL
Kučera was born on March 1st, 1888 in Čelakovice. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1902 and 1906. After the studies, he was a violin teacher at the Music Society and a member of string quartet in Ljubljana.
KUS, NIKOLA
Nikola Kus was born on December 5th, 1867 in Zagreb. He studied violin with Otakar Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1891 and 1894. He was a violin teacher at the Croatian Music Institute between 1894 and 1897.
LABITZKY, WILHELM
Wilhelm Labitzky was born on December 9th, 1830 in Bečov nad Teplov. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1843 and 1849. In the late 1850s he moved to Canada. He was a director of music and organist in Toronto. He died on January 4th, 1871 in Toronto.
LACHNER, FERDINAND
Ferdinand Lachner was born on March 23rd, 1856 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1870 and 1876. In 1879, he was appointed concertmaster of the City Theater Orchestra in Wroclaw. One year later he moved to Warsaw, where he stayed until 1883 as a member of the Orchestra of the Warsaw Opera. In 1883, he became concertmaster of the National Theater Orchestra in Prague and four years later he became a violin teacher at the Prague Conservatory. He was a very successful soloist and chamber music performer, he composed also a few violin compositions and compositions for men choirs.
LANDA, WENZEL
Wenzel Landa was born on April 20th, 1817 in Hýskov. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1831 and 1837. Later he was a military music director in the 1st, 40th, and 51st Infantry Regiments.
LAUB, FERDINAND
Ferdinand Laub was born on January 19th, 1832 in Prague. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1843 and 1846. During his study, he attracted the attention of Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, who later dedicated to him the Mehrstimmige Studien, and Héctor Berlioz, who invited him to Paris. Between 1848 and 1850 Laub was appointed in Vienna as a soloist at the Theater on the Vienna River. In 1853, he succeeded Joseph Joachim as concertmaster in Weimar, where he performed chamber music with Franz Liszt. From 1855 to 1857 he was a violin professor at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, and in 1856 he was appointed chamber virtuoso to the Prussian king. In 1866, when the Moscow Conservatory was set up under Nikolay Rubinstein, Laub was invited to become its first violin professor. During his time at the conservatory (1866–1874), he was not only an excellent violin professor, but he also regularly appeared as the primarius of the Russian Musical Society’s String Quartet (the “Moscow Quartet”). Tchaikovsky was so impressed by his violin playing of the chamber repertoire that he was inspired to compose the String Quartet No. 1 (1871) and String Quartet No. 2 (1874), both of which were premièred by the Moscow Quartet with Laub as first violinist and another Prague violinist, Jan Hřímalý, as the second violinist.[67] Tchaikovsky described Laub’s violin playing after the performance of Raff’s La fée d’amour in 1871 with following words: “Mr. Laub’s interpretation was above all praise – Moscow has every right to be proud of having within its walls this Titan amongst violinists.”[68] Laub significantly contributed to Moscow musical life, formed deep friendships with foremost Russian artists and composed a number of technically demanding violin pieces and some vocal works. After Laub’s death, Tchaikovsky was greatly saddened and dedicated his third string quartet, Op. 30, which was premièred by Hřímalý, to his memory. He died on March 17th, 1875 in Gries.
LEHÁR, FRANZ (Lehár Ferenc)
Franz Léhar was born on April 30th, 1870 in Komárno. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1888. After the studies, he joined his father’s band in Vienna. Between 1894 and 1896, he was army Music director in the navy in Pula. Later he served in the garrisons in Trieste, Budapest and in Vienna. In 1902, he became conductor of the Theater and der Wien. He made his name mostly as a composer of operettas. He died on October 24th, 1948 in Bad Ischl.
LEPPEN, JOSEPH (Josef Leppen)
Joseph Leppen was born c. 1812 in Sutom. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1822 and 1828.[69] In the 1830s, he was an orchestra director of the theater orchestra at Leopoldstadt. After leaving the orchestra, he moved to Mannheim, where he was a violinist and music director at the Imperial Theater (Hoftheater) until 1846.
LINKE, CHARLES IGNATIUS (Karel Linke)
Linke was born on March 2nd, 1888 in New York. He studied violin with Ferdinand Lachner at the Prague Conservatory between 1907 and 1908, and served as violist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1923–1948).
LIŠKA, KAREL
Karel Liška was born on November 19th, 1883 in Gmünd. He studied violin with Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1897 and 1903. After the studies, he was playing second violin in the Herold’s String Quartett. Between 1903 and 1907, he was concertmaster in Salzburg, in 1907 in Karlové Varý, and between 1907 and 1913 in Theater of Vinohradý. In 1913, he moved to Kislovodsk and became concertmaster and a violin professor at the Music Conservatory, where he remained until 1919. After that, he returned to his homeland, where he was playing in different orchestras. From 1926 until his death, he was concertmaster of the National Theater Orchestra in Prague. He died on September 20th, 1935 in Prague.
LÖFFELMANN, WENZEL
Wenzel Löffelmann was born c. 1800 in Hruškolhotice. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1813 and 1819. After the studies, he became a soloist and orchestra director of the Estates Theater in Linz, where he remained until 1834.
LUBASCH, ANTON (Anton Lubas)
Anton Lubasch was born on April 13th, 1879 in Prague. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1893 and 1896 but left without diploma. In 1900, he was playing among the first violinists at the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb, where he stayed at least until 1901.
MACH, FRANK JR.
Frank Mach, jr. was born on August 28th, 1887 in Omaha. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1907 and 1908, but never completed his studies there. Later, he was active as a violinist and teacher in Omaha in the U.S.
MALINA, JOSEF
Josef Malina was born on March 19th, 1860 in Prague. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1873 and 1879, shortly also with J. Joachim in Berlin. Later, he was concertmaster of the Lamoreux Orchestra in Paris between 1884 and 1887. In 1895, he founded his own music school in Prague, where he died on February 15th, 1931. He wrote several compositions.
MARYSKO, KAREL (Dragutin Marysko, Karel Maryska)
Karel Marysko was born on December 2nd, 1881 in Dobruška. He studied violin with his father and played in the Zöllner Theater Society orchestra. In 1910 he moved to Zagreb, where he was a solo violist of the National Theater orchestra until 1922. In 1922 he returned to his homeland (Nymburk), where he served as music director, violinist, and music teacher. He wrote several compositions and died in 1957 in Nymburk.
MASCHEK, FRANZ
Franz Maschek was born c. 1812 in Janka. He studied violin with Pixis between 1825 and 1831. In the early 1830s, he was a member of the Theater Orchestra in Graz, later he became director of the theaters in Broumov and Templice.
MEDEK, VÁCLAV
Václav Medek was born on March 3rd, 1893 in Chicago. He studied violin with Josef Vilim at the Vilim American Violin School before 1909. He continued with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1910 and 1915. Later, he was active in Chicago.
MEYER, OTTO
Otto Meyer was born on May 22nd, 1883 in La Porte, Indiana. He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1903 and 1904 but left without diploma. He studied also with Otokar Ševčík, and Eugène Ysaÿe. After his studies, he toured in Europe and the United States. Later, he was a soloist of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and founded the Meyer–Ten Broeck School of Music together with his sister and the Cosmopolitan School of Music, where he taught until at least the end of World War I. He was a respected concert violinist, proclaimed “one of foremost America’s musical talents.”
MILAKOWIČ, IVAN (Ivan Milaković)
Ivan Milakowič was born on December 30th, 1849 in Zagreb. Firstly, he studied violin at the Croatian Music Institute and continued with Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1864 and 1868. During the studies, he was active also as a composer and in Prague he wrote four Etuden for violin and published five-part composition Žudi-suze for alto and baritone. Due to his status an orphan, he was financially supported during his studies by the Croatian Music Institute, Zagreb’s City Hall, and by Croatian music enthusiasts from Prague. He left the conservatory without a diploma in October 1868 and continued with his studies at the Vienna Conservatory. One year later, he performed at a gala concert of the Croatian Music Institute as a soloist and with a string quartet. From 1870, he played in the 53rd Infantry Regiment in Zagreb. Later, he was a teacher at the College of Education in Zagreb, where he played in chamber ensembles.
MOLZER, AUGUST (August Mölzer)
August Molzer was born on November 7th, 1880 in Slaný. He studied violin with Ferdinand Lachner between 1902 and 1904. He became known as a violin and bow maker. In 1920 he established a music shop in Lincoln, Nebraska. He died in 1967.
MOSER, VIKTOR ROMAN (Vitězslav Moser)
Viktor Roman Moser was born on February 7th, 1864 in Sušice. He studied privately in Prague with Ferdinand Lachner, a violin teacher at the Prague Conservatory, and composition with Zdeněk Fibich (1850–1900). From 1885, Moser was a member of the National Theater Orchestra in Prague and in 1888, he moved to Ljubljana to become a violin teacher at the Music Society, where he remained until 1891. While he was still under contract with the Music Society, he applied for the position of the first violin teacher at the Music Institute in Zagreb (Hrvatski glazbeni zavod) in April 1891. Starting the new school year 1891, he became a violin teacher and in 1892 took over the Institute’s Orchestra from Karbulka. One of his students was Dora Quîquerez (1879–?), who was later active as a violin teacher. He authored the first Croatian violin method book in four parts, called Škola za gusle (1896), which became part of the school’s curriculum.
NEDVĚD, ANTON
Nedvěd was born in 1829 in Hořovice. His first music teacher was Antonín Slavík. Nedvěd studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Moritz Mildner. For a short period, he was active in the Brno Opera. Later he moved to Ljubljana, where he was active as a music teacher and composer, but mostly he focused on vocal music. He died in 1896 in Ljubljana.
NEMETZ, FRANZ (František Němec, Serafim Venceslavovič Němec)
Franz Nemetz was born on July 4th, 1825 in Chvlenice. He studied violin with Pixis and Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1840 and 1846. After completing his studies, he was a member of the Estates Theater in Prague, and between 1847 and 1848 a violin teacher at the Prague Conservatory. He was also active as a chamber music composer and performer with the famous composer Bedřich Smetana. His composing style was recognized as close to the style of Héctor Berlioz, earning him the moniker “Bohemian Berlioz.” Around 1852 he moved to Moscow, where he stayed at least until 1858. Later he was active in Andrejevka and in Kharkiv (Ukraine), where he was the director of the Russian Music Society. He contributed to Kharkiv’s musical life as member of the orchestra, soloist, chamber music performer, conductor, composer, and violin pedagogue. His most successful pupils were the violin virtuosos Osip Šnirlin (Ossip Schnirlin; 1872–1939) and Bertha Brousil. He died on November 20th, 1892 in Andrejevka.
NITTINGER, ADOLPH (Adolf Nittinger)
Adolph Nittinger was born c. 1813 in Kouřimec. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1825 and 1831. In 1842, he became orchestra director in Budapest (Buda), from the 1850s he was an orchestra director in Bratislava. He composed Rózsa Bokor (The Rose Bush), on which the orchestration of the famous Hungarian Dance No. 6 by Johannes Brahms is based.
NOVÁČEK, VIKTOR
Viktor Nováček was born on November 6th, 1872 in Timișoara. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1885 and 1888. In 1904, he premièred the first version of Sibelius’ famous violin concerto under the direction of the composer. Since this version of the concerto had extreme difficulties that Nováček was unable to surmount, the première was not a success. Sibelius himself was so dissatisfied with the concerto that he completely rewrote the first movement and made a good deal of changes to the second one. Nováček, who was in Helsinki from 1894 and was appointed as concertmaster, soloist, and pedagogue at the Helsinki Music Institute, stayed there until his death in 1914.
NOVAK, LOUIS (Alois Novák)
Louis Novak was born on October 17th, 1871 in Chicago. He studied violin in Chicago with his father John Novak (1837–1897) and continued at the Prague Conservatory (1890 and 1895). He was a first violinist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for twenty-two years. In 1917 he settled in Vineland, New Jersey and taught piano and violin until 1951.
ONDŘÍČEK, FRANZ (František Ondříček)
Franz Ondříček considered today as one of the most important Czech violinists of all time was born on April 29th, 1857 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1873 and 1876. During the 1880s he gave numerous concerts throughout Europe and the Russian Empire, and later also in the United States. In 1884, he moved to Vienna where he was appointed Chamber Virtuoso (Kammervirtuoso). Before the war he founded the Ondříček String Quartet in Vienna, which gave numerous successful performances. From 1905 onwards, he was a private violin teacher and later became a violin professor (1909–1912) and director (1910–1915) of the New Vienna Conservatory (Neues Wiener Konservatorium). Most of his compositions were composed in Vienna between 1884 and 1918, including most of his violin method books. During the war he remained in Vienna, gave concerts, composed several violin compositions and, until 1915, served as the director of the New Vienna Conservatory. After the war, he returned to Prague and became a teacher at the violin master class of the Prague Conservatory until 1922. He died on April 12th, 1922 in Milan.
ONDŘÍČEK, EMANUEL (pseud. Floris)
Emanuel Ondříček was born on December 6th, 1880 in Plzeň. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1894 and 1899.
In 1910, he moved to Boston. There and in New York he founded the Ondricek Studios of Violin Art, where both of his sisters were teachers. Later, he became the director of the violin department of the master school at the Boston University. He died on December 30th, 1958 in Boston.
ONDŘÍČEK, KAREL
Karel Ondříček, one of the four famous Ondříček violinist brothers, was born on January 1st, 1863 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1876 and 1882 but left without diploma. In the late 19th century he moved to Boston to become the concertmaster of the Symphony Orchestra. He was also a member of the Kneisel Quartet and Ondříček Trio. He died on March 30th, 1943 in Boston.
ONDŘÍČEK, STANISLAV
Stanislav Ondříček was born on August 23rd, 1885 in Prague. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1899 and 1903 but left without diploma. Later, he finished the Master violin school of J. Kocian. He was a violin teacher at the Croatian Music Institute between 1902 and 1903. Between 1908 and 1920, he was active in Tbilisi, and Jaroslav. In 1911, he was shortly active in New York. After he returned to homeland, he was active in different towns. He died on July 16th, 1953 in Prague.
PACK, ARNOŠT
Arnošt Pack was born on January 12th, 1887 in Třebnice. He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1902 and 1908. From 1908, he was concertmaster of the Odessa Opera Theater.
PARÝZEK, FRANTIŠEK (Franjo, Parizek)
František Parýzek was born on July 7th, 1898 in Prague. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1912 and 1915. In 1915, he was a member of the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb.
PERMANN, JOSEF (Josif Vjačeslavovič Permann)
Josef Permann was born on September 2nd, 1871 in Dobříš. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1885 and 1891. IN 1894, he moved to Odessa, where he became a violin teacher at the Imperial Music Society School and a member of the Odessa String Quartett. In 1913, Permann was together with Franz Stupka appointed as the first professors of the violin class. Today they are considered founders of the Odessa violin school. After World War I, Stupka returned to his homeland, where he became a famous conductor and a professor of viola at the Prague Conservatory. Permann remained in Odessa until his death in 1934 and earned great authority as a violin professor.
PEROUTKA, LUBOMIR (Ljubomir Peroutka)
Lubomir Peroutka was born on January 20th, 1887 in Prague. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1902 and 1908. He was a violinist (in the first violin section) at the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb.
PEŠTA, JAN OTAKAR
Jan Otakar Pešta was born on March 15th, 1883 in Sušice. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1897 and 1903. In 1918, he was a violin teacher in Maribor. He remained active there as a military orchestra director of the Army of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Inspired by the current political circumstances in 1919 in Maribor, he composed a concert overture Jugoslavija, which he dedicated to major Rudolf Maister (1874–1934). He was mostly known as a music director and composer. He died in 1945 in Prague.
PICK, ADOLF
Adolf Pick was born on May 9th, 1870 in Mirovice. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1888. In the 1890s, he was concertmaster of the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb, where he was also active as a chamber musician. In 1902, he performed a piano trio together with O. Schulz and H. Geiger. Later, he was a conductor of the Opera in Bern and emigrated to the United States, where he became head of the violin department at the College of Music in Ithaca and a member of the Chicago Conservatory of Music.
PIXIS, THEODOR (Bohdan Pixis)
Theodor Pixis, son of the well-known Prague violin professor Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis, was born on April 15th, 1831 in Prague. He studied violin first with his father and, after his father’s death, with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1843 and 1846. After completing his studies in Prague, he continued with his studies in Paris with the famous violinist and pedagogue Pierre Baillot. In 1850 he moved to Cologne, where he was a concertmaster and a violin professor at the at the conservatory until his death in 1856.
PLENIER, EDUARD
Eduard Pleiner was born on September 21st, 1820 in Andělska Hora. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1834 and 1840. After his studies, he was a member of the theater orchestra in Prague, a music teacher at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and orchestra director in Lviv. In the 1860s he moved to Graz, where he became orchestra director of the Thalia Theater Orchestra and was a violin teacher at the Styrian Music Association between 1871 and 1877. His most successful student was the famous violin virtuoso Marie Soldat-Roeger. He died in 1878 in Graz.
PLOŠKA, JAROSLAV
Jaroslav Ploška was born on April 8th, 1884 in Prague. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1898 and 1904. Later, he was concertmaster of the Odessa Opera Theater.
POLÁŠEK, ZIKMUND (Siegmund/Žiga Polaček)
Zikmund Polášek was born on April 26th, 1877 in Slavonice. He studied violin with Otakar Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1895 and 1899. After his studies, he was concertmaster in Krakow and later a member of orchestras in Lviv, Warsaw, and Prague. Before moving to Kranj, he was a violin teacher at the Music School in Klagenfurt (Musikschule für Kärnten). In 1912, he left Kranj to become director of the Music School in Slaný. He wrote several compositions, for example his Uspavanka za violin in klavir [Lullaby for Violin and Piano] was published in Novi akordi.
PŘIBYL, JAN
Jan Přibyl was born on January 6th, 1893 in Prague. He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1907 and 1913. Soon after completing his studies, he became in 1915 concertmaster of the National Theater Orchestra (at least until 1924) and between 1916 and 1918 a violin teacher at the Music Institute in Zagreb. The principal of the Croatian Music Institute, Vjekoslav Rosenberg Ružič, evaluated Přibyl as a great soloist, but as an “incompetent pedagogue.”
PŘÍHODA, VAŠA
Váša Příhoda was born on August 22nd, 1900 in Vodňany. He studied privately with Mařák. He made his debut in New York in 1920 and reappeared in the U.S. again in 1921. During World War II, he taught violin at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and later at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna. In 1946, he left Czechoslovakia and returned only in 1956. He wrote numerous violin pieces and made several recordings.[93] He died on July 26th, 1960 in Vienna.
RESSEL, FRANZ WILHELM
Franz Wilhelm Ressel was born on November 5th, 1812 in Dolní Řasnice. Hestudied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1825 and 1831. After finishing his studies, he was appointed for a season in Teplice, where Prince Antoni Henryk Radziwiłł (1775–1833) saw him perform and recommended him in Berlin to Spontini, Count Redern, and Concertmaster Moser. Ressel moved to Berlin and became a violinist in the Königsstadt Theater Orchestra. In 1847 he became a royal chamber musician (violist) and later a teacher at the Royal Institute for Church Music in Berlin. He composed many violin concert pieces, one viola concerto, one violin sonata, and many other compositions. He died on September 5th, 1888 in Berlin.
REZEK, JAN
Rezek was born on February 2nd, 1884 in Prague. He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1898 and 1904. In 1908, he moved to Ljubljana, where he became a violin teacher at the Music Society. In 1909 he performed Paganini’s Violin Concerto in Ljubljana.
RICHTER, ALEXANDER
Richter was born on November 25th, 1833 in Janovice, Moravia to Ignaz Richter, who was previously a court musician in St. Petersburg. Alexander Richter studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1852 and 1855. Soon after completing his studies, he became a violist in the Dresden Court Music Chapel in 1857, where he remained until his death in 1902.
ŘEBÍČEK, JOSEF (Josef Rebicek, Józef Rzebiczek; 1844–1904)
He was born on February 9th, 1844 in Prague. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1855 and 1861. In 1861, he was invited by Franz Liszt to become a member of the court orchestra in Weimar, where he stayed until 1863. After leaving Weimar in 1863, he returned to Prague, where he was an orchestra director of the Provisional Theater (1863–1865) and German Theater (1865–1868). In 1868 he was appointed by Wilhelm Jahn as the first concertmaster in Wiesbaden, where he was music director of the Royal Theater between 1875 and 1882. Then he became, in turn, the opera conductor at the Warsaw Opera from 1891, a music director in Budapest and from 1893 at the Court Theater in Wiesbaden, and then he settled in Berlin. There he was the conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra between 1897 and 1903. He composed several compositions, including pieces for violin and piano. He died on March 24th, 1904 in Berlin.
RYCHLIK, CHARLES VACLAV (Karel Rychlík)
Charels Vaclav Rychlik was born in 1875 in Cleveland (Ohio) in the U.S. At the age of fourteen, he was the youngest member of the Cleveland Musicians Union. Between 1891 and 1896 he studied violin at the Prague Conservatory and joined the Bohemian String Quartet, performing throughout Europe. During his studies at the Conservatory, he was boarded at the home of Antonín Dvořák. In 1897 he joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and in 1901 returned to Cleveland. From 1908 until 1928 he was second violinist of the Cleveland Philharmonic String Quartet and from 1918 he played in the Cleveland Orchestra for two years. During this time, Rychlik began teaching and composing. He wrote numerous works for violin and for the internationally known Encyclopedia of Violin Technique in 25 volumes. Forty of his students became members of the Cleveland Orchestra. He died in 1962 in Cleveland.
SACHS, MILAN (Emil Sachs)
Milan Sachs was born on November 28th, 1884 in Lišov. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1889 and 1905. After the studies, he was a violinist of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra between 1906 and 1907. One year later, he became concertmaster of the Theater Orchestra in Belgrade. Between 1910 and 1911, he was a music teacher in Novi Sad. In 1911, he became a conductor of the National Theater Orchestra and conducted some important local premiers. He died on August 4th, 1968 in Zagreb.
SAMEHTINI LEÓN (Leon Sametini)
The Jewish violinist Leon Sametini was born on March 16th, 1886 in Rotterdam. He began to play violin at the age of six with his uncle and continued his studies with Bram Eldering (1865–1943) in Amsterdam. Between 1902 and 1903, he studied at the Prague Conservatory with Otokar Ševčík. Later he was a pupil of Eugène Ysaÿe. In 1912, he became the head of the violin department of the Chicago Conservatory College. Chicago musicians proclaimed him as their “greatest violin teacher as well as great musical artist.” He remained in his position as head of the violin department of the Chicago Conservatory College until the 1940s and trained many successful violinists, including George Perlman (1897–2000), Oliver Colbentson (1927–2013), and Aaron Rosand (1927). He died in 1944.
SCHIMAČEK, ALOIS (Alojs Šimáček)
Alois Schimaček was born on October 13th, 1836 in Štětí. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1849 and 1855. Later, he performed on a few concerts and became a violinist at the Theater Orchestra in Budapest. He composed also a few violin concertos.
SCHRÖTTNER, HERMANN
Hermann Schöttner was born on February 16th, 1828 in Novosedlice. He studied violin with Pixis and Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1840 and 1846. Later he was a military music director in the 20th Infantry Regiment and in the 18th Riflemen’s Battalion.
SEIFERT, WILHELM (Vilém/Vilim Seifert)
Wilhelm Seifert was born on October 6th, 1872 in Unhošť. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1885 and 1891. After his studies, he was a music teacher in Kroměříž for three years, and then moved to Croatia. In October 1910, he moved to Celje, where he was a piano and violin teacher until 1912, when he died of nicotine poisoning.
SITT, ANTON JR. (Antonín Sitt)
Anton Sitt Jr. was born on December 24th, 1847 in Prague to the well-known violin maker Anton Sitt Sr. (1819–1878). He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1858 and 1864. After his studies, he was orchestra director of Provincial Theater in Prague and was also active in Sonderhausen, Meiningen, and Dresden. In 1874, he was appointed concertmaster in Göteborg. After leaving Göteborg he remained in Scandinavia and in 1882 settled in Helsinki, where, together with another Prague violinist, Bohuslav Hřímalý (1848–1894), he was an important violin pedagogue at the Helsinki Music Institute, later renamed the Sibelius Academy of Music. Between 1885 and 1923 he was also the concertmaster of Helsinki Philharmonic Society Orchestra and premièred most of Jean Sibelius’ major orchestral works. He died on April 19th, 1929 in Helsinki.
SITT, HANS (Jan/Johann Sitt)
Hans Sitt, brother of Anton Sitt, was born on September 21st, 1850 in Prague. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner and Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1861 and 1867. After completing his studies he was the concertmaster in the Opera Orchestra in Wroclaw and in Chemnitz. In 1884 he came to Leipzig, where he was until 1921 a violin professor at the Leipzig Conservatory and authored several important studies for violin and viola, some of which are still used. Between 1885 and 1903 he was the conductor of the Leipzig Bach Society (Bach-Verein Leipzig) and between 1884 and 1895 he was a violist in the well-known Brodsky Quartet. During his lifetime, he was one of the most notable teachers of violin. His students also included Leo Funtek, a concertmaster and important conductor, pedagogue, and composer in Helsinki. In addition to his pedagogical works, Sitt wrote several compositions for violin and orchestra, sonatas for various instruments, and two piano trios. He died on March 10th, 1922 in Leipzig.
SKALITZKY, ERNST (Arnošt Skalický)
Ernst Skalitzky was born on March 30th, 1852 in Prague. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1868 and 1870. After completing his studies he prolonged his violin study for one year with Joseph Joachim in Berlin. Between 1873 and 1879 he was concertmaster of the Parkorchester in Amsterdam. After that he settled in Bremen, where until 1891 he was concertmaster of the Philharmonic Orchestra. Then he became a private teacher and devote himself to chamber music, as a member of the Becker and Schumann string quartets. In 1889 he was also one of the early performers of Brahms’ Double Concerto, Op. 102, which Hans von Bülow declared “excellent,” particularly regarding the finale (“da capo demanded”). Bülow’s deep appreciation of Skalitzky and the cellist Wilhelm Kufferath led to their performing the Double Concerto again at a Hamburg subscription concert during the 1889/90 season. He died on June 15th, 1926 in Bremen.
SLAWIK, JOSEPH (Josef Slavík)
Joseph Slawik, nicknamed the “Bohemian Paganini”, was born on March 1st, 1806 in Jinec. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis between 1816 and 1822, under the patronage of Count Eugen z Vrbna, owner of Hořovice Castle. After completing his studies, he became a member of the Estates Theater Orchestra in Prague in 1823 and stayed there until 1826. That year he moved to Vienna and tried to obtain composition lessons from Joseph Mayseder (1789–1863), who was one of the most highly regarded performing composers in the city. Mayseder allegedly gave him the nickname “the other Lipiński.” Slawik tried to get into his studio but failed because Mayseder was too busy at the time. Slawik made a living in Vienna as a violin teacher and also a soloist. He became acquainted with Franz Schubert (1797–1828), who composed his Rondo in B Minor, d. 895 for him in 1826. Slawik’s performance of that work with Carl Maria von Bocklet at a party given by Domenico Artaria (perhaps in early 1827) and attended by Schubert was probably the work’s première.[106] One year later Schubert dedicated his Fantasia in C, d. 934, which Slawik performed for the first time at a concert on January 20th, 1828, to him. The same year Slawik met Niccolò Paganini, who greatly influenced his further artistic development and become his ideal of virtuoso playing, which is also reflected in Slawik’s own violin compositions. After his unsuccessful attempt to make a name for himself in Paris, Slawik returned to Vienna in 1829 and became a member of the Vienna Imperial Chapel (Wiener Hofkapelle), where he stayed until 1833. In 1830, still in Vienna, he met Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849), with whom he planned to jointly compose variations for violin and piano on a theme by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827). What an excellent violinist Slawik must have been is reflected in Chopin’s letters, in which he described him with following words: “I am just back from Slawik’s. A famous violinist whom I befriended. Since Paganini I have heard nothing like him; he can take 96 notes staccato on one bow, and so on; incredible.”[107] Slawik’s Viennese concerts between 1832 and 1833 were a great success. Despite illness, he undertook a journey to Budapest, where his health suddenly deteriorated. He died on May 30th, 1833 in Budapest at the age of twenty-seven.
SLAWIK, RUDOLF (Rudolf Slavík)
Rudolf Slawik was born on April 24th, 1823 in Hořovice. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1834 and 1840. After his studies, he gave concerts in Bohemia and became an orchestra director in Budapest (Pest). In Moscow, he became the concertmaster of the Theater Orchestra and assistant music director in the Church of Peter and Paul. He composed several compositions. He died on February 24th, 1880 in Moscow.
SLUNIČKO, JOHANN (Jan Sluníčko)
Johann Sluničko was born on March 23rd, 1852 in Humpolec. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner and Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1864 and 1870. After completing his studies as one of Mildner’s best pupils, he became a violin and piano teacher in Oravice (Slovakia). In 1875 he moved to Augsburg, where he was a violin teacher at the Augsburg Music School (from 1905 its director), concertmaster of the Oratorio Society, and conductor of the men’s Singing Society. He composed six violin sonatas, pieces for violin and piano, and numerous violin studies, which were widely used. He died on May 5th, 1923 in Augsburg.
SOBOTKA, ANTON (Antonín Sobotka)
Anton Sobotka was born on August 16th, 1861 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1876 and 1882. After the studies, he became concertmaster of the Cuty Theater Orchestra in Wroclaw. He died on January 10th, 1903 in Wroclaw.
SOKOLL, JOSEPH (Josef Vendelin Sokol)
Joseph Sokoll was born on January 27th, 1821 in Březno. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1831 and 1837. From 1839, he was director of the orchestra in Vilna and moved to St. Petersburg in 1841, where he stayed until his death in 1858. He was active there as a soloist, member of entertaining orchestras, and violin composer. He died on August 9th, 1858 in St. Petersburg.
STELZIG, FLORIAN
Florian Stelzig was born on October 9th, 1841 in Bynovec. He studied violin with Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1858 and 1864. In 1870, he joined the Imperial Opera Orchestra, where he played side-by-side with such famous violinists as Arnold Rosé (1863–1946) and Jakob Grün (1837–1916), who were first violins in the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. He would later be accepted as a member of the committee of the Vienna Music Conservatory.
SUK, WENZEL (Václav Suk, Váša, Vyacheslav Ivanovich)
Václav Suk was born on November 16th, 1861 in Kladno. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1873 and 1879. After completing his studies, he was concertmaster in Kiev for two years. Until 1887 he was a violinist of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. After devoting himself to conducting and being recommended by Tchaikovsky to St. Petersburg, he was active until 1906 in many places throughout the Russian Empire. In 1906 he succeeded the famous pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) to become the conductor of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. At the beginning of the twentieth century he was considered one of the most important conductors. He died on January 12th, 1933 in Moscow.
STABLER, FRANZ
Franz Stabler was born on April 20th, 1829 in Plottendorf. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1846 and 1849. From 1850 he was active in St. Petersburg.
STARK, CHRISTOPH
Cristoph Stark was born on March 28th, 1821 in Děpoltovice. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1839 and 1843. Later he was a military music director in the 24th, 36th, and 42nd Infantry Regiments and in the Marines in Pula. In 1864 he wrote Gablenz-Marsch, which he dedicated to Baron Ludwig von Gablenz.
STRAKA, EMIL
Emil Straka was born on June 17th, 1866 in Suez. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1885. Later, he was the founder of the Straka’s Music School in Saint Paul City and a member of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra.
STUPKA, FRANZ (František Stupka)
Franz Stupka was born on January 18th, 1879 in Tedražice. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1895 and 1901. In 1902, he became concert master of the Odessa Opera Orchestra, and became a third Prague violin teacher at the Odessa Imperial Musical Society School. The violin and violoncello teachers were also required to play in a string quartet that performed ten to twelve chamber concerts annually. In accepting the position of violin teacher, Stupka was therefore also obliged to play second violin in the string quartet.[117] In 1904 the Prague violoncellist Ladislav Zelenka joined the quarter. Besides playing in the string quartet, they also formed the Odessa Czech Trio. Since the school management did not prolong the contract with the first violinist Alexander P. Fiedelmann, Stupka took over chamber classes at the school and had to find a new leader of the String Quartet. In 1907 a rising violin star and virtuoso Jaroslav Kocian joined the string quartet as a fourth Czech and became a violin teacher of the Music School in Odessa.[118] The string quartet was named The New Czech Quartet and was later renamed the Odessa Quartet.[119] Unfortunately, The New Czech Quartet lasted only for two years, but it gave many successful concerts throughout the Russian Empire. After World War I, Stupka returned to his homeland, where he became a famous conductor and a professor of viola at the Prague Conservatory.
STUPKA, JAN
Jan Stupka, a brother of Franz Stupka, was born on June 24th, 1892 in Steyr.
He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1907 and 1909. After the studies, he was violist of the Odessa Opera Theater Orchestra.
ŠEBOR, KAREL (Karl Šebor)
Karel Šebor was born on August 13th, 1843 in Brandýs and Labem. He studied violin with Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1854 and 1861 and composition with J. B. Kittl. Today he is mostly known as a opera composer. He died on May 17th, 1903 in Prague.
ŠEVČÍK, OTAKAR (Otakar Ševčík)
Otakar Ševčík was born on March 22nd, 1852 in Horaždovice. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1866 and 1870. Immediately after finishing his studies, he moved to Salzburg and became a violin teacher and Concertmaster of the Mozarteum Orchestra for the next three years. During that time, he was also active as a successful soloist and a chamber musician with his classmate Alois Walter. Despite positive reviews in Salzburg periodicals, he himself was still very unsatisfied with his violin technique. He repeatedly studied and re-analyzed all the material that was used for teaching at the Prague Conservatory, thus laying the foundations of his later famous violin method during his stay in Salzburg. Later, he was concertmaster of the Comic Opera in Vienna. In 1875 he settled in Kiev, where he taught at the Imperial Russian Music School while remaining active as a soloist and a chamber performer until 1892. Because of an eye disease he gradually started to devote himself entirely to violin teaching. In Kiev, he wrote his only violin composition, Bohemian Dances and, started to form his famous violin teaching method due to self-criticism. It was in Kiev that he finished his two fundamental method books: School of Violin Technics, Op. 1 and School of Bowing Technics, Op. 2. After returning to Prague in 1892, despite skepticism throughout the conservatory, he started to teach his first generation of violin pupils using his new violin method. The students made such great progress that Ševčík’s violin method became the official method of the Prague Conservatory. Because of their logical and systematic approach, his method books came to be among the most used works of their kind at the time in Europe. Numerous foreign violinists came to study with Ševčík at his schools in Prachatice and Písek. Between 1909 and 1919 Ševčík was a professor at the Academy of Music in Vienna and in 1919 he returned to Prague, where he was appointed to the newly founded violin master school of the Prague Conservatory. He was invited to hold classes throughout Europe and the United States. Ševčík produced a generation of virtuosos who were living proof of the brilliance of his teaching, from the Czech Jan Kubelík to the Russians Michael Zacharevitch (1879–1959) and Efrem Zimbalist, the Austrian Erica Morini, the Englishwoman Mary Hall, and many others.
ŠLAIS, JAN (Jan, Ivan Šlajs)
Šlais was born on January 25th, 1893 in Prague. He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1907 and 1913, later with Ševčík at the Violin Master School in Prague between 1920 and 1921. From 1913 he was concertmaster in Moscow, returning to Prague in 1919, where he was a violinist of the National Theater Orchestra. He moved to Slovenia in 1919, serving as a violin teacher at the Music Society in Maribor until 1920. From 1921 until 1939, he was a successful violin teacher at the Music Conservatory in Ljubljana and later at Academy of Music. In 1946, he returned to his homeland and became a violin teacher at the Prague Conservatory, and from 1952 at the Janaček Academy of Music in Brno. He died in 1975 in Prague.
TABORSKY, JOHANN (Jan Taborský)
Johann Taborsky, nicknamed the “Budapest Mayseder” was born on December 1st, 1796 in Kraštice. He studied violin with Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1812 and 1817. During his studies he was for two years a member of the Prague Theater Orchestra. After completing his studies, Franz Graf Brunswick (1777–1849) appointed him as soloist and orchestra director of the City Theater in Budapest. He was highly respected by Budapest artistic circles for the promotion of church music. In Brunswick’s house, he performed numerous concerts, mostly chamber music, and he trained many violinists. He also wrote a few compositions in Budapest. He died on September 12th, 1840 in Budapest.
TALICH, VÁCLAV
Václav Talich was born on May 28th, 1883 in Kroměříž. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1897 and 1903. After the studies, he was one season concert master of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He decided to become conductor and went to study to Leipzig with Arthur Nikisch. He first conducted in Tiflis, and when the first Slovene Philharmonic Orchestra was established in 1908, he was its conductor. In 1909, he founded in Ljubljana a string quartet. In 1912, he left Ljubljana and went to Plzeň, where he conducted opera until 1915. Between 1915 and 1918, je was a violist of the Bohemian Quartet (later called Czech Quartet). After the War, he was a chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra until 1941, and later founded Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra in Bratislava. He died March 16th, 1961 in Beroun.
TEPLÝ, PETR (Pietro Caldo)
Petr Teplý was born on February 19th, 1871 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1888. After the studies, he was a music teacher and Army Music director in different cities. Between 1896 and 1899, he was a violinist of the German Theater in Prague. Between 1913 and 1914, he was a teacher at the Slovene Music Society in Trieste, and a conductor of the Slovene Phiarmonic Orchestra between 1914 and 1915. After he returned to Prague, he army Music director, violinist of the German Theater Orchestra until the end of World War I. Later, he was a director of Army music school in Prague. He died in 1964 in Prague.
TOMÁŠEK, THEODOR
Theodor Tomášek was born on April 18th, 1840 in Bohdaneč. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1852 and 1858. After his studies, he was the director of the Orthodox Choir in Vršac (Serbia), and army music director in Vienna. In 1892 he moved to St. Petersburg, where he remained until 1914. He was active there mostly as a music teacher, conductor, and promotor of Czech music.[121] When the war broke out, he was caught in Kostelec nad Orlicí, where he spent the rest of his life. He was also active as conductor and composer. In addition to other compositions, he wrote a violin concerto. He died on February 16th, 1922 in Kostelec nad Orlicí.
TOPIČ, FRANTIŠEK (Fran/Franc Topič)
František Topič was born on September 4th, 1881 in Lipá. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1899 and 1904. After World War I, he was a violin teacher in Trieste. Due to the fascist repression in 1919, he moved to Maribor and became the first director of the newly established Music Society. He was a teacher of violin, piano, and singing there until 1926. One of his most important pupils was Drago Mario Šijanec (1907–1986) from Pula, who would go on to become a successful violinist and conductor. As director of the school, Topič hired a few violin teachers from Prague, namely Jan Šlais (1893–1975), Norbert Kubát (1891–1966), Bohumil Gregora (1890–1924), and Josef Čermák (Josip Czermák; 1871–1939).
TRAKAL, ANTON
Anton Trakal was born on February 12th, 1871 in Tatobyt. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1888 and 1891. He was a longtime member of the Russian Imperial Orchestra in St. Petersburg between 1903 and 1921. Later he returned to his homeland, where he was active as a violin teacher. He spent the last years of his life with his family in the Soviet Union.
TRNEČEK, JOHANN (Jan, Hanuš, Hans Trneček)
Johann Trneček was born on May 17th, 1858 in Prague. He studied violin (Bennewitz) and harp (Alois Staněk) at the Prague Conservatory between 1870 and 1876. After his studies he was a member of Spa Orchestra in Františkovy Lázně. In 1881 he became a member of Ziehrer Orchestra in Berlin, and between 1882 and 1888 he was a harpist at the Court Theater in Schwerin. From 1888 he was a professor at the Prague Conservatory (harp, piano, and composition), conductor, and composer. He died on March 28th, 1914 in Prague.
TRNKA, ALOIS
Alois Trnka was born on February 18th, 1883 in New York. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1901 and 1903. From 1907, he was a violin teacher and concert violinist in New York. His students also included the American violin virtuoso David Hochstein (1892–1918). Between 1908 and 1917 he mostly gave concerts [125] New York and Washington DC, but also appeared as a soloist with the Washington Symphony Orchestra. In a newspaper, he was announced as a violinist with “exceptional technique, who possesses a tone of unusual warmth and beauty.” He was one of the rare violinists of the time that played Bach’s Sonata in A for solo violin and “mastered its very considerable difficulties with a good deal of success.”
TULÁČEK, BOHUMIL
Bohumil Tuláček was born on July 27th, 1887 in Jičín. He studied violin privately with Jan Mařák, a violin professor at the Prague Conservatory. In 1912 he moved to Zagreb, where until 1934 he was concertmaster of the National Theater Orchestra. He gave performances as a soloist and in the chamber ensembles. From 1934, he was an orchestra member of the National Theater in Prague. He died on March 4th, 1957 in Prague.
URBANEK, JOHANN (Jan Urbánek)
Johann Urbanek was born c. 1808 in Knovíz and studied violin with Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1819 and 1825. After his studies he was a private teacher and a member of the Estates Theater in Prague. In 1830 he moved to Berlin, where he was appointed concertmaster of the Königsstadt Theater; he remained in this role for the next fifty years. He died in 1895 in Berlin.
VANDAS, EMIL
Vandas was born on January 20th, 1897 in Chicago. He studied violin between 1913 and 1915 but did not graduate because of the war. Later he was active in few orchestras in Chicago at least until the end of World War II. He died in 1990.
VANIŠ, KAREL
Karel Vaniš was born on May 6th, 1869 in Sedlec to Franz Vaniš. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1888. He was concertmaster of the Odessa Opera Theater most likely already from 1888.
VEDRAL, JOSEF
Vedral was born on August 27th, 1872 in the Russian Empire to Czech parents. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1885 and 1891. In 1895 he moved to Ljubljana, where he was a teacher at the Music Society for thirty-four years. He died in 1929 in Ljubljana.
VĚTVIČKA, ANTONÍN (Antun Větvička)
Antonín Větvička was born on October 21st, 1892 in Český Brod. He studied violin with Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1906 and 1908 but left without diploma. Between 1919 and 1924, he played violin in the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb.
VILIM, JOSEF ALOIS (Joseph Alois)
Josef Alois Vilim was born on January 18th, 1861 in Chicago, of Bohemian origin. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1880 and 1882. Two years after finishing his studies, Vilim returned to Chicago to become a violin teacher at the Chicago Conservatory College and a member of the Thomas Orchestra (1894–1896). In 1899 he established his own music school, the Vilim American Violin School, where he taught until 1916. From 1900, he was also head of the violin department of the Chicago Conservatory College. Proclaimed “one of the greatest violinists in the world,” he founded the Beethoven String Quartet and Vilim Piano Trio and gave several recitals as well. He died on September 27th, 1938 in Coronado, California.
WALTER, ALOIS
Alois Walter was born on October 28th, 1832 in Prague. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Moritz Mildner between 1846 and 1852. After his studies, until 1854, he was a private teacher for violin, piano, singing, and even literature. Between 1854 and 1862 he was an orchestra director and a soloist of the First Prague Civil Band. In 1862 he moved to Salzburg, where he was appointed as a violinist, teacher, and tenor at the Cathedral Music Association and Mozarteum in Salzburg. He worked at the school until 1881 and remained a member of the Cathedral Music Chapel (Dommusikkapelle) until 1894, when he retired. From 1880, he was the concertmaster as well as a violin teacher at the Mozarteum. He died on April 27th, 1894 in Salzburg.
WEBER, JOSEPH MIROSLAV
Joseph Miroslav Weber was born on November 9th, 1854 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1870 and 1873. Immediately after completing his studies, he was appointed as a solo violinist at the Sondershausen Court Chapel. In 1875 he became the first concertmaster of the Court Theater Orchestra and leader of his own string quartet from 1875. Later, in 1880, he became second conductor and also formed a string quartet. In 1883 he succeeded Josef Řebíček as concertmaster and conductor of the opera in Wiesbaden, where he was appointed royal director of music in 1889. In 1893 he settled in Munich, where he would be concertmaster until his death on January 1st, 1906. In Munich he formed another string quartet with W. Leitner, Bihrle, and Ebner. He composed several compositions, including a violin concerto and chamber works, all of which earned awards.
WIEDEMANN, LUDWIG (Ludvík Wiedmann)
Ludwig Wiedemann was born on October 21st, 1860 in Cracow. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1874 and 1879. In the 1880s, he was concertmaster in Wroclaw.
WIRTH, EMANUEL
Emanuel Wirth was born on October 18th, 1842 in Žlutice. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz and Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1854 and 1861. After completing his studies, he was concertmaster of the Spa Orchestra in Baden Baden and from 1864 he was a violin professor at the conservatory and a concertmaster of the Opera Orchestra in Rotterdam. In 1877 he moved to Berlin, where he became Joachim’s assistant and the violist of the famous Joachim String Quartet. From 1877, he was Joseph Joachim’s assistant at the college (Hochschule für Musik), which was known as one of the finest in Germany. For thirty years Wirth was the violist of the famous Joseph Joachim String Quartet. He trained many successful violinists up to 1910 in Berlin, where he died on January 5th, 1923.
WITEK, ANTON (Anton Vítek)
Anton Witek was born on January 7th, 1872 in Žatec. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1885 and 1888. His father Josef Witek (1837–?) was a violinist and alumnus of the Prague Conservatory (1852–1858). From 1894, he was concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1909 until the end of World War I, he was the concertmaster of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. In the 1910s, he formed in Boston a Piano Trio and gave several concerts in New York as a soloist with the Boston Orchestra. He died in 1933 in Boston.
ZAJIC, FLORIAN (Florián Zajíc)
Florian Zajic was born on May 4th, 1853 in Unhošť. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz and Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1862 and 1870. After his studies he was concertmaster of the theater orchestra in Augsburg, the Mannheim Band, and the Philharmonic Society in Hamburg. He was a violin professor at the conservatory in Strasbourg and a successful soloist. In 1891, he settled in Berlin, where he was appointed as a violin teacher at the Stern Conservatory, from 1895 at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory. He was very well respected as a violin pedagogue and wrote many violin method books and cadenzas to violin concertos by Beethoven and Brahms. In the early twentieth century until World War I, he mostly performed chamber music. During the war he was in retirement in Berlin, where he died on May 16th, 1926.
ZAPPE, CARL
Carl Zappe was born on September 1st, 1812 in Prague. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1822 and 1828. After completing his studies, he was appointed at the theaters in Prague and Graz. Until 1834 he was second orchestra director at Vienna’s Theater in der Josefstadt. In 1834 he moved to Linz, where he fulfilled numerous musical functions. Between 1834 and 1866 he was the orchestra director at the Estates Theater, and in the periods 1839–1855 and 1867–1871 he was a violin teacher at the Linz Music Association (Musikverein), as well as conductor in the cathedral and municipal parishes.[138] He was also one of the jury members on the examining board at Bruckner’s audition on November 13th, 1855. From 1855 until 1868 he was Bruckner’s immediate superior but maintained a friendly relationship with him. In Linz Zappe was also an important chamber music promoter. In 1842, he founded a String Quartet (Karl Zappe, Josef Schmierer, Franz Gamon, and Otto Kitzler), that gave regular concerts of the standard chamber music repertoire. He died on June 13th, 1871 in Linz.
ZIKA, RICHARD
Richard Zika was born on January 9th, 1897 in Vsetín. He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1913 and 1916. In 1918 he moved to Ljubljana, where he was concertmaster of the Slovene National Theater Orchestra until 1921 and a violin teacher at the Music Society (Glasbena Matica) in Ljubljana. In 1946, he became a violin professor at the Academy of Music in Prague and was also active as composer. In 1920 he founded the (Czech) Zika Quartet, which was later renamed the Prague Quartet and went on to achieve significant acclaim. He died on November 10th, 1947 in Prague.
ZIMMERMANN, ADALBERT
Adalbert Zimmermann was born on October 17th, 1827 in Prague. He studied violin with Pixis and Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1840 and 1846. Later he was a military music director of the 61st Infantry Regiment and died in 1902.
ZINKE, ADOLF GUSTAV
Gustav Adolf Zinke was born on November 17th, 1854 in Pardubice. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1867 and 1873. After his studies he was concertmaster of the City Theater in Brno until 1881. In 1881, he was appointed concertmaster and teacher at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and was thus the first concertmaster of the International Mozarteum Foundation. In 1887, he founded the Mozarteum Quartet and in the next fifteen years performed the most important works of the classical and romantic repertoire with it. In 1895 his former violin professor Bennewitz invited him to take the position of violin professor at the Prague Conservatory. He declined the offer and instead remained at the Mozarteum until 1922. Zinke was regarded as an outstanding soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue, performing in more than one hundred concerts of the Mozarteum Orchestra, often as a soloist. He died on November 23rd, 1931 in Salzburg.
ZUNA, MILAN
Milan Zuna was born on November 21st, 1881 in Nový Byždov. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1897 and 1902, later at the violin master school with Ševčík. He studied also composition with K. Knittl and K. Stecker. In 1909, he moved to Zagreb, where he was until 1914 the conductor of the National Theater Orchestra and other cities, such as: Lviv, Poznan, Katovice, Warsaw, Bratislava, and others. In Poznan and Katovice, he was also a violin teacher. In 1933, he returned to his homeland and became a chief conductor of the National Theater Orchestra in Prague. He died on May 3rd, 1860 in Prague.
ŽIŽKA, JOHANN (Jan Žižka).
Johann Žižka was born on March 22nd, 1859 in Horoměřice. He studied violin between 1870 and 1876 at the Prague Conservatory with A. Bennewitz and then he spent most of his life as a military music director, also in Osijek, where he died in 1913.
Johann Anger was born on April 6th, 1831 in Karlové Vary. He studied violin with Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1843 and 1849. After the studies, he moved to Warsaw, where he was active as a violinist and composer.
ASBÓTH, WILHELM VON
Wilhelm von Asbóth was born on March 18th, 1821 (according to some other sources on May 20th, 1821) in Rădăuți (Romania). He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1834 and 1837 but left without a diploma. Between 1842 and 1861 he was a military music director in the 58th Infantry Regiment and later in the 10th Hussar Regiment. He wrote Wallonen-Marsch and died on March 6th, 1877 in Budapest.
BAUDIS, JOHANN (Jan Baudis, Jan Baudish)
Johann Baudis was born on June 25th, 1860 in Kutná Hora. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1870 and 1876. After his studies, he was orchestra director at the Royal Provincial German Theater in Prague for six years and a first violin teacher and concertmaster at the Linz Music Association. Later he moved to Basel, where he was concertmaster and conductor at the General Music Society (Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft) for three years. In 1892 he came to Ljubljana, where he became a violin teacher at the Music Society (Glasbena Matica).
BENNEWITZ, ANTON (Antonín Benevitz)
Anton Bennewitz was born on March 26th, 1833 in Přívraty. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner between 1846 and 1852. After his studies, he was appointed at the Estates Theater in Prague for eight years. During that period, he founded a string quartet and piano trio (Antonín Bennewitz, Bedřich Smetana, František Hegenbart). In 1861, he was appointed concertmaster of the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, and from 1863 he was a Royal Chamber musician in Würtenberg and a second concertmaster of the Court Opera Orchestra in Stuttgart. In 1866, he became a violin professor at the Prague Conservatory, where he taught numerous successful violinists. He died on May 29th, 1926 in Doksy.
BEZDEK, FRIEDRICH WENZEL (Bedřich Václav Bezděk)
Friedrich Wenzel Bezdek was born on September 24th, 1804 in Prague. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Pixis between 1813 and 1819. In 1824, he became music director at the City Theater in Budapest (Buda), where he remained until 1832. He founded a music school and directed the Italian Opera in Trento. After Pixis’ death in 1842, he was appointed as provisional violin teacher at the Prague Conservatory and director of the Estates Theater Orchestra in Prague. In 1846, he became a member of the Vienna Imperial Opera and from 1861 a member of the Vienna Imperial Chapel. He composed a violin concerto, a string quartet, and some other works. Bezdek must have been an excellent violinist to have been appointed to such a prestigious position at the Vienna Imperial Chapel among the best violinists of the time, which included Joseph Mayseder, Joseph Böhm (1795–1876), Leopold Jansa, Jakob Dont (1815–1888), Heinrich Proch (1809–1878), Joseph Benesch, and Georg Hellmesberger Sr. (1800–1873). During Taborsky’s time in Budapest Friedrich Wenzel Bezdek, another Prague violinist mentioned above, was active as music director at the Budapest City Theater. He came to Budapest in 1824 and remained there until 1832. He died on December 27th, 1877 in Vienna.
BIGANOVSKÝ, VÁCLAV (Václav Bieganovský)
Václav Biganovský was born on September 16th, 1889 in Horní Krč. He studied violin with Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1903 and 1909. After the studies, he was concertmaster of the Court Orchestra in Sofia (1910/1911), music teacher in Kroměříž (1911/1912). He was concertmaster in the symphony orchestras in Charkov, Kiev, and Tbilisi between 1912 and 1917. Later, he was a director of Music School in Písek. He died on July 8th, 1946 in Poděbrady.
BLAHA, ANTON (Antonín Blaha)
Anton Blaha was born on August 16th, 1882 in Prague. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1898 and 1903. In 1903, he migrated to the U.S and was active as a violinist in the Philadelphia Orchestra (1906–1908, 1909–1912) and in the San Francisco Symphony (1922–1926).
BLÁHA, JOSEF
Bláha Josef was born on October 6th, 1859 in Luži. He studied violin with Bennewitz between 1870 and 1876. Later he was a violin professor at the Royal Academy of Music and a member of the Crystal Palace Orchestra in London.
BLECHA, ADALBERT (Vojtěch Blecha)
Adalbert Blecha was born on October 1st, 1822 in Prague. He studied violin with Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1834 and 1840. In 1842, he became the first violinist and soloist at the Theater Orchestra in Wroclaw and from 1843 a violin teacher at Moritz Schön’s violin school. Blecha would stay active in Wroclaw for almost thirty years, where he died on January 13th, 1870.
BOROVANSKÝ, JAROMIR
Jaromir Borovanský was born on September 11th, 1851 in Dírná. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1864 and 1870. He was a military music director of the 17th Infantry Regiment (1878-1881) that was stationed in Ljubljana.
BÖHM, JOSEPH (Josef Böhm)
Joseph Böhm was born on January 9th, 1831 in Karlové Vary. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1843 and 1849. In 1851, he was appointed a violinist at the Vienna Imperial Opera, where he remained until his death in 1884.[7] He should not be confused with the famous Viennese violinist Joseph Böhm (1795–1876).
BOUZEK, BOHUMIL (Bohumil Bouček)
Bohumil Bouzek was born on April 29th, 1894 in Prague. He studied violin with Jindřich Bastář at the Prague Conservatory between 1912 and 1913. Between 1915 and 1916 he played viola in the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb.
BRUNETTI, FRIEDRICH (Federico Brunetti)
Friedrich Brunetti, who was of Italian origin and a cousin of the famous Prague violinist Johann Kalliwoda, was born on February 4th, 1837 in Eger. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1849 and 1855. After his studies, he became a music teacher at the Army music school in Prague. He moved to Belgrade 1862, where he found work as a music director, and later he was once again a music teacher in Belgrade, Niš, Negotin, Požarevac, Kruševac, and Smederevo. He wrote also some compositions that are lost. He died in 1917.
BŮCHTELE, JAN (Jan Buchtele)
Jan Bůchtele was born on July 7th, 1874 in Písek. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1888 and 1894. He served as concertmaster in Berlin, Warsaw, and Helsinki. From 1908 until 1933, he was concertmaster of the National Theater Orchestra in Prague. He also wrote several violin compositions. He died on April 19th, 1941 in Prague.
BUNZMANN, KARL
Karl (Carl) Bunzmann was born on April 21st, 1821 in Zelená Ves. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1834 and 1840. Later he was a military music director in the 60th Infantry Regiment, 14th Border Infantry Regiment, and 12th Uhlan Regiment. He died in 1871.
CANTANI, EMANUELE
Emanuele Cantani was born on September 13th, 1854 in Prague. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1867 and 1873. Later he was a violin teacher at the Music Conservatory in Naples.
CASPER, FERDINAND (Ferdinand Kaspar)
Ferdinand Casper was born on September 20th, 1828 in Bečov. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1840 and 1846. After his studies he moved to Graz, where he was a member of the opera orchestra until 1892. At the same time, he was also orchestral director and concertmaster at Styrian Music Association until 1896. His violin students included the notable violinists Richard Sahla and Gabriele Wietrowetz. He died in 1911 in Graz.
CADEK, JOSEPH OTTOKAR (Josef Otákar Czadek)
Czadek was born on January 27th, 1868 in Prague. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1879 and 1885. He migrated to the United States in 1892 to join the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He gave concerts in Nashville, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Baltimore, and elsewhere. He gave a violin recital at the White House during President William McKinley’s administration. He was a violin teacher at the Chattanooga School of Music (from 1893), at the Southern Conservatory of Music (1902–1904), and the Cadek Conservatory of Music (from 1904). He died in 1927.
CHAPEK, JOSEPH HORYMIR (Josef Čapek)
Joseph Horymir Chapek was born on March 12th, 1859 in Jestřebice. At an early age he moved with his father to the U.S. (Milwaukee). He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1880 and 1882. After his studies, he returned to the United States, where he introduced Ševčík’s Violin Method and continued to promote it throughout his career. In Milwaukee he was a member of several chamber ensembles and concertmaster of the Bach Symphony Orchestra. Later he settled in Chicago, where he was a first violinist of the Theodore Thomas Orchestra (later Chicago Symphony Orchestra) and a violin teacher at the Chicago Conservatory College. In 1910, he established there the “Chapek Music School”. He gave many concerts and taught at several music schools, including his own. He gave the first American performance of Smetana’s Quartet No. 1 (“From My Life”) and Dvořák’s Quartet, op. 51 and wrote several pieces for violin and piano. One of his pupils was also Joseph J. Kovarik. After Chapek’s death, the Chapek Music School was taken over by his son Joseph Edward Chapek (1895–1977), pupil of Otakar Ševčík and Jindřich Feld.
CHWOY, WENZEL
Wenzel Chwoy (1802–?) was born in 1802 in Vepřek and studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1816 and 1822. After completing his studies, Chwoy was a member of the Prague Theater Orchestra. Around 1828 he moved to Graz, where he became a member of Estates Theater Orchestra and a violin teacher at the Styrian Music Association.
CZAPEK, JOSEPH (Josef Čapek, Cžapek)
Joseph Czapek was born on March 19th, 1825 in Prague. He studied violin with Pixis and composition with Weber at the Prague Conservatory between 1837 and 1843. After completing his studies, he became the first violin at the Theater Orchestra in Prague, leader of concerts in Berlin, and music director at Styrian Music Association in Graz between 1843 and 1844. In 1847, he settled in Göteborg, where he was given numerous functions and would become the most influential person for the development of the city’s musical life in the second half of the nineteenth century. Together with Bedřich Smetana, who was active in Göteborg between 1856 and 1861, Czapek introduced new concert forms and repertoires to the city. He engaged many foreign and military musicians from the local regiment and a group of amateur musicians to form a new orchestra, which was needed especially with the establishment of the New Theater in 1859. The professional Göteborg Orchestra was established in 1862 with Czapek being its conductor. Czapek was also a music director in the Göta Artillery Regiment and, among other things, conductor at the Grand Theater and Harmonious Society as well as being a singing teacher in several schools. In addition to orchestral and vocal music, he also composed chamber music. He died on July 6th, 1915 in Ljungskile.
CZERNÝ, KARL (Carl Czerny, Karel Černý)
Karl Czerný was born on August 27th, 1838 in Kouřím. He studied violin with Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1852 and 1858. Later, he was a music director in the Royal War Navy in Pula.
ČERMÁK, JOSEF
Josef Čermák was born on November 10th, 1871 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz and composition with Karel Šebor at the Prague Conservatory between 1885 and 1891. After his studies, he was initially a violinist at the German Theater in Prague until 1894, when he moved to Zagreb. After leaving the National Theater Orchestra in 1899, he moved to Varaždin, where he became the military music director of the 70th Infantry Regiment. Between 1925 and 1928, he was a violin teacher at the Music Society in Maribor. He died in 1933 in Novi Sad.
ČERNÝ, LADISLAV
Ladislav Černý was born on April 13th, 1891 in Plzeň. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1906 and 1912 with F. Lachner and J. Bastář. In 1919, he moved to Ljubljana to become solo violist of the Slovene National Opera Orchestra and a teacher at the Music Society. From 1940, he was teaching viola at the Prague Conservatory, from 1946 viola and chamber music at the Academy of Music in Prague. He died on July 13th, 1975 in Dobříš.
DREYSCHOCK, FELIX RAIMUND (Raymund Dreyšok)
Felix Raimund Dreyschock was born on August 30th, 1824 in Žaky. He studied violin with Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1834 and 1840. After his studies he went on a concert tour, giving well-attended concerts with his brother, the famous pianist and composer Alexander Dreyschock (1818–1869). In 1850 he moved to Leipzig, where he served as a violin professor at the Leipzig Conservatory and as the second concertmaster of the Gewandhaus Orchestra until 1869. Between 1851 and 1863 he and the famous violinist Ferdinand David held the shared position of first violin of the Gewandhaus Quartet. One of his pupils went on to become a famous violinist and composer in his own right: Oskar Rieding (1844–1916). Raimund Dreyschock wrote a few violin compositions and died on February 6th, 1869 in Leipzig.
DROBEČEK, JOHANN (Ivan Drobiček)
Johann Drobeček was born on October 27th, 1858 in Heřmanův Městec. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Antonín Bennewitz from 1873 to 1879. In 1884, he was a violin and piano teacher at the Ljubljana Music Society. He died on January 31st, 1885 in Heřmanův Městec.
DUK, AUGUST (Augustin Duck)
August Duk was born in 1798 in Krůmlov. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1816 and 1822. In 1826 he moved to Graz, where he became a violin teacher at the Styrian Music Association. Later he established his own music school in Graz that was based on the Prague Conservatory teaching system and included also classes in organ and singing. Between 1831 and 1840 he was a teacher at the Graz Grabenpfarre School. In 1840 he moved to Vienna, where he was music director at the St. Anna Church Music Association (Kirchenmusikverein) in Vienna, where he taught music theory.
DURAS, JOSEF (Joseph Duras)
Josef Duras was born on April 23rd, 1857 in Pchery. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1870 and 1876. Later, he was as a violinist engaged at the Court Music Chapel in Darmstadt.
FELD, JINDŘICH
Jindřich Feld was born on May 23rd, 1883 in Prague. He studied violin with Suchý and Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1897 and 1903. After the studies, he was music teacher in Košice (1904–1906), concert master in Zhořelec (1906–1908), music teacher in Klagenfurt (1908), and a violin teacher at the Croatian Music Institute and a member of the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb between 1909 and 1910. From 1910, he was teaching violin at the Prague Conservatory. Among his pupils were many successful violinists. He died on October 5th. 1953 in Prague.
FEIST, GOTTFRIED (Bohumír Feist)
Gottfried Feist was born on November 10th, 1880 in Prague. He studied violin with Otakar Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1898 and 1902. In 1908, he moved to Vienna and became a violin teacher at the Vienna Conservatory. Between 1909 and 1951, Feist taught at the Academy of Music, ten of those years (1909–1919) side-by-side with his teacher Otakar Ševčík (1852–1934). During the war, Feist’s pedagogic work was briefly interrupted due to military service, but most of the war he continued his teaching at the Academy. Over his long teaching career, he trained numerous successful violinists, including members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and founded the Feist String Quartet, which performed many contemporary chamber works. He died on January 11th, 1952 in Vienna.
FREUND, EDWARD (Eduard Freund)
Freund was born on November 19th, 1886 in Chicago. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1904 and 1906 and with O. Ševčík. After the studies, he was active as a kapellmeister in France. Then he moved to the United States, where he was a member of Steindel Trio in Chicago (1912–1913) and was a head of the violin department of Madison Musical College (1913–1914), head of the violin department of Rockford College (s. 1914) as well as the department head at Lake Forest School of Music (1916–1917). Later, he was a violin teacher at the Pontiac Music School and at the Chicago Conservatory College (from 1919). He died in 1947.
GERSTNER, HANS (Johann Gerstner, Jan Gerstner)
Johann Gerstner was born on August 17th, 1851 in Žlutice. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Moritz Mildner and Antonín Bennewitz from 1864 to 1870. In 1871, he moved to Ljubljana, where he was concertmaster, teacher, and soloist. During World War I, he was an eminent teacher and performer in Ljubljana and the director of the Philharmonic Society. In his long career as a violin pedagogue at the Philharmonic Society, he educated numerous brilliant violinists, the most famous being Leo Funtek (Leon Funtek; 1885–1965), who was later concertmaster in Helsinki and Stockholm and became a famous music figure. He died on January 9th, 1939 in Ljubljana.
GILMAN, HARRY
Harry Gilman was born on November 2nd, 1884 in Chicago. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1902 and 1905. Later he was a concert violinist and radio music producer in Chicago.
GLAESER, JOSEPH FRANZ (František Glaeser)
Joseph Franz Gläser was born on April 19th, 1798 in Horní Jiřetín. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1813 and 1816. Even though Pixis considered him a capable and good violinist, his ambitions were not to become an accomplished virtuoso. As a future composer, he only wanted to obtain practical knowledge of one of the most important instruments. After his studies in violin and composition he moved to Vienna, where he served as music director in three places: the Leopoldstadt Theater from 1817, the Josefstadt Theater from 1822, and the Theater on the Vienna River from 1827. When the Josefstadt Theater was re-opened in 1822, Ludwig van Beethoven composed the overture The Consecration of the House (Die Weihe des Hauses), Op. 124, for the occasion. Despite his poor hearing, Beethoven conducted the first performance of the work himself, aided by Gläser as his assistant, who helped him through the performance. Gläser not only assisted Beethoven at the première but also conducted the subsequent performances. In 1830 Gläser moved to Berlin, where he became music director at the Königsstadt Theater (Königsstädtisches Theater). Under his leadership in the period 1830–1839 the orchestra achieved a great reputation and many successes. In Berlin he wrote his most famous and successful opera Des Adlers Horst, which premièred in 1833. In 1839, he would settle in Copenhagen, where he worked at the National Theater and was the court music director from 1842 until his death in 1861. He died on August 29th, 1869 in Copenhagen.
GREGORA, BOHUMIL
Bohumil Gregora was born on September 11th, 1890 in Netolice. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1907 and 1912. After his studies, he moved to Moscow in 1913 and became a member of the Opera Orchestra. During World War I he was a music teacher in Nizhny Novgorod. Later, he was a music teacher at the Music Society branches in Ptuj (1921) and Maribor (1922), where he died in 1924.
GRUNEWALD, JULIUS (Julius Grunnwald)
Julius Grunewald was born on August 21st, 1832 in Poznan. He studied violin with Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1845 and 1849. Mildner considered him one of his best violin pupils. In 1851 he moved to Berlin, where he became a member of Friedrich-Wilhelm City Theater, and from 1854 he was its concertmaster. Two years later he moved to Cologne, where he was appointed a violin professor at the Cologne Conservatory and concertmaster of the orchestra. He died on April 17th, 1863 in Cologne.
HABADA, JOSEPH (Josef Habada)
Joseph Habada was born on November 11th, 1891 in Chicago. He studied violin with Jindřich Bastář at the Prague Conservatory between 1906 and 1911. Later he was active in Chicago as a concert violinist and founded Joseph Habada College.
HACHLA, RUDOLF
Rudolf Hachla was born on April 16th, 1878 in Holešov. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1892 and 1893, after which he was concertmaster in Klagenfurt until 1906, when he moved to Novo Mesto. There, he was a bandmaster of the city orchestra, and a private violin teacher. He gave a few virtuoso concerts and “dazzled the audience with his wizard violin.”
HAJEK, STANISLAVA (Stanislava Hajková)
Stanislava Hajek was born on August 19th, 1895 in Linz to Czech parents. She studied violin with Jindřich Feld at the Prague Conservatory between 1909 and 1915. In 1916 she moved to Ljubljana, where she was a violin and piano teacher at the Music Society until 1918.
HÁJEK, JAROSLAV
Jaroslav Hájek was born on November 11th, 1892 in Hradec Králové. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1896 and 1902. Then he became concertmaster and soloist of the Philharmonic Orchestra in Helsinki, where he remained until 1904.
HALL, MARIE PAULINE
Marie Pauline Hall was born April 8th, 1884 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. After first music lessons with her father and a local teacher, Hildegarde Werner, she continued to study under several well-known teachers, including Edward Elgar, August Wilhelmj in London, Max Mossel in Birmingham and Kruse in London. Upon the advice of Jan Kubelik after they met in London, she went to study with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1901 and 1902. In Prague she had a fantastic debut in 1902 and became a sensation in London. She made her debut in the United States in 1905. The New York Times reported about her success in London, where she “won the enthusiastic praise of the severest critics” that her violin technique was “amazing and bids fair to rival that of Kubelik.” During the war, in 1916, she recorded an abridged version of the Elgar Violin Concerto with the composer conducting. She died on November 11th, 1956 in Cheltenham.
HALIŘ, KARL (Carl Halir)
Karl Haliř was born on February 1st, 1859 in Vrchlabí. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1867 and 1873, and with Joachim in Berlin between 1874 and 1876. Between 1876 and 1879, he was a member of Benjamin Bilse’s Kapelle in Berlin. He was concertmaster of the orchestras at Königsberg (1879), Mannheim (1881) and Weimar (1884). In 1893, he became concertmaster of the Court Opera Orchestra and a violin teacher at the College (Hochschule für Musik). He founded his own String Quartet, Piano Trio and became the second violinist of the Joachim Quartet in 1897. He trained many eminent violinists, among them also many Americans. He gave many successful solo performances in Europe and in the United States. He died in 1909 in Berlin.
HENDEL, JOHANN
Johann Hendel was born in 1814 in Střibro. He studied violin with W. Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1828 and 1834. Soon after finishing his studies, he became a music teacher at the Music Society in Varaždin but resigned from the position already in August in 1835.
HERITES KOHN, MARIE (Marie Heritesová Kohnová)
Marie Herites was born on March 23rd, 1881 in Vodňany. As a child she moved to Cleveland (Ohio), where she attended elementary school. She studied violin with Otakar Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1894 and 1900. After the studies she gave concerts in London and some other European cities and in 1904 she went on concert tour in the U.S. From 1916 she was a violin teacher at the Northwestern Conservatory in Minneapolis and later became a teacher in Oklahoma and Denton (Texas) at the State College for Women. Finally, she formed her own violin studio in New York. She died in 1970.
HERNER, KARL (Carl Herner)
Karl Herner was born on January 23rd, 1836 in Rendsburg. He studied at the Prague Conservatory, both violin (with Moritz Mildner) and piano between 1852 and 1855. After completing his studies, he lived in Copenhagen between 1855 and 1856 and was a violin virtuoso in Brussels. At the beginning of 1858 he became a member of Imperial Theater Orchestra in Hannover, where he continued his violin studies with Joseph Joachim. There he became one of the first members of the Joachim String Quartet, which would become very popular in the early 1860s. In 1864 he went on a concert tour, where he accompanied Henri Vieuxtemps, Eduard Jaell, and others. He was active as first violinist, choir director, conductor, and music director until his retirement in 1900. He composed twenty compositions for ballet, opera, choir, and orchestra. He died on July 16th, 1906 in Hannover.
HLADKY, FRANK (Franz Hladky)
Frank Hladky was born on December 15th, 1867 in Prague. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1885, and emigrated to Chicago in 1891. He was a violinist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra between 1893 and 1916.[32] He died after 1939.
HOFFMANN, FRANZ ALEXANDER (František Hofmann)
Franz Alexander Hoffmann was born ca. 1811 in Nové Město. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1826 and 1831. Soon after completing his studies he moved to Graz, where he was the second orchestral director at the Estates Theater from 1833 and its concertmaster from 1841. Between 1834 and 1853 he was a violin teacher at the Styrian Music Association and for thirty-five years he directed performances at the Graz Cathedral. He died in 1871 in Graz.
HOLÝ, EMIL VÁCLAV
Emil Václav Holý was born on February 18th, 1885 in Nová Ves. He studied violin with Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1902 and 1907. After the studies, he was a teacher and director of the National Music School in Voronezh between 1908 and 1919.
HOREJŠI, JOSEF (Josef Hořejší)
Josef Horejši was born on March 28th, 1861 in Modřovice. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1876 and 1882. Soon after his studies he moved to Augsburg, where he was active as a violin teacher at the Augsburg Music School (which was a Conservatory from 1925) and a violinist in the Speidel Piano Trio.
HŘÍMALÝ, BOHUSLAV
Bohuslav Hřímaly was born on April 18th, 1848 in Plzen into a famous family of musicians. His brothers were the successful violinists Adalbert (Vojtěch) and Johann (Jan, Ivan) Hřímaly. Bohuslav Hřímaly studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1858 and 1864. Between 1868 and 1872 he was a violinist and later violist in the Prague Theater Orchestra. He was a member of the Hřímalý String Quartet and the Smetana Piano Quartet. In 1875, he moved to Helsinki, where he was a member of the Opera Orchestra and a violin pedagogue at the Helsinki Music Institute. He died on October 11th, 1894 in Helsinki.
HŘÍMALÝ, JAN (Johann Hřimalý, Ivan Voytekhovich Grzhimali)
Jan Hřímalý was born on April 13th, 1844 in Plzeň. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1855 and 1861. After completing his studies, he was concertmaster of the Amsterdam Orchestra between 1862 and 1868. In 1869, he moved to Moscow to teach violin at the Imperial Conservatory and in 1874 he succeeded Ferdinand Laub as professor and married his daughter. He was considered an outstanding teacher. His notable students included Iosif Kotek, Reinhold Glière, Paul Juon, Vladimir Bakaleinikov, Arcady Dubensky, Stanisław Barcewicz (also a pupil of Laub), Nikolai Roslavets, Konstantin Saradzhev, Alexander Petschnikoff, Mikhail Press, Alexander Schmuller, and possibly Mitrofan Vasiliev, who was Jean Sibelius’ first teacher. Together with his brothers, he founded the Hřímalý String Quartet, which was one of the earliest string quartets in Bohemia. In Moscow, he was active as a leader in symphony concerts and leader of the string quartet that gave the first performances of Tchaikovsky’s Third String Quartet and Piano Trio. For the latter Tchaikovsky entrusted the bowing of the string parts to him. He made a very early recording on wax cylinders of the Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor by Anton Arensky, with the composer at the piano and Anatoliy Brandukov as cellist. This recording was made shortly after its composition and it is the first recording made of it, although it is incomplete. Hřímalý entertained the social and cultural elite of Russia, including Tchaikovsky, Chaliapin, Rachmaninoff, and many others, at his home, which was in the Moscow Conservatory building. He published several technical exercises and studies, among them Doppelgriff-Übungen and Tonleiter Studien.
HŘÍMALÝ, VOJTĚCH (Adalbert Hřimali)
Hřímalý was born on June 30th, 1842 in Plzen to a famous family of musicians. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1855 and 1861. After his studies, he was appointed as concertmaster of the Opera Orchestra in Rotterdam and one year later he moved to Göteborg, where he was also active as an organist. After achieving success in Göteborg, he returned to Prague as concertmaster of the Theater Orchestra. He was a member of the Hřímalý String Quartet along with his brothers. In the 1870s he was the director of the Philharmonic Society in Černovice (today’s Ukraine), where he significantly contributed to its musical life. He died on June 15th, 1908 in Vienna.
HRUSA, GEORGE (Jiří Hrůša)
George Hrusa was born on January 8th, 1890 in Chicago. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1904 and 1909. He founded the George Hrusa Music Conservatory in Chicago and also the Hrusa String Quartet. He died in 1960.
HUML, VÁCLAV (Wenzel Huml)
Václav Huml, who is today considered the founder of the Zagreb violin school, was born on September 18th, 1880 in Beroun. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1893 and 1899. He was shortly concert master of the Lviv Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1903, he moved to Zagreb, where he was a violin teacher at the Music Institute until 1920, except between 1914 and 1916, when he served the war. He spent the last years of the war performing as a soloist and with chamber ensembles. After the war, he co-founded the Zagreb String Quartet and taught at the Academy of Music until 1953. In his long teaching career, he taught most of the important violinists from all over Yugoslavia and markedly influenced the development of violin playing in the region. He died on January 6th, 1953 in Zagreb.
JAKSCH, FRANZ (František Jakš)
Franz Jaksch was born on October 9th, 1851 in Nová Bystřice. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1865 and 1870. Later, he was a music director in the Royal War Navy in Pula.
JÍLEK, FRANTIŠEK
František Jílek was born on February 2nd, 1865 in Písek. He studied violin (1884) with Antonín Bennewitz at the Organ School (Varhanická škola) and composition (1887) with Zdeňek Fibich. After his studies, he was active as a violinist and orchestra director in several orchestras. In 1893, he became the orchestra director of the Theater Orchestra in Sarajevo, and one year later he moved to Zagreb. There, for almost eleven years, he was a teacher of violin, chamber music, and opera singing. Soon after an incident in 1904, when he was accused of physically harassing a pupil (which was not the first accusation of its kind) he resigned, and returned to his homeland in 1905. There, he became the conductor of the National Theater Orchestra in Prague, where he died in 1911. He also wrote a few compositions.
JOANELLI, ERNST (Ernest pl. Joanelli)
Ernst Joanelli was born on December 23rd, 1843 in Karlovac. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1855 and 1860, but left without diploma. Later, he was a music teacher in Petrinja.
JOHANNIS, JOHANN (Jan Johannis, Johann Iogannis, Ivan Ivanovič)
Johann Johannis was born c. 1810 in Domašin. He studied violin with Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1822 and 1828. Around 1830 he moved to Russia, where he would be active until 1850, particularly in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Penza.
JUNGWIRTH, ADALBERT VON (Vojtěch von Jungwirth)
Adalbert von Jungwirth was born c. 1815 in Bratislava. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1825 and 1831. After the study, he became a member of the Leopoldstadt orchestra. He died in 1834 in Vienna at the tender age of nineteen.
KADLETZ, ANDREAS (Karel Ondřej Kadlec)
Andreas Kadletz was born on February 18th, 1859 in Dobříš. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1870 and 1876 and at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Leopold Auer. From 1885 for the next twenty years, he was a violinist and later conductor at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg and a professor at the conservatory in Samara, where he died on February 6th, 1928. In addition to other compositions, he also wrote a violin method book.
KALLIWODA, JOHANN WENZEL (Jan Křitel Kalivoda)
Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda was born on February 21st, 1801 in Prague. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1811 and 1817. After his graduation, he joined the Prague Theater Orchestra in 1816. In 1821 he went on a concert tour to Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, where he met the prince, who invited him to become music director at his court in Donaueschingen, a position he held until in 1865. Kalliwoda conducted the court orchestra, performed as a violin soloist, managed musical activities at the local cathedral, directed the court opera, and gave musical instruction to the prince's children. He wrote over 450 works, among them instrumental music, salon and character pieces, and violin method books. He died on December 3rd, 1866 in Karlsruhe.
KARBULKA, JOSEF (Josip Karbulka)
Josef Karbulka was born on June 24th, 1866 in Prague. At the age of eight, he began with private classes for violin, piano and signing. At the age of fourteen, he continued with violin studies with Anton Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory, where he remained until 1885. After finishing his studies, he was a military music director’s assistant in the 93rd Infantry Regiment and then concertmaster in Italy. In 1889, he moved to Berlin to continue with his violin studies with Joseph Joachim at the Music College (Hochschule für Musik). In August 1891, he applied for the position of the first violin teacher at the Croatian Music Institute. He became a violin teacher, concertmaster and leader of the Music Institute’s Orchestra. He performed on several Institute’s concerts as a soloist and a chamber musician together with other musicians, such as: V. Moser, Anka Barbot Krežma, Anton Stöckl and Hinko Geiger. He gave a few concerts also in Vukovar and Križevci. After the minor conflict with the management of the Institute in October 1893, he resigned from his position. In 1894, he settled in Odessa, where he became violin teacher at the Odessa Imperial Musical Society School, that was in 1897 set up by Russian Music Society. Among his pupils was until 1898 also Pyotr Solomonovich Stolyarsky (1871–1944), who would later become the world-famous teacher of David Oistrakh (1908–1974), Nathan Milstein (1904–1992) and many others. After leaving Odessa, Karbulka became a violin professor at the Music Institute in Mikolaiv (from 1906 its director). During his holiday stay in Prague, he was caught by the outbreak of the War and was interned in Raabs (1914–1916) as a Russian citizen. After his return to Mikolaiv, he took over his previous function of the Music Institute that was after the revolution promoted to the Music Conservatory. He wrote several pieces for violin and piano and died in 1920 in Mikolaiv.
KASTL, JOSEPH
Joseph Kastl was born on August 26th, 1893 in Detroit. He studied violin with Jindřich Feld at the Prague Conservatory between 1909 and 1911. Later he was as a violinist active in Detroit.
KOCIAN, JAROSLAV
Jaroslav Kocian was born on February 22nd, 1883 in Ústí and Orlicí. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1896 and 1901. He gave successful performances all over Europe. Having worked in Odessa between 1907 and 1909 as a member of a String Quartet, and also given concerts in St. Petersburg, he attracted the attention of Grand Duke Mecklenburg, who offered him the position of first violin in the St. Petersburg Court Quartet, of which he was the sponsor. After a year with the quartet, he returned to his homeland and gave concerts all over the world. In 1917 he was offered the position of violin professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory after Leopold Auer, but he did not accept the offer. In 1921 he became Ševčík’s assistant at the Prague Conservatory and trained many successful violinists. He gave over eighty concerts also in the U.S. and Canada. He died on March 9th, 1950 in Prague.
KOLAR, VICTOR (Viktor Kolář)
Viktor Kolar was born on February 12th, 1888 in Székesfehérvár. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1900 and 1904, but left without diploma. He made his name in New York mostly as composer. He migrated to the U.S. in 1905. After a tour as violin soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, he was for a first violinist in the Pittsburgh Orchestra three years. Then, until 1920, he was a violinist at the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He wrote several compositions, many of them inspired by Native American melodies. Between 1914 and 1916, his two compositions Americana (1914) and Symphony in D (1916) were premièred by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He died in 1957.
KOMZÁK, KAREL JR. (Karl Komzak)
Karel Komzák, Jr. was born on November 8th, 1850 in Prague. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner and Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1861 and 1867. After completing his studies, he worked in his father’s (Karel Komzák Sr.; 1823–1893) band and in 1870 became the second music director at the Linz Estates Theater. At the end of 1871 he was appointed music director in Innsbruck, where he also directed the Innsbruck Choral Society (Innsbrucker Liedertafel). From 1883 he was music director of the 84th Infantry Regiment in Vienna, which under his leadership won the title of best military band in the world at the Paris World Exposition in 1889. Komzák was regarded as one of the leading military composers in Europe. One of Komzák’s important contributions to the development of Austrian military music was his use of string instruments. His band contained fourteen first violins and could therefore be compared with the typical concert orchestras of the period. He died on April 23rd, 1905 in Baden.
KOPECKY, OTTOKAR (Otakar Kopecký)
Ottokar Kopecky was born on April 29th, 1850 in Chotěbor. He studied violin with both Mildner and Bennewitz between 1864 and 1870. After completing his studies, he became music director at the theater and a violin teacher in Brno. In 1873, he was engaged as a violinist and later as concertmaster of the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg, where he remained until 1878. At the Salzburg concerts he mostly performed chamber music. He settled in Hamburg, where he became concertmaster of the Laub Orchestra. He served as a teacher at the Bernuth Conservatory between 1890 and 1896 and became concertmaster of Hamburg’s Philharmonic Society Orchestra. He formed the very successful Kopecky String Quartet and in 1896 devoted himself entirely to violin teaching and concertizing. Among his numerous violin pupils were German crown prince Friedrich Wilhelm (1882–1951) and Prince Adalbert of Prussia (1884–1948). Kopecky was given the title “Royal Prussian professor and chamber virtuoso of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen.” He died in 1907 in Hamburg.
KOPTA, VÁCLAV
Václav Kopta was born on March 21st, 1845 in Kožlany. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1858 and 1864. Already in 1866, Václav Kopta (1845–1916) moved to the U.S. and became concertmaster and first soloist of the New York Opera Orchestra (probably the Academy of Music Opera House in New York). He also performed in New York also as a soloist and gave several concerts in some other cities in the United States. During World War I, Kopta retired, and he died on July 16th, 1916 in Santa Monica.
KOVARIK, JOSEPH JAN (Josef Jan Kovářík)
Joseph J. Kovarik was born on July 11th, 1870 in Spillville, Iowa to Czech emigrants. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1888 and 1892. In Prague he met Antonín Dvořák and accompanied him and his family on their journey to the U.S. in 1892. At Kovarik’s invitation, the Dvořák’s spent the summer holiday in Kovarik’s birthplace Spillville, where Dvořák finished his Symphony “From the New World.” At Dvořák’s recommendation, Kovarik was appointed professor of violin at the New York Conservatory of Music. Between 1895 and 1936 he was a violinist and later head of the viola section of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra of the Philharmonic Society). As a member of the Dannreuther Quartet, he gave the American première of Dvořák’s String Quartet in A-flat major. Kovarik was proclaimed one of the best violists in the U.S. by the Russian conductor Vasily Safonov (1852–1918). As a viola soloist, he gave several concerts with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall between 1905 and 1926 and performed works such as Berlioz’s Harold in Italy and Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante. He died on February 19th, 1951 in New York.
KOZEL, OTTOKAR (Otakar Kozel)
Ottokar Kozel was born on October 28th, 1869 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1879 and 1885. After his studies he moved to Kiev, where he was concertmaster of the City Theater Orchestra until 1897. In 1897 he returned to Prague, where he was concertmaster of the National Theater until 1908. Later he was active as a violin teacher. He died on August 7th, 1941 in Prague.
KRAL, JOHANN (Jan Král)
He was born on May 16th, 1823 in Kolinec. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Pixis between 1837 and 1843. Until 1850 he was a member of the Estates Theater in Prague, where he played viola. In 1851, he became a member of the Vienna Imperial Opera Orchestra, where he remained until 1885. He was mostly known as a brilliant viola d’amore player, and for that reason Héctor Berlioz wrote him a letter in 1855 to consult him for the second edition of his Treatise on Orchestration. Kral wrote several arrangements for viola d’amore and also the treatise Anleitung zum Spiele der Viole d’amour, which was published in Leipzig in 1870. He died on June 10th, 1912 in Vienna.
KRAMER, LEOPOLD
Leopold Kramer was born on April 11th, 1870 in Mühlhausen. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1888. After his studies, he was concertmaster of the Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam (1892–1894). In 1897 he moved to Chicago. From 1924, he taught Prague at least until 1936. In the concert season a year before the outbreak of World War I in 1913, Leopold Kramer became concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He moved to Chicago in 1897 to join Theodor Thomas’s Chicago Symphony Orchestra. There he also founded the Chicago String Quartet. After a conflict with the new music director Frederick Stock in 1909, he joined the Chicago Grand Opera Orchestra and became concertmaster in New York in 1913. During that season, he was a soloist with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra on several concerts, playing Bruch’s and Beethoven’s Violin concertos alongside the famous violinists of the time, including Mischa Elman, Carl Flesch, Jacques Thibault and others. He went to Europe for the summer holidays in 1914, and was, because of the outbreak of the war and subsequent military duty, prohibited from returning to New York. As such, because of the war, he had to give up the concertmaster position of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. It is worth noting that a performance of his of the Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto” had been already announced in the newspapers. A few years after the war, he returned to New York, where, between 1922 and 1923, he was concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He was also a violin teacher at the Institute for Musical Arts (later renamed Julliard) between 1920 and 1924. In the summer of 1924, he returned to Prague to teach, where he lived at least until 1936.
KRATINA, JOSEPH
Joseph Kratina was born on May 2nd, 1862 in Olovnice. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1876 and 1882. About two years later he became a violinist in Dresden’s Music Chapel, where he remained until 1921. Kratina was also a significant violin professor at the violin master school at the Music Conservatory in Dresden, where he was the only one to use Ševčík’s violin method. He died in Dresden in 1942.
KRAUS, JULIO (Julije Kraus)
Julio Kraus was born on November 10th, 1881 in Ruševo. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1899 and 1900. Later, he was a violinist of the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb. He died in 1941.
KREBS, FLORIAN
Florian Krebs was born on January 1st, 1888 in Prague. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Ferdinand Lachner between 1904 and 1909. After finishing his studies, he moved to Helsinki, where he stayed for just one year.[59] From 1911 until the outbreak of World War I, he was a violin professor at the Lviv Music Conservatory. During the war, he was concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. After the war, he returned to the Lviv Music Conservatory and became concertmaster of the Lviv Theater Orchestra.
KREJSA, JAN (Johann Krejsa, Jan Krejza)
Jan Krejsa was born on November 25th, 1880 in Mníšek. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1892 and 1898. After the studies, he became concertmaster of Opera Orchestra in Odessa, and member of the Russian Imperial Orchestra (today’s Mariinsky Theater) in St. Petersburg, and Orchestras in Moscow and Kiev.
KRESZ, GÉZA DE
Géza de Kresz was born on June 11th, 1882 in Budapest. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1900 and 1902. After the studies, he was the concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He was later appointed at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin and ultimately settled in Toronto, Canada.
KYRLACH, EDUARD
Eduard Kyrlach was born on December 10th, 1893 in Ostřetín. He studied violin with Bastář at the Prague Conservatory between 1908 and 1914. In the concert season 1919/1920, he was playing viola at the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb.
KUBÁNEK, JAROSLAV
Jaroslav Kubánek was born on November 27th, 1874 in Chotěboř. He studied violin with Lachner at the Prague Conservatory between 1888 and 1895. Soon after his studies at the Prague Conservatory in 1896, he became concertmaster of the Nizhny Novgorod Symphony Orchestra. From 1897 until 1900, he was music director of the Music Society in Narva (Estonia). Then he moved to St. Petersburg and became the concertmaster of the Italian Opera Orchestra and from 1912 was a member of the Russian Imperial Orchestra. During the war, he was imprisoned in his homeland as a Russian citizen. After the war, he was a teacher and member of the Brno String Quartet and the National Theater Orchestra in Brno. He died on January 8th, 1958 in Brno.
KUBELIK, JAN (Johann Kubelík)
Jan Kubelík was born on July 5th, 1880 in Prague. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1892 and 1898. After great success following his debut in Vienna, and in London, he toured in the U.S in 1901 for the first time. At the beginning of the twentieth century, he was highly regarded and immensely famous violinist in the United States. Described also as a “reincarnation of Nicolo Paganini,” he began recording for the Gramophone Company. He was amongst the earliest world-class violinists to make solo recordings, initially for the Gramophone and Typewriter Company in 1902 and later for other record companies.[61] During his concert tours, he gave hundreds of concerts only in the United States. One of the most successful was held in 1907 in the Hippodrome Theater in New York, where he played before an audience of “astonishing size,” about five thousand people. During the war in 1915, he removed himself from the concert circuit and turned his attention to composition, but still made several recordings. After the war, he tried to make a comeback as soloist, but due to the arrival of new rising stars such as Jascha Heifetz (1901–1987) and Mischa Elman (1891–1967) on the concert scene, Kubelik never managed to achieve his previous status again. He died on December 5th, 1940 in Prague.
KUČERA, KAREL
Kučera was born on March 1st, 1888 in Čelakovice. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1902 and 1906. After the studies, he was a violin teacher at the Music Society and a member of string quartet in Ljubljana.
KUS, NIKOLA
Nikola Kus was born on December 5th, 1867 in Zagreb. He studied violin with Otakar Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1891 and 1894. He was a violin teacher at the Croatian Music Institute between 1894 and 1897.
LABITZKY, WILHELM
Wilhelm Labitzky was born on December 9th, 1830 in Bečov nad Teplov. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1843 and 1849. In the late 1850s he moved to Canada. He was a director of music and organist in Toronto. He died on January 4th, 1871 in Toronto.
LACHNER, FERDINAND
Ferdinand Lachner was born on March 23rd, 1856 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1870 and 1876. In 1879, he was appointed concertmaster of the City Theater Orchestra in Wroclaw. One year later he moved to Warsaw, where he stayed until 1883 as a member of the Orchestra of the Warsaw Opera. In 1883, he became concertmaster of the National Theater Orchestra in Prague and four years later he became a violin teacher at the Prague Conservatory. He was a very successful soloist and chamber music performer, he composed also a few violin compositions and compositions for men choirs.
LANDA, WENZEL
Wenzel Landa was born on April 20th, 1817 in Hýskov. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1831 and 1837. Later he was a military music director in the 1st, 40th, and 51st Infantry Regiments.
LAUB, FERDINAND
Ferdinand Laub was born on January 19th, 1832 in Prague. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1843 and 1846. During his study, he attracted the attention of Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, who later dedicated to him the Mehrstimmige Studien, and Héctor Berlioz, who invited him to Paris. Between 1848 and 1850 Laub was appointed in Vienna as a soloist at the Theater on the Vienna River. In 1853, he succeeded Joseph Joachim as concertmaster in Weimar, where he performed chamber music with Franz Liszt. From 1855 to 1857 he was a violin professor at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, and in 1856 he was appointed chamber virtuoso to the Prussian king. In 1866, when the Moscow Conservatory was set up under Nikolay Rubinstein, Laub was invited to become its first violin professor. During his time at the conservatory (1866–1874), he was not only an excellent violin professor, but he also regularly appeared as the primarius of the Russian Musical Society’s String Quartet (the “Moscow Quartet”). Tchaikovsky was so impressed by his violin playing of the chamber repertoire that he was inspired to compose the String Quartet No. 1 (1871) and String Quartet No. 2 (1874), both of which were premièred by the Moscow Quartet with Laub as first violinist and another Prague violinist, Jan Hřímalý, as the second violinist.[67] Tchaikovsky described Laub’s violin playing after the performance of Raff’s La fée d’amour in 1871 with following words: “Mr. Laub’s interpretation was above all praise – Moscow has every right to be proud of having within its walls this Titan amongst violinists.”[68] Laub significantly contributed to Moscow musical life, formed deep friendships with foremost Russian artists and composed a number of technically demanding violin pieces and some vocal works. After Laub’s death, Tchaikovsky was greatly saddened and dedicated his third string quartet, Op. 30, which was premièred by Hřímalý, to his memory. He died on March 17th, 1875 in Gries.
LEHÁR, FRANZ (Lehár Ferenc)
Franz Léhar was born on April 30th, 1870 in Komárno. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1888. After the studies, he joined his father’s band in Vienna. Between 1894 and 1896, he was army Music director in the navy in Pula. Later he served in the garrisons in Trieste, Budapest and in Vienna. In 1902, he became conductor of the Theater and der Wien. He made his name mostly as a composer of operettas. He died on October 24th, 1948 in Bad Ischl.
LEPPEN, JOSEPH (Josef Leppen)
Joseph Leppen was born c. 1812 in Sutom. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1822 and 1828.[69] In the 1830s, he was an orchestra director of the theater orchestra at Leopoldstadt. After leaving the orchestra, he moved to Mannheim, where he was a violinist and music director at the Imperial Theater (Hoftheater) until 1846.
LINKE, CHARLES IGNATIUS (Karel Linke)
Linke was born on March 2nd, 1888 in New York. He studied violin with Ferdinand Lachner at the Prague Conservatory between 1907 and 1908, and served as violist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1923–1948).
LIŠKA, KAREL
Karel Liška was born on November 19th, 1883 in Gmünd. He studied violin with Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1897 and 1903. After the studies, he was playing second violin in the Herold’s String Quartett. Between 1903 and 1907, he was concertmaster in Salzburg, in 1907 in Karlové Varý, and between 1907 and 1913 in Theater of Vinohradý. In 1913, he moved to Kislovodsk and became concertmaster and a violin professor at the Music Conservatory, where he remained until 1919. After that, he returned to his homeland, where he was playing in different orchestras. From 1926 until his death, he was concertmaster of the National Theater Orchestra in Prague. He died on September 20th, 1935 in Prague.
LÖFFELMANN, WENZEL
Wenzel Löffelmann was born c. 1800 in Hruškolhotice. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1813 and 1819. After the studies, he became a soloist and orchestra director of the Estates Theater in Linz, where he remained until 1834.
LUBASCH, ANTON (Anton Lubas)
Anton Lubasch was born on April 13th, 1879 in Prague. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1893 and 1896 but left without diploma. In 1900, he was playing among the first violinists at the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb, where he stayed at least until 1901.
MACH, FRANK JR.
Frank Mach, jr. was born on August 28th, 1887 in Omaha. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1907 and 1908, but never completed his studies there. Later, he was active as a violinist and teacher in Omaha in the U.S.
MALINA, JOSEF
Josef Malina was born on March 19th, 1860 in Prague. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1873 and 1879, shortly also with J. Joachim in Berlin. Later, he was concertmaster of the Lamoreux Orchestra in Paris between 1884 and 1887. In 1895, he founded his own music school in Prague, where he died on February 15th, 1931. He wrote several compositions.
MARYSKO, KAREL (Dragutin Marysko, Karel Maryska)
Karel Marysko was born on December 2nd, 1881 in Dobruška. He studied violin with his father and played in the Zöllner Theater Society orchestra. In 1910 he moved to Zagreb, where he was a solo violist of the National Theater orchestra until 1922. In 1922 he returned to his homeland (Nymburk), where he served as music director, violinist, and music teacher. He wrote several compositions and died in 1957 in Nymburk.
MASCHEK, FRANZ
Franz Maschek was born c. 1812 in Janka. He studied violin with Pixis between 1825 and 1831. In the early 1830s, he was a member of the Theater Orchestra in Graz, later he became director of the theaters in Broumov and Templice.
MEDEK, VÁCLAV
Václav Medek was born on March 3rd, 1893 in Chicago. He studied violin with Josef Vilim at the Vilim American Violin School before 1909. He continued with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1910 and 1915. Later, he was active in Chicago.
MEYER, OTTO
Otto Meyer was born on May 22nd, 1883 in La Porte, Indiana. He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1903 and 1904 but left without diploma. He studied also with Otokar Ševčík, and Eugène Ysaÿe. After his studies, he toured in Europe and the United States. Later, he was a soloist of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra and founded the Meyer–Ten Broeck School of Music together with his sister and the Cosmopolitan School of Music, where he taught until at least the end of World War I. He was a respected concert violinist, proclaimed “one of foremost America’s musical talents.”
MILAKOWIČ, IVAN (Ivan Milaković)
Ivan Milakowič was born on December 30th, 1849 in Zagreb. Firstly, he studied violin at the Croatian Music Institute and continued with Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1864 and 1868. During the studies, he was active also as a composer and in Prague he wrote four Etuden for violin and published five-part composition Žudi-suze for alto and baritone. Due to his status an orphan, he was financially supported during his studies by the Croatian Music Institute, Zagreb’s City Hall, and by Croatian music enthusiasts from Prague. He left the conservatory without a diploma in October 1868 and continued with his studies at the Vienna Conservatory. One year later, he performed at a gala concert of the Croatian Music Institute as a soloist and with a string quartet. From 1870, he played in the 53rd Infantry Regiment in Zagreb. Later, he was a teacher at the College of Education in Zagreb, where he played in chamber ensembles.
MOLZER, AUGUST (August Mölzer)
August Molzer was born on November 7th, 1880 in Slaný. He studied violin with Ferdinand Lachner between 1902 and 1904. He became known as a violin and bow maker. In 1920 he established a music shop in Lincoln, Nebraska. He died in 1967.
MOSER, VIKTOR ROMAN (Vitězslav Moser)
Viktor Roman Moser was born on February 7th, 1864 in Sušice. He studied privately in Prague with Ferdinand Lachner, a violin teacher at the Prague Conservatory, and composition with Zdeněk Fibich (1850–1900). From 1885, Moser was a member of the National Theater Orchestra in Prague and in 1888, he moved to Ljubljana to become a violin teacher at the Music Society, where he remained until 1891. While he was still under contract with the Music Society, he applied for the position of the first violin teacher at the Music Institute in Zagreb (Hrvatski glazbeni zavod) in April 1891. Starting the new school year 1891, he became a violin teacher and in 1892 took over the Institute’s Orchestra from Karbulka. One of his students was Dora Quîquerez (1879–?), who was later active as a violin teacher. He authored the first Croatian violin method book in four parts, called Škola za gusle (1896), which became part of the school’s curriculum.
NEDVĚD, ANTON
Nedvěd was born in 1829 in Hořovice. His first music teacher was Antonín Slavík. Nedvěd studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Moritz Mildner. For a short period, he was active in the Brno Opera. Later he moved to Ljubljana, where he was active as a music teacher and composer, but mostly he focused on vocal music. He died in 1896 in Ljubljana.
NEMETZ, FRANZ (František Němec, Serafim Venceslavovič Němec)
Franz Nemetz was born on July 4th, 1825 in Chvlenice. He studied violin with Pixis and Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1840 and 1846. After completing his studies, he was a member of the Estates Theater in Prague, and between 1847 and 1848 a violin teacher at the Prague Conservatory. He was also active as a chamber music composer and performer with the famous composer Bedřich Smetana. His composing style was recognized as close to the style of Héctor Berlioz, earning him the moniker “Bohemian Berlioz.” Around 1852 he moved to Moscow, where he stayed at least until 1858. Later he was active in Andrejevka and in Kharkiv (Ukraine), where he was the director of the Russian Music Society. He contributed to Kharkiv’s musical life as member of the orchestra, soloist, chamber music performer, conductor, composer, and violin pedagogue. His most successful pupils were the violin virtuosos Osip Šnirlin (Ossip Schnirlin; 1872–1939) and Bertha Brousil. He died on November 20th, 1892 in Andrejevka.
NITTINGER, ADOLPH (Adolf Nittinger)
Adolph Nittinger was born c. 1813 in Kouřimec. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1825 and 1831. In 1842, he became orchestra director in Budapest (Buda), from the 1850s he was an orchestra director in Bratislava. He composed Rózsa Bokor (The Rose Bush), on which the orchestration of the famous Hungarian Dance No. 6 by Johannes Brahms is based.
NOVÁČEK, VIKTOR
Viktor Nováček was born on November 6th, 1872 in Timișoara. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1885 and 1888. In 1904, he premièred the first version of Sibelius’ famous violin concerto under the direction of the composer. Since this version of the concerto had extreme difficulties that Nováček was unable to surmount, the première was not a success. Sibelius himself was so dissatisfied with the concerto that he completely rewrote the first movement and made a good deal of changes to the second one. Nováček, who was in Helsinki from 1894 and was appointed as concertmaster, soloist, and pedagogue at the Helsinki Music Institute, stayed there until his death in 1914.
NOVAK, LOUIS (Alois Novák)
Louis Novak was born on October 17th, 1871 in Chicago. He studied violin in Chicago with his father John Novak (1837–1897) and continued at the Prague Conservatory (1890 and 1895). He was a first violinist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for twenty-two years. In 1917 he settled in Vineland, New Jersey and taught piano and violin until 1951.
ONDŘÍČEK, FRANZ (František Ondříček)
Franz Ondříček considered today as one of the most important Czech violinists of all time was born on April 29th, 1857 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1873 and 1876. During the 1880s he gave numerous concerts throughout Europe and the Russian Empire, and later also in the United States. In 1884, he moved to Vienna where he was appointed Chamber Virtuoso (Kammervirtuoso). Before the war he founded the Ondříček String Quartet in Vienna, which gave numerous successful performances. From 1905 onwards, he was a private violin teacher and later became a violin professor (1909–1912) and director (1910–1915) of the New Vienna Conservatory (Neues Wiener Konservatorium). Most of his compositions were composed in Vienna between 1884 and 1918, including most of his violin method books. During the war he remained in Vienna, gave concerts, composed several violin compositions and, until 1915, served as the director of the New Vienna Conservatory. After the war, he returned to Prague and became a teacher at the violin master class of the Prague Conservatory until 1922. He died on April 12th, 1922 in Milan.
ONDŘÍČEK, EMANUEL (pseud. Floris)
Emanuel Ondříček was born on December 6th, 1880 in Plzeň. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1894 and 1899.
In 1910, he moved to Boston. There and in New York he founded the Ondricek Studios of Violin Art, where both of his sisters were teachers. Later, he became the director of the violin department of the master school at the Boston University. He died on December 30th, 1958 in Boston.
ONDŘÍČEK, KAREL
Karel Ondříček, one of the four famous Ondříček violinist brothers, was born on January 1st, 1863 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1876 and 1882 but left without diploma. In the late 19th century he moved to Boston to become the concertmaster of the Symphony Orchestra. He was also a member of the Kneisel Quartet and Ondříček Trio. He died on March 30th, 1943 in Boston.
ONDŘÍČEK, STANISLAV
Stanislav Ondříček was born on August 23rd, 1885 in Prague. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1899 and 1903 but left without diploma. Later, he finished the Master violin school of J. Kocian. He was a violin teacher at the Croatian Music Institute between 1902 and 1903. Between 1908 and 1920, he was active in Tbilisi, and Jaroslav. In 1911, he was shortly active in New York. After he returned to homeland, he was active in different towns. He died on July 16th, 1953 in Prague.
PACK, ARNOŠT
Arnošt Pack was born on January 12th, 1887 in Třebnice. He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1902 and 1908. From 1908, he was concertmaster of the Odessa Opera Theater.
PARÝZEK, FRANTIŠEK (Franjo, Parizek)
František Parýzek was born on July 7th, 1898 in Prague. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1912 and 1915. In 1915, he was a member of the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb.
PERMANN, JOSEF (Josif Vjačeslavovič Permann)
Josef Permann was born on September 2nd, 1871 in Dobříš. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1885 and 1891. IN 1894, he moved to Odessa, where he became a violin teacher at the Imperial Music Society School and a member of the Odessa String Quartett. In 1913, Permann was together with Franz Stupka appointed as the first professors of the violin class. Today they are considered founders of the Odessa violin school. After World War I, Stupka returned to his homeland, where he became a famous conductor and a professor of viola at the Prague Conservatory. Permann remained in Odessa until his death in 1934 and earned great authority as a violin professor.
PEROUTKA, LUBOMIR (Ljubomir Peroutka)
Lubomir Peroutka was born on January 20th, 1887 in Prague. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1902 and 1908. He was a violinist (in the first violin section) at the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb.
PEŠTA, JAN OTAKAR
Jan Otakar Pešta was born on March 15th, 1883 in Sušice. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1897 and 1903. In 1918, he was a violin teacher in Maribor. He remained active there as a military orchestra director of the Army of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Inspired by the current political circumstances in 1919 in Maribor, he composed a concert overture Jugoslavija, which he dedicated to major Rudolf Maister (1874–1934). He was mostly known as a music director and composer. He died in 1945 in Prague.
PICK, ADOLF
Adolf Pick was born on May 9th, 1870 in Mirovice. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1888. In the 1890s, he was concertmaster of the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb, where he was also active as a chamber musician. In 1902, he performed a piano trio together with O. Schulz and H. Geiger. Later, he was a conductor of the Opera in Bern and emigrated to the United States, where he became head of the violin department at the College of Music in Ithaca and a member of the Chicago Conservatory of Music.
PIXIS, THEODOR (Bohdan Pixis)
Theodor Pixis, son of the well-known Prague violin professor Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis, was born on April 15th, 1831 in Prague. He studied violin first with his father and, after his father’s death, with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1843 and 1846. After completing his studies in Prague, he continued with his studies in Paris with the famous violinist and pedagogue Pierre Baillot. In 1850 he moved to Cologne, where he was a concertmaster and a violin professor at the at the conservatory until his death in 1856.
PLENIER, EDUARD
Eduard Pleiner was born on September 21st, 1820 in Andělska Hora. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1834 and 1840. After his studies, he was a member of the theater orchestra in Prague, a music teacher at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and orchestra director in Lviv. In the 1860s he moved to Graz, where he became orchestra director of the Thalia Theater Orchestra and was a violin teacher at the Styrian Music Association between 1871 and 1877. His most successful student was the famous violin virtuoso Marie Soldat-Roeger. He died in 1878 in Graz.
PLOŠKA, JAROSLAV
Jaroslav Ploška was born on April 8th, 1884 in Prague. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1898 and 1904. Later, he was concertmaster of the Odessa Opera Theater.
POLÁŠEK, ZIKMUND (Siegmund/Žiga Polaček)
Zikmund Polášek was born on April 26th, 1877 in Slavonice. He studied violin with Otakar Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1895 and 1899. After his studies, he was concertmaster in Krakow and later a member of orchestras in Lviv, Warsaw, and Prague. Before moving to Kranj, he was a violin teacher at the Music School in Klagenfurt (Musikschule für Kärnten). In 1912, he left Kranj to become director of the Music School in Slaný. He wrote several compositions, for example his Uspavanka za violin in klavir [Lullaby for Violin and Piano] was published in Novi akordi.
PŘIBYL, JAN
Jan Přibyl was born on January 6th, 1893 in Prague. He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1907 and 1913. Soon after completing his studies, he became in 1915 concertmaster of the National Theater Orchestra (at least until 1924) and between 1916 and 1918 a violin teacher at the Music Institute in Zagreb. The principal of the Croatian Music Institute, Vjekoslav Rosenberg Ružič, evaluated Přibyl as a great soloist, but as an “incompetent pedagogue.”
PŘÍHODA, VAŠA
Váša Příhoda was born on August 22nd, 1900 in Vodňany. He studied privately with Mařák. He made his debut in New York in 1920 and reappeared in the U.S. again in 1921. During World War II, he taught violin at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and later at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna. In 1946, he left Czechoslovakia and returned only in 1956. He wrote numerous violin pieces and made several recordings.[93] He died on July 26th, 1960 in Vienna.
RESSEL, FRANZ WILHELM
Franz Wilhelm Ressel was born on November 5th, 1812 in Dolní Řasnice. Hestudied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1825 and 1831. After finishing his studies, he was appointed for a season in Teplice, where Prince Antoni Henryk Radziwiłł (1775–1833) saw him perform and recommended him in Berlin to Spontini, Count Redern, and Concertmaster Moser. Ressel moved to Berlin and became a violinist in the Königsstadt Theater Orchestra. In 1847 he became a royal chamber musician (violist) and later a teacher at the Royal Institute for Church Music in Berlin. He composed many violin concert pieces, one viola concerto, one violin sonata, and many other compositions. He died on September 5th, 1888 in Berlin.
REZEK, JAN
Rezek was born on February 2nd, 1884 in Prague. He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1898 and 1904. In 1908, he moved to Ljubljana, where he became a violin teacher at the Music Society. In 1909 he performed Paganini’s Violin Concerto in Ljubljana.
RICHTER, ALEXANDER
Richter was born on November 25th, 1833 in Janovice, Moravia to Ignaz Richter, who was previously a court musician in St. Petersburg. Alexander Richter studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1852 and 1855. Soon after completing his studies, he became a violist in the Dresden Court Music Chapel in 1857, where he remained until his death in 1902.
ŘEBÍČEK, JOSEF (Josef Rebicek, Józef Rzebiczek; 1844–1904)
He was born on February 9th, 1844 in Prague. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1855 and 1861. In 1861, he was invited by Franz Liszt to become a member of the court orchestra in Weimar, where he stayed until 1863. After leaving Weimar in 1863, he returned to Prague, where he was an orchestra director of the Provisional Theater (1863–1865) and German Theater (1865–1868). In 1868 he was appointed by Wilhelm Jahn as the first concertmaster in Wiesbaden, where he was music director of the Royal Theater between 1875 and 1882. Then he became, in turn, the opera conductor at the Warsaw Opera from 1891, a music director in Budapest and from 1893 at the Court Theater in Wiesbaden, and then he settled in Berlin. There he was the conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra between 1897 and 1903. He composed several compositions, including pieces for violin and piano. He died on March 24th, 1904 in Berlin.
RYCHLIK, CHARLES VACLAV (Karel Rychlík)
Charels Vaclav Rychlik was born in 1875 in Cleveland (Ohio) in the U.S. At the age of fourteen, he was the youngest member of the Cleveland Musicians Union. Between 1891 and 1896 he studied violin at the Prague Conservatory and joined the Bohemian String Quartet, performing throughout Europe. During his studies at the Conservatory, he was boarded at the home of Antonín Dvořák. In 1897 he joined the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and in 1901 returned to Cleveland. From 1908 until 1928 he was second violinist of the Cleveland Philharmonic String Quartet and from 1918 he played in the Cleveland Orchestra for two years. During this time, Rychlik began teaching and composing. He wrote numerous works for violin and for the internationally known Encyclopedia of Violin Technique in 25 volumes. Forty of his students became members of the Cleveland Orchestra. He died in 1962 in Cleveland.
SACHS, MILAN (Emil Sachs)
Milan Sachs was born on November 28th, 1884 in Lišov. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1889 and 1905. After the studies, he was a violinist of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra between 1906 and 1907. One year later, he became concertmaster of the Theater Orchestra in Belgrade. Between 1910 and 1911, he was a music teacher in Novi Sad. In 1911, he became a conductor of the National Theater Orchestra and conducted some important local premiers. He died on August 4th, 1968 in Zagreb.
SAMEHTINI LEÓN (Leon Sametini)
The Jewish violinist Leon Sametini was born on March 16th, 1886 in Rotterdam. He began to play violin at the age of six with his uncle and continued his studies with Bram Eldering (1865–1943) in Amsterdam. Between 1902 and 1903, he studied at the Prague Conservatory with Otokar Ševčík. Later he was a pupil of Eugène Ysaÿe. In 1912, he became the head of the violin department of the Chicago Conservatory College. Chicago musicians proclaimed him as their “greatest violin teacher as well as great musical artist.” He remained in his position as head of the violin department of the Chicago Conservatory College until the 1940s and trained many successful violinists, including George Perlman (1897–2000), Oliver Colbentson (1927–2013), and Aaron Rosand (1927). He died in 1944.
SCHIMAČEK, ALOIS (Alojs Šimáček)
Alois Schimaček was born on October 13th, 1836 in Štětí. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1849 and 1855. Later, he performed on a few concerts and became a violinist at the Theater Orchestra in Budapest. He composed also a few violin concertos.
SCHRÖTTNER, HERMANN
Hermann Schöttner was born on February 16th, 1828 in Novosedlice. He studied violin with Pixis and Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1840 and 1846. Later he was a military music director in the 20th Infantry Regiment and in the 18th Riflemen’s Battalion.
SEIFERT, WILHELM (Vilém/Vilim Seifert)
Wilhelm Seifert was born on October 6th, 1872 in Unhošť. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1885 and 1891. After his studies, he was a music teacher in Kroměříž for three years, and then moved to Croatia. In October 1910, he moved to Celje, where he was a piano and violin teacher until 1912, when he died of nicotine poisoning.
SITT, ANTON JR. (Antonín Sitt)
Anton Sitt Jr. was born on December 24th, 1847 in Prague to the well-known violin maker Anton Sitt Sr. (1819–1878). He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1858 and 1864. After his studies, he was orchestra director of Provincial Theater in Prague and was also active in Sonderhausen, Meiningen, and Dresden. In 1874, he was appointed concertmaster in Göteborg. After leaving Göteborg he remained in Scandinavia and in 1882 settled in Helsinki, where, together with another Prague violinist, Bohuslav Hřímalý (1848–1894), he was an important violin pedagogue at the Helsinki Music Institute, later renamed the Sibelius Academy of Music. Between 1885 and 1923 he was also the concertmaster of Helsinki Philharmonic Society Orchestra and premièred most of Jean Sibelius’ major orchestral works. He died on April 19th, 1929 in Helsinki.
SITT, HANS (Jan/Johann Sitt)
Hans Sitt, brother of Anton Sitt, was born on September 21st, 1850 in Prague. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner and Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1861 and 1867. After completing his studies he was the concertmaster in the Opera Orchestra in Wroclaw and in Chemnitz. In 1884 he came to Leipzig, where he was until 1921 a violin professor at the Leipzig Conservatory and authored several important studies for violin and viola, some of which are still used. Between 1885 and 1903 he was the conductor of the Leipzig Bach Society (Bach-Verein Leipzig) and between 1884 and 1895 he was a violist in the well-known Brodsky Quartet. During his lifetime, he was one of the most notable teachers of violin. His students also included Leo Funtek, a concertmaster and important conductor, pedagogue, and composer in Helsinki. In addition to his pedagogical works, Sitt wrote several compositions for violin and orchestra, sonatas for various instruments, and two piano trios. He died on March 10th, 1922 in Leipzig.
SKALITZKY, ERNST (Arnošt Skalický)
Ernst Skalitzky was born on March 30th, 1852 in Prague. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1868 and 1870. After completing his studies he prolonged his violin study for one year with Joseph Joachim in Berlin. Between 1873 and 1879 he was concertmaster of the Parkorchester in Amsterdam. After that he settled in Bremen, where until 1891 he was concertmaster of the Philharmonic Orchestra. Then he became a private teacher and devote himself to chamber music, as a member of the Becker and Schumann string quartets. In 1889 he was also one of the early performers of Brahms’ Double Concerto, Op. 102, which Hans von Bülow declared “excellent,” particularly regarding the finale (“da capo demanded”). Bülow’s deep appreciation of Skalitzky and the cellist Wilhelm Kufferath led to their performing the Double Concerto again at a Hamburg subscription concert during the 1889/90 season. He died on June 15th, 1926 in Bremen.
SLAWIK, JOSEPH (Josef Slavík)
Joseph Slawik, nicknamed the “Bohemian Paganini”, was born on March 1st, 1806 in Jinec. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis between 1816 and 1822, under the patronage of Count Eugen z Vrbna, owner of Hořovice Castle. After completing his studies, he became a member of the Estates Theater Orchestra in Prague in 1823 and stayed there until 1826. That year he moved to Vienna and tried to obtain composition lessons from Joseph Mayseder (1789–1863), who was one of the most highly regarded performing composers in the city. Mayseder allegedly gave him the nickname “the other Lipiński.” Slawik tried to get into his studio but failed because Mayseder was too busy at the time. Slawik made a living in Vienna as a violin teacher and also a soloist. He became acquainted with Franz Schubert (1797–1828), who composed his Rondo in B Minor, d. 895 for him in 1826. Slawik’s performance of that work with Carl Maria von Bocklet at a party given by Domenico Artaria (perhaps in early 1827) and attended by Schubert was probably the work’s première.[106] One year later Schubert dedicated his Fantasia in C, d. 934, which Slawik performed for the first time at a concert on January 20th, 1828, to him. The same year Slawik met Niccolò Paganini, who greatly influenced his further artistic development and become his ideal of virtuoso playing, which is also reflected in Slawik’s own violin compositions. After his unsuccessful attempt to make a name for himself in Paris, Slawik returned to Vienna in 1829 and became a member of the Vienna Imperial Chapel (Wiener Hofkapelle), where he stayed until 1833. In 1830, still in Vienna, he met Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849), with whom he planned to jointly compose variations for violin and piano on a theme by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827). What an excellent violinist Slawik must have been is reflected in Chopin’s letters, in which he described him with following words: “I am just back from Slawik’s. A famous violinist whom I befriended. Since Paganini I have heard nothing like him; he can take 96 notes staccato on one bow, and so on; incredible.”[107] Slawik’s Viennese concerts between 1832 and 1833 were a great success. Despite illness, he undertook a journey to Budapest, where his health suddenly deteriorated. He died on May 30th, 1833 in Budapest at the age of twenty-seven.
SLAWIK, RUDOLF (Rudolf Slavík)
Rudolf Slawik was born on April 24th, 1823 in Hořovice. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1834 and 1840. After his studies, he gave concerts in Bohemia and became an orchestra director in Budapest (Pest). In Moscow, he became the concertmaster of the Theater Orchestra and assistant music director in the Church of Peter and Paul. He composed several compositions. He died on February 24th, 1880 in Moscow.
SLUNIČKO, JOHANN (Jan Sluníčko)
Johann Sluničko was born on March 23rd, 1852 in Humpolec. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner and Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1864 and 1870. After completing his studies as one of Mildner’s best pupils, he became a violin and piano teacher in Oravice (Slovakia). In 1875 he moved to Augsburg, where he was a violin teacher at the Augsburg Music School (from 1905 its director), concertmaster of the Oratorio Society, and conductor of the men’s Singing Society. He composed six violin sonatas, pieces for violin and piano, and numerous violin studies, which were widely used. He died on May 5th, 1923 in Augsburg.
SOBOTKA, ANTON (Antonín Sobotka)
Anton Sobotka was born on August 16th, 1861 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1876 and 1882. After the studies, he became concertmaster of the Cuty Theater Orchestra in Wroclaw. He died on January 10th, 1903 in Wroclaw.
SOKOLL, JOSEPH (Josef Vendelin Sokol)
Joseph Sokoll was born on January 27th, 1821 in Březno. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1831 and 1837. From 1839, he was director of the orchestra in Vilna and moved to St. Petersburg in 1841, where he stayed until his death in 1858. He was active there as a soloist, member of entertaining orchestras, and violin composer. He died on August 9th, 1858 in St. Petersburg.
STELZIG, FLORIAN
Florian Stelzig was born on October 9th, 1841 in Bynovec. He studied violin with Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1858 and 1864. In 1870, he joined the Imperial Opera Orchestra, where he played side-by-side with such famous violinists as Arnold Rosé (1863–1946) and Jakob Grün (1837–1916), who were first violins in the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. He would later be accepted as a member of the committee of the Vienna Music Conservatory.
SUK, WENZEL (Václav Suk, Váša, Vyacheslav Ivanovich)
Václav Suk was born on November 16th, 1861 in Kladno. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1873 and 1879. After completing his studies, he was concertmaster in Kiev for two years. Until 1887 he was a violinist of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. After devoting himself to conducting and being recommended by Tchaikovsky to St. Petersburg, he was active until 1906 in many places throughout the Russian Empire. In 1906 he succeeded the famous pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943) to become the conductor of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. At the beginning of the twentieth century he was considered one of the most important conductors. He died on January 12th, 1933 in Moscow.
STABLER, FRANZ
Franz Stabler was born on April 20th, 1829 in Plottendorf. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1846 and 1849. From 1850 he was active in St. Petersburg.
STARK, CHRISTOPH
Cristoph Stark was born on March 28th, 1821 in Děpoltovice. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1839 and 1843. Later he was a military music director in the 24th, 36th, and 42nd Infantry Regiments and in the Marines in Pula. In 1864 he wrote Gablenz-Marsch, which he dedicated to Baron Ludwig von Gablenz.
STRAKA, EMIL
Emil Straka was born on June 17th, 1866 in Suez. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1885. Later, he was the founder of the Straka’s Music School in Saint Paul City and a member of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra.
STUPKA, FRANZ (František Stupka)
Franz Stupka was born on January 18th, 1879 in Tedražice. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1895 and 1901. In 1902, he became concert master of the Odessa Opera Orchestra, and became a third Prague violin teacher at the Odessa Imperial Musical Society School. The violin and violoncello teachers were also required to play in a string quartet that performed ten to twelve chamber concerts annually. In accepting the position of violin teacher, Stupka was therefore also obliged to play second violin in the string quartet.[117] In 1904 the Prague violoncellist Ladislav Zelenka joined the quarter. Besides playing in the string quartet, they also formed the Odessa Czech Trio. Since the school management did not prolong the contract with the first violinist Alexander P. Fiedelmann, Stupka took over chamber classes at the school and had to find a new leader of the String Quartet. In 1907 a rising violin star and virtuoso Jaroslav Kocian joined the string quartet as a fourth Czech and became a violin teacher of the Music School in Odessa.[118] The string quartet was named The New Czech Quartet and was later renamed the Odessa Quartet.[119] Unfortunately, The New Czech Quartet lasted only for two years, but it gave many successful concerts throughout the Russian Empire. After World War I, Stupka returned to his homeland, where he became a famous conductor and a professor of viola at the Prague Conservatory.
STUPKA, JAN
Jan Stupka, a brother of Franz Stupka, was born on June 24th, 1892 in Steyr.
He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1907 and 1909. After the studies, he was violist of the Odessa Opera Theater Orchestra.
ŠEBOR, KAREL (Karl Šebor)
Karel Šebor was born on August 13th, 1843 in Brandýs and Labem. He studied violin with Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1854 and 1861 and composition with J. B. Kittl. Today he is mostly known as a opera composer. He died on May 17th, 1903 in Prague.
ŠEVČÍK, OTAKAR (Otakar Ševčík)
Otakar Ševčík was born on March 22nd, 1852 in Horaždovice. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1866 and 1870. Immediately after finishing his studies, he moved to Salzburg and became a violin teacher and Concertmaster of the Mozarteum Orchestra for the next three years. During that time, he was also active as a successful soloist and a chamber musician with his classmate Alois Walter. Despite positive reviews in Salzburg periodicals, he himself was still very unsatisfied with his violin technique. He repeatedly studied and re-analyzed all the material that was used for teaching at the Prague Conservatory, thus laying the foundations of his later famous violin method during his stay in Salzburg. Later, he was concertmaster of the Comic Opera in Vienna. In 1875 he settled in Kiev, where he taught at the Imperial Russian Music School while remaining active as a soloist and a chamber performer until 1892. Because of an eye disease he gradually started to devote himself entirely to violin teaching. In Kiev, he wrote his only violin composition, Bohemian Dances and, started to form his famous violin teaching method due to self-criticism. It was in Kiev that he finished his two fundamental method books: School of Violin Technics, Op. 1 and School of Bowing Technics, Op. 2. After returning to Prague in 1892, despite skepticism throughout the conservatory, he started to teach his first generation of violin pupils using his new violin method. The students made such great progress that Ševčík’s violin method became the official method of the Prague Conservatory. Because of their logical and systematic approach, his method books came to be among the most used works of their kind at the time in Europe. Numerous foreign violinists came to study with Ševčík at his schools in Prachatice and Písek. Between 1909 and 1919 Ševčík was a professor at the Academy of Music in Vienna and in 1919 he returned to Prague, where he was appointed to the newly founded violin master school of the Prague Conservatory. He was invited to hold classes throughout Europe and the United States. Ševčík produced a generation of virtuosos who were living proof of the brilliance of his teaching, from the Czech Jan Kubelík to the Russians Michael Zacharevitch (1879–1959) and Efrem Zimbalist, the Austrian Erica Morini, the Englishwoman Mary Hall, and many others.
ŠLAIS, JAN (Jan, Ivan Šlajs)
Šlais was born on January 25th, 1893 in Prague. He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1907 and 1913, later with Ševčík at the Violin Master School in Prague between 1920 and 1921. From 1913 he was concertmaster in Moscow, returning to Prague in 1919, where he was a violinist of the National Theater Orchestra. He moved to Slovenia in 1919, serving as a violin teacher at the Music Society in Maribor until 1920. From 1921 until 1939, he was a successful violin teacher at the Music Conservatory in Ljubljana and later at Academy of Music. In 1946, he returned to his homeland and became a violin teacher at the Prague Conservatory, and from 1952 at the Janaček Academy of Music in Brno. He died in 1975 in Prague.
TABORSKY, JOHANN (Jan Taborský)
Johann Taborsky, nicknamed the “Budapest Mayseder” was born on December 1st, 1796 in Kraštice. He studied violin with Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1812 and 1817. During his studies he was for two years a member of the Prague Theater Orchestra. After completing his studies, Franz Graf Brunswick (1777–1849) appointed him as soloist and orchestra director of the City Theater in Budapest. He was highly respected by Budapest artistic circles for the promotion of church music. In Brunswick’s house, he performed numerous concerts, mostly chamber music, and he trained many violinists. He also wrote a few compositions in Budapest. He died on September 12th, 1840 in Budapest.
TALICH, VÁCLAV
Václav Talich was born on May 28th, 1883 in Kroměříž. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1897 and 1903. After the studies, he was one season concert master of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He decided to become conductor and went to study to Leipzig with Arthur Nikisch. He first conducted in Tiflis, and when the first Slovene Philharmonic Orchestra was established in 1908, he was its conductor. In 1909, he founded in Ljubljana a string quartet. In 1912, he left Ljubljana and went to Plzeň, where he conducted opera until 1915. Between 1915 and 1918, je was a violist of the Bohemian Quartet (later called Czech Quartet). After the War, he was a chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra until 1941, and later founded Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra in Bratislava. He died March 16th, 1961 in Beroun.
TEPLÝ, PETR (Pietro Caldo)
Petr Teplý was born on February 19th, 1871 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1888. After the studies, he was a music teacher and Army Music director in different cities. Between 1896 and 1899, he was a violinist of the German Theater in Prague. Between 1913 and 1914, he was a teacher at the Slovene Music Society in Trieste, and a conductor of the Slovene Phiarmonic Orchestra between 1914 and 1915. After he returned to Prague, he army Music director, violinist of the German Theater Orchestra until the end of World War I. Later, he was a director of Army music school in Prague. He died in 1964 in Prague.
TOMÁŠEK, THEODOR
Theodor Tomášek was born on April 18th, 1840 in Bohdaneč. He studied violin with Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1852 and 1858. After his studies, he was the director of the Orthodox Choir in Vršac (Serbia), and army music director in Vienna. In 1892 he moved to St. Petersburg, where he remained until 1914. He was active there mostly as a music teacher, conductor, and promotor of Czech music.[121] When the war broke out, he was caught in Kostelec nad Orlicí, where he spent the rest of his life. He was also active as conductor and composer. In addition to other compositions, he wrote a violin concerto. He died on February 16th, 1922 in Kostelec nad Orlicí.
TOPIČ, FRANTIŠEK (Fran/Franc Topič)
František Topič was born on September 4th, 1881 in Lipá. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1899 and 1904. After World War I, he was a violin teacher in Trieste. Due to the fascist repression in 1919, he moved to Maribor and became the first director of the newly established Music Society. He was a teacher of violin, piano, and singing there until 1926. One of his most important pupils was Drago Mario Šijanec (1907–1986) from Pula, who would go on to become a successful violinist and conductor. As director of the school, Topič hired a few violin teachers from Prague, namely Jan Šlais (1893–1975), Norbert Kubát (1891–1966), Bohumil Gregora (1890–1924), and Josef Čermák (Josip Czermák; 1871–1939).
TRAKAL, ANTON
Anton Trakal was born on February 12th, 1871 in Tatobyt. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory between 1888 and 1891. He was a longtime member of the Russian Imperial Orchestra in St. Petersburg between 1903 and 1921. Later he returned to his homeland, where he was active as a violin teacher. He spent the last years of his life with his family in the Soviet Union.
TRNEČEK, JOHANN (Jan, Hanuš, Hans Trneček)
Johann Trneček was born on May 17th, 1858 in Prague. He studied violin (Bennewitz) and harp (Alois Staněk) at the Prague Conservatory between 1870 and 1876. After his studies he was a member of Spa Orchestra in Františkovy Lázně. In 1881 he became a member of Ziehrer Orchestra in Berlin, and between 1882 and 1888 he was a harpist at the Court Theater in Schwerin. From 1888 he was a professor at the Prague Conservatory (harp, piano, and composition), conductor, and composer. He died on March 28th, 1914 in Prague.
TRNKA, ALOIS
Alois Trnka was born on February 18th, 1883 in New York. He studied violin with Ševčík at the Prague Conservatory between 1901 and 1903. From 1907, he was a violin teacher and concert violinist in New York. His students also included the American violin virtuoso David Hochstein (1892–1918). Between 1908 and 1917 he mostly gave concerts [125] New York and Washington DC, but also appeared as a soloist with the Washington Symphony Orchestra. In a newspaper, he was announced as a violinist with “exceptional technique, who possesses a tone of unusual warmth and beauty.” He was one of the rare violinists of the time that played Bach’s Sonata in A for solo violin and “mastered its very considerable difficulties with a good deal of success.”
TULÁČEK, BOHUMIL
Bohumil Tuláček was born on July 27th, 1887 in Jičín. He studied violin privately with Jan Mařák, a violin professor at the Prague Conservatory. In 1912 he moved to Zagreb, where until 1934 he was concertmaster of the National Theater Orchestra. He gave performances as a soloist and in the chamber ensembles. From 1934, he was an orchestra member of the National Theater in Prague. He died on March 4th, 1957 in Prague.
URBANEK, JOHANN (Jan Urbánek)
Johann Urbanek was born c. 1808 in Knovíz and studied violin with Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1819 and 1825. After his studies he was a private teacher and a member of the Estates Theater in Prague. In 1830 he moved to Berlin, where he was appointed concertmaster of the Königsstadt Theater; he remained in this role for the next fifty years. He died in 1895 in Berlin.
VANDAS, EMIL
Vandas was born on January 20th, 1897 in Chicago. He studied violin between 1913 and 1915 but did not graduate because of the war. Later he was active in few orchestras in Chicago at least until the end of World War II. He died in 1990.
VANIŠ, KAREL
Karel Vaniš was born on May 6th, 1869 in Sedlec to Franz Vaniš. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1882 and 1888. He was concertmaster of the Odessa Opera Theater most likely already from 1888.
VEDRAL, JOSEF
Vedral was born on August 27th, 1872 in the Russian Empire to Czech parents. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1885 and 1891. In 1895 he moved to Ljubljana, where he was a teacher at the Music Society for thirty-four years. He died in 1929 in Ljubljana.
VĚTVIČKA, ANTONÍN (Antun Větvička)
Antonín Větvička was born on October 21st, 1892 in Český Brod. He studied violin with Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1906 and 1908 but left without diploma. Between 1919 and 1924, he played violin in the National Theater Orchestra in Zagreb.
VILIM, JOSEF ALOIS (Joseph Alois)
Josef Alois Vilim was born on January 18th, 1861 in Chicago, of Bohemian origin. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1880 and 1882. Two years after finishing his studies, Vilim returned to Chicago to become a violin teacher at the Chicago Conservatory College and a member of the Thomas Orchestra (1894–1896). In 1899 he established his own music school, the Vilim American Violin School, where he taught until 1916. From 1900, he was also head of the violin department of the Chicago Conservatory College. Proclaimed “one of the greatest violinists in the world,” he founded the Beethoven String Quartet and Vilim Piano Trio and gave several recitals as well. He died on September 27th, 1938 in Coronado, California.
WALTER, ALOIS
Alois Walter was born on October 28th, 1832 in Prague. He studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Moritz Mildner between 1846 and 1852. After his studies, until 1854, he was a private teacher for violin, piano, singing, and even literature. Between 1854 and 1862 he was an orchestra director and a soloist of the First Prague Civil Band. In 1862 he moved to Salzburg, where he was appointed as a violinist, teacher, and tenor at the Cathedral Music Association and Mozarteum in Salzburg. He worked at the school until 1881 and remained a member of the Cathedral Music Chapel (Dommusikkapelle) until 1894, when he retired. From 1880, he was the concertmaster as well as a violin teacher at the Mozarteum. He died on April 27th, 1894 in Salzburg.
WEBER, JOSEPH MIROSLAV
Joseph Miroslav Weber was born on November 9th, 1854 in Prague. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1870 and 1873. Immediately after completing his studies, he was appointed as a solo violinist at the Sondershausen Court Chapel. In 1875 he became the first concertmaster of the Court Theater Orchestra and leader of his own string quartet from 1875. Later, in 1880, he became second conductor and also formed a string quartet. In 1883 he succeeded Josef Řebíček as concertmaster and conductor of the opera in Wiesbaden, where he was appointed royal director of music in 1889. In 1893 he settled in Munich, where he would be concertmaster until his death on January 1st, 1906. In Munich he formed another string quartet with W. Leitner, Bihrle, and Ebner. He composed several compositions, including a violin concerto and chamber works, all of which earned awards.
WIEDEMANN, LUDWIG (Ludvík Wiedmann)
Ludwig Wiedemann was born on October 21st, 1860 in Cracow. He studied violin with Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1874 and 1879. In the 1880s, he was concertmaster in Wroclaw.
WIRTH, EMANUEL
Emanuel Wirth was born on October 18th, 1842 in Žlutice. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz and Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1854 and 1861. After completing his studies, he was concertmaster of the Spa Orchestra in Baden Baden and from 1864 he was a violin professor at the conservatory and a concertmaster of the Opera Orchestra in Rotterdam. In 1877 he moved to Berlin, where he became Joachim’s assistant and the violist of the famous Joachim String Quartet. From 1877, he was Joseph Joachim’s assistant at the college (Hochschule für Musik), which was known as one of the finest in Germany. For thirty years Wirth was the violist of the famous Joseph Joachim String Quartet. He trained many successful violinists up to 1910 in Berlin, where he died on January 5th, 1923.
WITEK, ANTON (Anton Vítek)
Anton Witek was born on January 7th, 1872 in Žatec. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1885 and 1888. His father Josef Witek (1837–?) was a violinist and alumnus of the Prague Conservatory (1852–1858). From 1894, he was concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1909 until the end of World War I, he was the concertmaster of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. In the 1910s, he formed in Boston a Piano Trio and gave several concerts in New York as a soloist with the Boston Orchestra. He died in 1933 in Boston.
ZAJIC, FLORIAN (Florián Zajíc)
Florian Zajic was born on May 4th, 1853 in Unhošť. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz and Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1862 and 1870. After his studies he was concertmaster of the theater orchestra in Augsburg, the Mannheim Band, and the Philharmonic Society in Hamburg. He was a violin professor at the conservatory in Strasbourg and a successful soloist. In 1891, he settled in Berlin, where he was appointed as a violin teacher at the Stern Conservatory, from 1895 at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory. He was very well respected as a violin pedagogue and wrote many violin method books and cadenzas to violin concertos by Beethoven and Brahms. In the early twentieth century until World War I, he mostly performed chamber music. During the war he was in retirement in Berlin, where he died on May 16th, 1926.
ZAPPE, CARL
Carl Zappe was born on September 1st, 1812 in Prague. He studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory between 1822 and 1828. After completing his studies, he was appointed at the theaters in Prague and Graz. Until 1834 he was second orchestra director at Vienna’s Theater in der Josefstadt. In 1834 he moved to Linz, where he fulfilled numerous musical functions. Between 1834 and 1866 he was the orchestra director at the Estates Theater, and in the periods 1839–1855 and 1867–1871 he was a violin teacher at the Linz Music Association (Musikverein), as well as conductor in the cathedral and municipal parishes.[138] He was also one of the jury members on the examining board at Bruckner’s audition on November 13th, 1855. From 1855 until 1868 he was Bruckner’s immediate superior but maintained a friendly relationship with him. In Linz Zappe was also an important chamber music promoter. In 1842, he founded a String Quartet (Karl Zappe, Josef Schmierer, Franz Gamon, and Otto Kitzler), that gave regular concerts of the standard chamber music repertoire. He died on June 13th, 1871 in Linz.
ZIKA, RICHARD
Richard Zika was born on January 9th, 1897 in Vsetín. He studied violin with Štěpán Suchý at the Prague Conservatory between 1913 and 1916. In 1918 he moved to Ljubljana, where he was concertmaster of the Slovene National Theater Orchestra until 1921 and a violin teacher at the Music Society (Glasbena Matica) in Ljubljana. In 1946, he became a violin professor at the Academy of Music in Prague and was also active as composer. In 1920 he founded the (Czech) Zika Quartet, which was later renamed the Prague Quartet and went on to achieve significant acclaim. He died on November 10th, 1947 in Prague.
ZIMMERMANN, ADALBERT
Adalbert Zimmermann was born on October 17th, 1827 in Prague. He studied violin with Pixis and Moritz Mildner at the Prague Conservatory between 1840 and 1846. Later he was a military music director of the 61st Infantry Regiment and died in 1902.
ZINKE, ADOLF GUSTAV
Gustav Adolf Zinke was born on November 17th, 1854 in Pardubice. He studied violin with Antonín Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory between 1867 and 1873. After his studies he was concertmaster of the City Theater in Brno until 1881. In 1881, he was appointed concertmaster and teacher at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and was thus the first concertmaster of the International Mozarteum Foundation. In 1887, he founded the Mozarteum Quartet and in the next fifteen years performed the most important works of the classical and romantic repertoire with it. In 1895 his former violin professor Bennewitz invited him to take the position of violin professor at the Prague Conservatory. He declined the offer and instead remained at the Mozarteum until 1922. Zinke was regarded as an outstanding soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue, performing in more than one hundred concerts of the Mozarteum Orchestra, often as a soloist. He died on November 23rd, 1931 in Salzburg.
ZUNA, MILAN
Milan Zuna was born on November 21st, 1881 in Nový Byždov. He studied violin with Jan Mařák at the Prague Conservatory between 1897 and 1902, later at the violin master school with Ševčík. He studied also composition with K. Knittl and K. Stecker. In 1909, he moved to Zagreb, where he was until 1914 the conductor of the National Theater Orchestra and other cities, such as: Lviv, Poznan, Katovice, Warsaw, Bratislava, and others. In Poznan and Katovice, he was also a violin teacher. In 1933, he returned to his homeland and became a chief conductor of the National Theater Orchestra in Prague. He died on May 3rd, 1860 in Prague.
ŽIŽKA, JOHANN (Jan Žižka).
Johann Žižka was born on March 22nd, 1859 in Horoměřice. He studied violin between 1870 and 1876 at the Prague Conservatory with A. Bennewitz and then he spent most of his life as a military music director, also in Osijek, where he died in 1913.
References