Emil Votocek
Encyclopedia
Emil Votoček was a Czech chemist, composer
and music theorist
. He is noted for his chemistry textbooks and multilingual
dictionaries in both chemistry and music.
later in Mulhouse
and received his PhD with Bernhard Tollens
at the University of Göttingen for his chemistry of sugar.
In 1895 he returned to the Czech Institute of Technology
where he became lecturer and professor in 1907. His academic career ended with the closure of the institute by the Nazis in 1939. He held six honorary doctorates and was an honorary member of various corporations and societies.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and music theorist
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
. He is noted for his chemistry textbooks and multilingual
Multilingualism
Multilingualism is the act of using, or promoting the use of, multiple languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. Multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of...
dictionaries in both chemistry and music.
Chemistry career
Votoček studied at the Czech Institute of TechnologyCzech Technical University in Prague
Czech Technical University in Prague is one of the largest universities in the Czech Republic, and the oldest institute of technology in Central Europe....
later in Mulhouse
Mulhouse
Mulhouse |mill]] hamlet) is a city and commune in eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. With a population of 110,514 and 278,206 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2006, it is the largest city in the Haut-Rhin département, and the second largest in the Alsace region after...
and received his PhD with Bernhard Tollens
Bernhard Tollens
Bernhard Christian Gottfried Tollens was a German chemist.- Life and work :Tollens attended school at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums in Hamburg where he was influenced by his science teacher, Karl Möbius. After graduating in 1857, Tollens started an apprenticeship in pharmacy...
at the University of Göttingen for his chemistry of sugar.
In 1895 he returned to the Czech Institute of Technology
Czech Technical University in Prague
Czech Technical University in Prague is one of the largest universities in the Czech Republic, and the oldest institute of technology in Central Europe....
where he became lecturer and professor in 1907. His academic career ended with the closure of the institute by the Nazis in 1939. He held six honorary doctorates and was an honorary member of various corporations and societies.
Music career
His chemistry career kept him from doing anything about his interest in music until the age of thirty. Then he studied music with František Špilka for six years. But his other work again intervened, for a further 25 years. From his early 60s through to his mid 70s, he wrote about 60 works, including five orchestral works, much chamber music, piano sonatas and pieces, and songs. He also compiled a Czech dictionary of French and Italian musical terms.Selected publications
- O derivatech karbazolu (1896)
- Kondensace methylfurola s floroglucinem (1897)
- O stanovení methylovaných pentos (1897)
- Ueber das Verhalten der Hydrazine zu dem photographischen Lichtbilde (1899)
- Cvičení v chemii organické (Exercises in Organic Chemistry) (1899–1901)
- Chemie anorganická (Inorganic Chemistry) (1902)
- O antipodii rhodeosy a fukosy (1904)
- O konfiguraci rhodeosy (1907)
- Chemie organická (Organic Chemistry) (1927)
- Česko-francouzská konversace a fraseologie (1938)
- Chemický slovník (Chemistry Dictionary), Czech-German-French-English-Italian-Latin (1941)
- Hudební slovník cizích výrazů a rčení (Music Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases) (1946)
Selected compositions
Votoček wrote approximately 70 music compositions.- Fantasie for viola and piano (1943)
- Od svítání do soumraku (From Dawn to Dusk) for orchestra
- Suita for viola and piano
- Téma s variacemi pro klavír a soprán (Theme and Variations) for piano and soprano (1934); final variation with soprano solo; words by Jaroslav VrchlickýJaroslav VrchlickýJaroslav Vrchlický was one of the greatest Czech lyrical poets. He was born Emil Frida, Vrchlický being a pseudonym.He also wrote epic poetry, plays, prose and literary essays and translated widely from various languages, introducing e.g. Dante, Goethe, Shelley, Baudelaire, Poe, and Whitman to...
- Tři ballatine (3 Ballatines) for viola and piano (published 1945)