Franciszek Zachara
Encyclopedia
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
. Most of these manuscripts are originals (or copies) from the composer's own hand.
Biography
Franciszek Zachara was born in TarnówTarnów
Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
to parents Ludwig and Maria (Kaplanska) Zachara on December 10, 1898. He was educated in the State Gymnasium in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, and graduated from the Imperial Conservatory in Saratov
Saratov
-Modern Saratov:The Saratov region is highly industrialized, due in part to the rich in natural and industrial resources of the area. The region is also one of the more important and largest cultural and scientific centres in Russia...
(Russian: Сара́тов) in 1919. He then attended the Imperial Conservatory in St. Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, then known as Petrograd), studying piano with Alexander Dubassoff, and graduated in 1921. From 1922 to 1928 he was professor of piano at the Silesia
Silesia
Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...
State Conservatory in Katowice
Katowice
Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...
, Poland.
On November 18, 1928 Zachara gave his American debut in New York’s Town Hall. He played an extensive program of works by J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, Scarlatti-Tausig, Scriabin, Debussy, Liszt
Liszt
Liszt is a Hungarian surname. Notable persons with that surname include:* Franz Liszt , Hungarian composer and pianist* Adam Liszt , father of Franz Liszt* Anna Liszt , mother of Franz Liszt...
, and a piece of his own. The recital was reviewed enthusiastically by The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, The New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
, and The New York Herald-Tribune. After this performance, he began a year long concert tour of the United States, and became Professor of Piano (and later Dean of Music) at Brenau College (now Brenau University
Brenau University
Brenau University is a private university in Gainesville, Georgia, USA, that was founded in 1878 as Georgia Baptist Female Seminary, though it has never been affiliated with the Baptist Church. The total enrollment of Brenau University tops 2,500 students in its four schools...
) in Gainesville
Gainesville, Georgia
-Severe Weather:Gainesville sits on the very fringe of Tornado Alley, a region of the United States where severe weather is common. Supercell thunderstorms can sweep through any time between March and November, but are concentrated most in the spring...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
(USA), where he remained until 1946. During this time he married Patty Haralson, took up marksmanship, and won many medals in this new hobby. He is quoted:
- "I began shooting as a sport or hobby after America entered the war, in 1942. At that time I was living in Gainesville, Georgia. … The National Guard was offering a course in marksmanship to civilians who wished to take part. I thought that every American man should become proficient with firearms since we were fighting for our existence; so I registered for the course" (Florida Wildlife, 37).
In 1946, Zachara became a U.S. citizen, and relocated to New York for a short period. In 1948 he became Associate Professor of Piano at Florida State University, where composer and pianist Ernő Dohnányi
Erno Dohnányi
Ernő Dohnányi was a Hungarian conductor, composer, and pianist. He used the German form of his name Ernst von Dohnányi for most of his published compositions....
had also just started teaching. On February 25, 1952, the American premiere of Zachara’s Piano Concerto in E Major (op. 30) was performed by the State Symphony of Florida, with the composer as soloist and Dohnányi conducting. Becoming a full professor in 1955, Zachara continued composing, performing, and teaching at the School (now College) of Music at Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
until he was hospitalized on January 21, 1966 suffering a heart attack. He died less than two weeks later, on February 2, in a Tallahassee
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
hospital. (Tallahassee Democrat, 1966). He was survived by his widow Patty and a nephew Stanley. They had no children.
Zachara was a member of several organizations, including the Florida Composers League, the Florida State Music Teachers Association, the Music Teachers National Association
Music Teachers National Association
-Membership:Its membership consists of approximately 22,000 independent and collegiate music teachers. MTNA headquarters are in downtown Cincinnati on the 31st floor of the Carew Tower.- MTNA structure :...
, the Kiwanis Club, the Manhattan Chess Club, the National Rifle Association
National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America is an American non-profit 501 civil rights organization which advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection...
, the Tallahassee Rifle and Pistol Club (president), Pi Kappa Lambda
Pi Kappa Lambda
Pi Kappa Lambda is an American honor society for undergraduate students, graduate students, and professors of music. There are currently 205 active chapters and approximately 64,500 individual members....
, the International Who's Who in Music
International Who's Who in Music
The International Who's Who in Music is a biographical dictionary and directory originally published by the International Biographical Centre located in Cambridge, England. It contains only biographies of persons living at the time of publication and includes composers, performers, writers, and...
, and the American Association of University Professors
American Association of University Professors
The American Association of University Professors is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership is about 47,000, with over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations...
.
Zachara's music and publications
Piano solo
The piano is often used to provide harmonic accompaniment to a voice or other instrument. However, solo parts for the piano are common in many musical styles...
, a piano concerto
Piano concerto
A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...
, a symphony
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
, several works for band, and various chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
pieces. Many of these works were dedicated to his friends and colleagues over the years.
Zachara's music is mostly written in a Romantic
Romantic music
Romantic music or music in the Romantic Period is a musicological and artistic term referring to a particular period, theory, compositional practice, and canon in Western music history, from 1810 to 1900....
vein, and most of his piano music follows in the footsteps of his countryman, Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
(1810-1849). Zachara was an expert in the music of Chopin, and it is said that he had all of Chopin's music memorized. He occasionally did transcriptions of the music of other composers, including Chopin, Liszt, Strauss, and others. Partial scores of transcriptions exist of Chopin’s ‘Butterfly’ Etude (Op. 25 No. 9)
Études (Chopin)
The Études by Frédéric Chopin are three sets of solo studies for the piano, There are twenty-seven overall, comprising two separate collections of twelve, numbered Opus 10 and 25, and a set of three without opus number.-Composition:...
for piano solo, and two-piano versions of Chopin’s Etude Op. 25 No. 9
Études (Chopin)
The Études by Frédéric Chopin are three sets of solo studies for the piano, There are twenty-seven overall, comprising two separate collections of twelve, numbered Opus 10 and 25, and a set of three without opus number.-Composition:...
, and ‘Minute Waltz’ (Op. 64 No. 1).
Minute Waltz
The Waltz in D flat major, Op. 64, No. 1, popularly known as the Minute Waltz, and also Valse du petit chien, is a waltz for solo piano by Frédéric Chopin. It is dedicated to the Countess Delfina Potocka.-History:...
Zachara had used his own opus numbering system earlier in his career, extending at least to his piano sonatas (opus numbers 80 and 81) but this system seems to have been abandoned by the early 1950s. The list of works below reflects original opus numbers assigned by Zachara. A new system of assigning notation to all of Zachara’s works, whether completely or partially existing, is currently being created (2008).
Zachara's works for piano solo
Piano solo
The piano is often used to provide harmonic accompaniment to a voice or other instrument. However, solo parts for the piano are common in many musical styles...
largely reflect models used by J.S. Bach and Chopin. Zachara wrote many preludes
Prelude (music)
A prelude is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece. The prelude can be thought of as a preface. It may stand on its own or introduce another work...
, fugues
Fugues
Fugue can refer to:* Fugue for the type of musical piece* See :Category:Fugues for individual pieces.* Fugues for the Canadian gay magazine* Fugue for the American literary journal.* Fugue state, a psychological term...
, etudes, and waltzes, often arranging them in collections of 12, 24, or 48. Though some of these collections no longer exist in their entirety, it seems Zachara was aiming to create collections which would give examples in all major and minor keys. An extensive collection titled New Well-Tempered Clavicord for the Piano is clearly taken from the Bach model, consisting of 24 sets of preludes and fugues in all major and minor keys, with an additional 25th prelude and fugue (on a theme from Dohnányi
Dohnányi
Dohnányi is a Hungarian family name belonging to a notable family of politicians and musicians descended from composer Ernő Dohnányi. The addition of "von" was a personal choice made by Ernő as it was usual by Hungarian noble families not having a prädicate to indicate their nobility.* Ernő...
) added at the end. Zachara seems to have composed at least three piano sonata
Piano sonata
A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement , two movements , five or even more movements...
s, but only partial scores exist for these works (opus numbers 75, 80, and 81).
Zachara wrote many chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
works for a variety of instruments. His best-known chamber piece (and possibly the most successful of all his works) is the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano No. 1 (op. 72). This work was published by Leblanc Publications in 1964, and is still available today (2007), published by Southern Music Company. Aside from the piano solo music, only one other solo piece exists (Polonaise Brilliante for Flute Alone); and Zachara only wrote one vocal piece, Help me oh Lord. Eleven sonatas for solo instrument plus piano survive, as do two of his three string quartets. Some of the chamber music, such as Valse Sentimentale and Grande Suite in Blue were scored for both chamber and band/orchestral settings.
Zachara’s music has been published by at least 8 publishers, including Gamble Music Co., Theodore Presser Co.
Theodore Presser Company
The Theodore Presser Company is an American music publishing and distribution company located in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and formerly based in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. It is the oldest continuing music publisher in the United States.-Theodore Presser:...
, Leblanc Publications Inc., Music Publisher’s Holding Corp.
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
, Remick, G. Schirmer, Shattinger Piano & Music Co., and Southern Music Co. Vinyl recordings of him playing works by Liszt, Chopin, Delibes- Dohnányi, and Strauss-Zachara were released by Transphono/Ohio Recording Service.
Works
Much of Zachara's music is now lost or exists in fragmentary forms. The list below was selected from the works that exist in their entirety (in score form).Piano solo collections
- New Well-Tempered Clavicord for the Piano (25 sets of preludes and fugues)
- Six Piano Pieces for Left Hand Alone (op. 43)
- Three Organ Chorales Piano Transcription (op. 44)
- Twelve Master Etudes in Minor Keys (op. 29)
- Twelve Master Preludes (op. 19)
- Twelve Waltzes for Piano (op. 52)
- Twenty-Four Etudes in All Keys
- Two Mazurkas
Piano solo individual works
Americana for Piano SoloBarcarolle (op. 9)
Berceuse for Piano Solo
Boogie Woogie Etude
Burlesque
Capriccio in E-flat Major (op. 39)
Capriccio in F-sharp Major (op. 5)
Dutch Dance
Gavotte in B Minor
Gavotte in D Major
Grand Valse Chromatique
Indian Sacrifice
Menuet in A Minor
Menuet in Classic Style
The Music Box
The Music Box: Cracoviene Polish Natinoale Dans
Poeme (op. 12)
Rondo for Piano Solo
Sans Souci
Scherzo in E Minor (op. 29)
Second Rhapsody by Liszt
Slavic Dance
The Star Spangled Banner (arrangement)
Suite in Classic Style (op. 7)
Twelve Variations on the Theme “America”
Twelve Variations on the Theme “Happy Birthday” for Piano and Orchestra
Waltz in G Major [No. 1]
Chamber works
Americana for Two Pianos or Four HandsDouble Concerto for Two Clarinets and Strings
Fantasia for Trumpet and Piano (op. 32)
Five Fugues for Woodwind Trio
Fugue in Six Voices (flute, oboe, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons)
Grande Suite in Blue for Clarinet and Piano
Help me oh Lord (voice and piano)
Humoresque (clarinet and piano)
March for Two Pianos (op. 1)
Meditation (cello and piano)
Pastorale and Fugue for Woodwind Trio
Perpetual Motion (two pianos, or piano four hands)
Piano Concerto in E Major (op. 30) (Two-Piano Version)
Polonaise Brilliante for Flute Alone
Rondo Brillante for Strings
Rondo Brillante for Woodwind Trio and Strings or Piano
Serenade for Violin and Piano
Six Pieces for Cello and Piano
Sonata Expaniole for Woodwind Trio
Sonata for Bassoon and Piano (op. 46)
Sonata for Cello and Piano (op. 13/40/73) – various versions
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano No. 1 (op. 72)
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano No. 2
Sonata for Horn and Piano
Sonata for Oboe and Piano (op. 55)
Sonata for Oboe and Piano (op. 77)
Sonata for Trombone and Piano (op. 18)
Sonata for Trumpet and Piano (op. 22/42)
Sonata for Violin and Piano (op. 71)
String Quartet in D Major
String Quartet in G Major (op. 31/38)
Ten Master Pieces for Discriminating Woodwind Performers (various w.w. trios, or two clarinets and piano)
Three Organ Chorales
Toccata for Two Clarinets and Piano
Triple Concerto for Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Strings
Twenty-Four Variations on the Theme “Happy Birthday” for Two-Pianos
Two Organ Chorales for Woodwind Trio
Valse Sentimentale (cello and piano)
Valse Triste (clarinet and piano)
Variations and Fugue for Oboe, Clarinet and Bassoon
Variations on a Nursery Rhyme for Woodwind Trio
Band/orchestral works
Concerto Grosso No. 1 (Horn Solo)Concerto Grosso No. 2 (Trumpet Solo)
Concerto Grosso No. 3 (Cello Solo)
Concerto Grosso No. 4 (Violin Solo)
Concerto Grosso No. 5 (Oboe Solo)
Concerto Grosso No. 6 (Trombone Solo)
Grande Suite in Blue for Clarinet Solo and Symphonic Band
March Carnaval (symphonic band)
March No. 1 (symphonic band)
March No. 2 (symphonic band)
March No. 3 (symphonic band)
March No. 4 (symphonic band)
Mediation for Symphonic Band
Piano Concerto in E Major (op. 30)
Rhapsody for Trumpet and Symphonic Band
Romanza Espaniole (symphonic band)
Rondo Brillante for Solo Clarinet and Symphonic Band
Symphonic Waltz No. 2 (orchestra)
Symphony No. 1 (op. 60)
Twenty-Four Variations on the Theme “Happy Birthday” for Piano and Orchestra
Valse Sentimentale for Symphonic Band
Valse Symphonique (symphonic band)
External link s
- Warren D. Allen Music Library at Florida State University (http://music.fsu.edu/Quicklinks/Music-Library)