Jan Rychlík
Encyclopedia
Jan Rychlík was a Czech
composer and music theorist. He was one of the most important exponents of the Czech New Music in the 1950s and 1960s.
he began to study at the Prague Conservatory
. Later he became a pupil of Jaroslav Řídký
, and in 1946 he graduated from the Master School of Composition in Prague
.
He collaborated with the Gramoklub Orchestra and he also played drums with the early Karel Vlach
Orchestra. In addition to his drumming abilities he was an excellent pianist, and he played also some other instruments.
At the beginning of his career he composed mainly popular dance songs, however, in 1943 he has created first chamber compositions, such as Sonatine for Clarinet and Piano and Sonatine for Piano. Shortly afterwards he focused also on orchestral compositions.
Following the World War II
he devoted himself mainly to the film music. He composed the score for the well-known musical comedy Limonádový Joe aneb Koňská opera
. Some of the songs from the film became evergreens ("Arizona" and "So far"). He is also known as the author of the music for the French film
La Création du Monde by Jean Effel
.
Jan Rychlík died at a young age, he was 48. Following his death, Czech composer Otmar Mácha composed a funeral composition Variations to the theme and death of Jan Rychlík for symphonic orchestra.
. In his early works he was inspired mainly by jazz
and swing music. In the post-war years he developed the original "art music technique", which he applied mainly in his chamber compositions. He asserted himself also as a film composer. In his last creative period he achieved highly original musical expression using some elements of the post-war music avant-garde and the Second Viennese School
.
Rychlík was also a skilful percussionist and often performed with Czechoslovak
jazz ensembles. As a music theorist, he published several treatises on jazz, such as "Pověry a problémy jazzu" (Superstitions and Problems of Jazz) and "Moderní instrumentace" (Modern Instrumentation). He composed jazz and popular songs and short chamber compositions, mainly for wind instruments.
His musical language is clear, laconic, natural and witty. His works were reasonably popular and Rychlík was hardly able to satisfy all requests for new compositions.
Compositions for solo instruments
Compositions for two instruments
Compositions for ensembles (3 – 9 musicians)
Vocal compositions
Instructive pieces
Film music
Literary works
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...
composer and music theorist. He was one of the most important exponents of the Czech New Music in the 1950s and 1960s.
Biography
His parents wanted him to study economy, but he was attracted by the music and foreign languages from an early age. In 1939, during the German occupation of CzechoslovakiaGerman occupation of Czechoslovakia
German occupation of Czechoslovakia began with the Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions, known collectively as the Sudetenland, under terms outlined by the Munich Agreement. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's pretext for this effort was the alleged privations suffered by...
he began to study at the Prague Conservatory
Prague Conservatory
Prague Conservatory, sometimes also Prague Conservatoire, in Czech Pražská konzervatoř, is a Czech secondary school in Prague dedicated to teaching the arts of music and theater acting.- Instruction :...
. Later he became a pupil of Jaroslav Řídký
Jaroslav Rídký
Jaroslav Řídký was a Czech composer, conductor, harpist, and music teacher.-Life:Řídký was born at Reichenberg, now Liberec. From 1919 to 1923 he studied at the Prague Conservatory with Josef Bohuslav Foerster, Karel Boleslav Jirák, and Jaroslav Křička...
, and in 1946 he graduated from the Master School of Composition in Prague
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...
.
He collaborated with the Gramoklub Orchestra and he also played drums with the early Karel Vlach
Karel Vlach
Karel Vlach was a Czech dance orchestra conductor and arranger.He founded his first orchestra in 1938. Many important composers, instrumentalists and arrangers of the Czech jazz scene gradually went through his band. In 1947-48 Vlach's orchestra cooperated with the V+W Theatre...
Orchestra. In addition to his drumming abilities he was an excellent pianist, and he played also some other instruments.
At the beginning of his career he composed mainly popular dance songs, however, in 1943 he has created first chamber compositions, such as Sonatine for Clarinet and Piano and Sonatine for Piano. Shortly afterwards he focused also on orchestral compositions.
Following the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he devoted himself mainly to the film music. He composed the score for the well-known musical comedy Limonádový Joe aneb Koňská opera
Lemonade Joe
Lemonade Joe , is a 1964 Czechoslovak comedy film, directed by Oldřich Lipský and written by Jiří Brdečka, based on his own novel and theatre play. The film, a parody of old-time westerns, became a cult classic in Czechoslovakia, and apparently Henry Fonda was amongst its foreign admirers...
. Some of the songs from the film became evergreens ("Arizona" and "So far"). He is also known as the author of the music for the French film
French Film
French Film is a 2008 British comedy film directed by Jackie Oudney and starring Anne-Marie Duff, Hugh Bonneville, Victoria Hamilton, Douglas Henshall and Eric Cantona. The film was shot in Spring 2007 at various locations around London including Waterloo station and the BFI Southbank.-Plot:Two...
La Création du Monde by Jean Effel
Jean Effel
Jean Effel, real name François Lejeune was French painter, caricaturist, illustrator and journalist. Mostly he considered himself to be journalist and political commentator. His pseudonym is created by his initials F. L.- Life :Effel was born in Paris and graduated in art, music and philosophy...
.
Jan Rychlík died at a young age, he was 48. Following his death, Czech composer Otmar Mácha composed a funeral composition Variations to the theme and death of Jan Rychlík for symphonic orchestra.
Style
Rychlíks music output has two different poles, similarly as the works of Jaroslav Ježek and Erwin SchulhoffErwin Schulhoff
Erwin Schulhoff was a Czech composer and pianist.-Life:Born in Prague of Jewish-German origin, Schulhoff was one of the brightest figures in a generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany...
. In his early works he was inspired mainly by jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and swing music. In the post-war years he developed the original "art music technique", which he applied mainly in his chamber compositions. He asserted himself also as a film composer. In his last creative period he achieved highly original musical expression using some elements of the post-war music avant-garde and the Second Viennese School
Second Viennese School
The Second Viennese School is the group of composers that comprised Arnold Schoenberg and his pupils and close associates in early 20th century Vienna, where he lived and taught, sporadically, between 1903 and 1925...
.
Rychlík was also a skilful percussionist and often performed with Czechoslovak
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
jazz ensembles. As a music theorist, he published several treatises on jazz, such as "Pověry a problémy jazzu" (Superstitions and Problems of Jazz) and "Moderní instrumentace" (Modern Instrumentation). He composed jazz and popular songs and short chamber compositions, mainly for wind instruments.
His musical language is clear, laconic, natural and witty. His works were reasonably popular and Rychlík was hardly able to satisfy all requests for new compositions.
Selected compositions
Orchestral- Symphonic Overture (1944) 9'
- Concerto Overture for large orchestra (1947) 13'
- Partita giocosa for brass orchestra (1947) 17'
- Pictures and Humours. Children's suite for 10 instruments (1953) 22'
Compositions for solo instruments
- Four Partitas for solo flute (1954), ČHF, ČHF, SNKLHU 27'
- Four Studies for solo flute (1954), ČHF, Pa 10'
- Burlesque Suite for solo clarinet (1956), Pa 8'
- Hommagi gravicembalistici. Suite for harpsichord (1960), ČHF, Su, o Su 8'
Compositions for two instruments
- Family Music for flute and clarinet (1950) 10'
- Etudes for English horn and piano (1953), SNKLHU 8'
- School Sonatina for French horn and piano (1953), Su, o Pa 9'
- Arabesques for violin and piano (1955) 16'
Compositions for ensembles (3 – 9 musicians)
- Suite for wind quintet (1946) 20'
- Trio for clarinet, trumpet and bassoon (1948) 15'
- Divertimento for 3 double basses (1952) 12'
- Trio for violin, viola and violoncello (1953) ČHF, EBP 31'
- Chamber Suite for string quartet (1954), ČHF, SNKLHU, o Su 21
- Serenade (Memoirs) for wind octet (1957), ČHF 27'
- Wind Quintet (1960), SHF, o Su 16'
- African Cycle for 8 wind instruments and piano (1961), SHV, o Su 14'
- Relazioni. Chamber cycle for alto flute, English horn and bassoon (1963-64), ČHF, Pa, o Su 7'
Vocal compositions
- Shepherds, Awake. Cantata-carol for solos, choir and orchestra, to words of folk poetry (1945-46) 5'
- South Bohemian Songs and Ditties, for male and female voices with the accompaniment of violin, clarinet and bass clarinet (1948), Su 15'
- On the Sick Harry. Children's choir a cappella, to the words of Josef Hiršal (1949)
- Pastoral Heraldings. Children's chorus a cappella (1949)
- Two Mixed Choruses a cappella, to the words by A. S. Pushkin: 1. Heavy Cloud, 2. The Nightingale (1952)
- A Bunch of Patriotic Songs for tenor, violin, oboe, viola and violoncello. Arrangements of the songs of the 19th century (1955)
- 7 Choruses from SophoclesSophoclesSophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
OedipusOedipusOedipus was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family...
, for mixed choir a cappella (1962), ČHF - Gallows Madrigals for chamber mixed choir a cappella to the words by Ch. Morgenstern, translated into Czech by Josef Hirsal (1962), ČHF
- Sneers for children's choir and small instrumental ensemble, on popular texts (1962)
Instructive pieces
- Pupils' Sonatine for French horn and piano (1960)
Film music
- Music from Mars - feature film (directors Ján KadárJán KadárJán Kadár was a Slovak film writer and director. As a filmmaker, he worked in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the United States, and Canada. Most of his films were directed in tandem with Elmar Klos. The two became best known for their Oscar-winning The Shop on Main Street...
- Elmar KlosElmar KlosElmar Klos was a Czechoslovakian film director who collaborated for 17 years with Ján Kadár and with him won the 1965 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film with the film The Shop on Main Street.-References:...
, 1953) - Café on the Main Street - feature film (dir. Miroslav Hubáček, 1953)
- Hurvínek Circus - short puppet film after Josef SkupaJosef SkupaJosef Skupa was a Czech puppeteer.Studied Faculty of Applied Arts in Prague. Worked as stage designer in the Plzeň City Theatre, also as designer in Skoda Engineering Works....
(1954) - Creation of the World - full-length cartoon after Jean EffelJean EffelJean Effel, real name François Lejeune was French painter, caricaturist, illustrator and journalist. Mostly he considered himself to be journalist and political commentator. His pseudonym is created by his initials F. L.- Life :Effel was born in Paris and graduated in art, music and philosophy...
(1957) - Limonádový Joe aneb Koňská operaLemonade JoeLemonade Joe , is a 1964 Czechoslovak comedy film, directed by Oldřich Lipský and written by Jiří Brdečka, based on his own novel and theatre play. The film, a parody of old-time westerns, became a cult classic in Czechoslovakia, and apparently Henry Fonda was amongst its foreign admirers...
- full-length film (dir. Oldřich Lipský, 1963)
Literary works
- Superstitions and Problems of Jazz, SNKLHU 1959
- Brass Instruments without Machinery, SNKLHU 1960
- Elements of New Compositional Techniques in Music of the Past, in Exotic and Folk Music, SHV 1964 (in: miscellany 'The New Ways of Music')
- Modern Instrumentation (finished by Jarmil BurghauserJarmil BurghauserJarmil Michael Burghauser was a Czech composer, conductor, and musicologist....
and coll.), Panton 1968
Further reading
- Rychlík, Jan (1959): Pověry a problémy jazzu. Praha: SNKLHU, 1959
- Rychlík, Jan (1959-1968): Moderní instrumentace. Praha: Panton, (1959-1968) (21 parts)
- Křížek, Milan (2001): Jan Rychlík. Život a dílo skladatele. Praha: Nakladatelství H + H, 2001
- Rychlík, Jan ml. (1999): Vzpomínky na mého otce. In: Revolver revue 39/1999. Praha: Společnost pro Revolver Revue, 1999, p. 64-102.
- Rychlík, Jan (2006): Deník 1955. Praha Společnost pro Revolver Revue, 2006 (ISBN 80-87037-00-6)