Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Encyclopedia
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
and is the best-known and most respected orchestra in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
.
History
The name "Czech Philharmonic Orchestra" appeared for the first time in 1894, as the title of the orchestra of the Prague National Theatre. It played its first concert under its current name on January 4, 1896 when Antonín DvořákAntonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
conducted his own compositions, but it did not become fully independent from the opera until 1901. The first representative concert took place on October 15, 1901 conducted by Ludvík Čelanský
Ludvík Celanský
Ludvík Vítězslav Čelanský was a Czech conductor and composer. He was founder and first principal conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.- Biography :...
, the first artistic director of the orchestra. In 1908, Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
led the orchestra in the world premiere of his Symphony No. 7
Symphony No. 7 (Mahler)
Gustav Mahler's Seventh Symphony was written in 1904-05, with repeated revisions to the scoring. It is sometimes referred to by the title Song of the Night , though this title was not Mahler's own and he disapproved of it. Although the symphony is often described as being in the key of 'E minor,'...
. The orchestra first became internationally known under the baton of Václav Talich
Václav Talich
Václav Talich was a Czech conductor, violinist and pedagogue.- Life :Born in Kroměříž, Moravia, he started his musical career in a student orchestra in Klatovy. From 1897 to 1903 he studied at the conservatory in Prague with Otakar Ševčík...
, who was principal conductor from 1919 to 1931, and again from 1933 to 1941. In 1941 Talich together with Czech Philharmonic made a controversial journey to Germany, where they performed the cycle of symphonic poem
Symphonic poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in a single continuous section in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting, a landscape or another source is illustrated or evoked. The term was first applied by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt to his 13 works in this vein...
s My Country
Má vlast
Má vlast is a set of six symphonic poems composed between 1874 and 1879 by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. While it is often presented as a single work in six movements and – with the exception of Vltava– is almost always recorded that way, the six pieces were conceived as individual works...
by Bedřich Smetana
Bedrich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
. The concert was enforced by the German offices.
Subsequent chief conductors included Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Jeroným Kubelík was a Czech conductor and composer.-Early life:Kubelík was born in Býchory, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, today's Czech Republic. He was the sixth child of the Bohemian violinist Jan Kubelík, whom the younger Kubelík described as "a kind of god to me." His mother was a Hungarian...
(1942–1948), Karel Ančerl
Karel Ancerl
Karel Ančerl , was a Czech conductor, known for his performances of contemporary music and for his interpretations of music by Czech composers...
(1950–1968), Václav Neumann
Václav Neumann
Václav Neumann was a Czech conductor, violinist and viola player.Neumann was born in Prague where he studied at the Prague Conservatory, with Josef Micka , and with Pavel Dědeček and Metod Doležil . He co-founded, and played 1st violin in, the Smetana Quartet, before holding conducting posts in...
(1968–1989), Jiri Belohlavek
Jirí Belohlávek
Jiří Bělohlávek is a Czech conductor. His father was a barrister and judge. In his youth Bělohlávek studied cello with Miloš Sádlo and was later a graduate of the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague...
(1990–1992), Gerd Albrecht
Gerd Albrecht
Gerd Albrecht is a German conductor. He was a first-prize winner at the International Conductors Competition in Besançon at age 22. His first post was as a repetiteur at the Stuttgart State Opera. Later, he became Senior Kapellmeister at the Mainz Municipal Theatre, and Generalmusikdirektor in...
(1993–1996), Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is a Russian-Icelandic conductor and pianist. Since 1972 he has been a citizen of Iceland, his wife Þórunn's country of birth. Since 1978, because of his many obligations in Europe, he and his family have resided in Meggen, near Lucerne in Switzerland...
(1996–2003), and Zdeněk Mácal
Zdenek Mácal
Zdeněk Mácal is a Czech conductor.Mácal began violin lessons with his father at age four. He later attended the Brno Conservatory and the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts, where he graduated in 1960 with top honors. He became principal conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra and...
(2003–2007). In February 2008, the orchestra announced the appointment of Eliahu Inbal
Eliahu Inbal
Eliahu Inbal is an Israeli conductor.Inbal studied violin at the Israeli Academy of Music and took composition lessons with Paul Ben-Haim...
as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2009-2010 season. In December 2010 it was announced that Jiří Bělohlávek
Jirí Belohlávek
Jiří Bělohlávek is a Czech conductor. His father was a barrister and judge. In his youth Bělohlávek studied cello with Miloš Sádlo and was later a graduate of the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague...
would take up the post again in 2012.
Principal guest conductors of the orchestra have included Sir Charles Mackerras
Charles Mackerras
Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan...
, a noted Czech music specialist, and currently Manfred Honeck
Manfred Honeck
Manfred Honeck is an Austrian conductor, the son of Otto and Frieda Honeck, from a family of nine children. One of his brothers is the Vienna Philharmonic leader Rainer Honeck....
.
The Czech Philharmonic's first phonograph
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
recording dates from 1929, when Václav Talich recorded the Smetana
Bedrich Smetana
Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
´s My Country
Má vlast
Má vlast is a set of six symphonic poems composed between 1874 and 1879 by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. While it is often presented as a single work in six movements and – with the exception of Vltava– is almost always recorded that way, the six pieces were conceived as individual works...
for His Master's Voice.
Honours and awards
The Czech Philharmonic has won many prestige awards, ten Grand Prix du DisqueGrand Prix du Disque
The Grand Prix du Disque is the premier French award for musical recordings. The award was inaugurated by l'Académie Charles Cros in 1948 and offers prizes in various categories. The categories vary from year to year, and multiple awards are often made in any one category in the same year...
de l'Académie Charles Cros
L'Académie Charles Cros
The Académie Charles-Cros, is an organization in France that acts as an intermediary between government cultural policy makers and professionals in music and the recording industry....
, five Grand Prix du disgue de l'Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
and several Cannes Classical Awards. The Czech Philharmonic was nominated for Grammy Awards in 2005, and also two Wiener Flötenuhr awards, with Pavel Štěpán
Pavel Štepán
Prof. Pavel Štěpán , was a Czech pianist. He linked up in his career with his family's musical tradition: he is the grandson of Professor Vilém Kurz, a prominent Czech piano educator, and the son of piano virtuoso and teacher Ilona Štěpánová-Kurzová and musicologist/pianist Václav Štěpán...
, Zdeněk Mácal
Zdenek Mácal
Zdeněk Mácal is a Czech conductor.Mácal began violin lessons with his father at age four. He later attended the Brno Conservatory and the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts, where he graduated in 1960 with top honors. He became principal conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra and...
and Václav Neumann
Václav Neumann
Václav Neumann was a Czech conductor, violinist and viola player.Neumann was born in Prague where he studied at the Prague Conservatory, with Josef Micka , and with Pavel Dědeček and Metod Doležil . He co-founded, and played 1st violin in, the Smetana Quartet, before holding conducting posts in...
(1971 and 1982). It was voted 20th place of the top 20 best orchestras in the world in a 2008 survey by Gramophone magazine.
Chief Conductors
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Karel Šejna Karel Šejna was a Czech double bassist and conductor, the principal conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in 1950.-Life and career:... Karel Ancerl Karel Ančerl , was a Czech conductor, known for his performances of contemporary music and for his interpretations of music by Czech composers... Václav Neumann Václav Neumann was a Czech conductor, violinist and viola player.Neumann was born in Prague where he studied at the Prague Conservatory, with Josef Micka , and with Pavel Dědeček and Metod Doležil . He co-founded, and played 1st violin in, the Smetana Quartet, before holding conducting posts in... Jirí Belohlávek Jiří Bělohlávek is a Czech conductor. His father was a barrister and judge. In his youth Bělohlávek studied cello with Miloš Sádlo and was later a graduate of the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague... Gerd Albrecht Gerd Albrecht is a German conductor. He was a first-prize winner at the International Conductors Competition in Besançon at age 22. His first post was as a repetiteur at the Stuttgart State Opera. Later, he became Senior Kapellmeister at the Mainz Municipal Theatre, and Generalmusikdirektor in... |
Vladimir Ashkenazy Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy is a Russian-Icelandic conductor and pianist. Since 1972 he has been a citizen of Iceland, his wife Þórunn's country of birth. Since 1978, because of his many obligations in Europe, he and his family have resided in Meggen, near Lucerne in Switzerland... Zdenek Mácal Zdeněk Mácal is a Czech conductor.Mácal began violin lessons with his father at age four. He later attended the Brno Conservatory and the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts, where he graduated in 1960 with top honors. He became principal conductor of the Prague Symphony Orchestra and... Eliahu Inbal Eliahu Inbal is an Israeli conductor.Inbal studied violin at the Israeli Academy of Music and took composition lessons with Paul Ben-Haim... |
External links
- Česká filharmonie official site
- František Sláma (musician)František Sláma (musician)František Sláma was a significant Czech chamber music performer. He was the first Czech cellist who focused on Early music.-Biography:...
Archive: More on the History of the Czech Philharmonic between the 1940s and the 1980s. Reminiscences - Photographs - Sound Archive. Sections Czech Philharmonic Conductors, Part 1-3, Czech Philharmonic Instrumentalists. Václav Talich's players and the younger CPO generations, Czech Philharmonic in Documents - Film of Czech Philharmonic in rehearsal
- Václav Talich recording Dvorak Slavonic Dances with the Czech Philharmonic in 1955 More about this recording