Jaroslav Krcek
Encyclopedia
Biography
Jaroslav Krček was born in Čtyři Dvory near České BudějoviceCeské Budejovice
České Budějovice is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the largest city in the South Bohemian Region and is the political and commercial capital of the region and centre of the Roman Catholic Diocese of České Budějovice and of the University of South Bohemia and the Academy of Sciences...
in southern Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
. He studied at the B. Jeremiáš School of Music in České Budějovice before studying composition with Miloslav Kabeláč
Miloslav Kabelác
Miloslav Kabeláč was a prominent Czech composer and conductor. Miloslav Kabeláč belongs to the foremost Czech symphonists, whose work can be compared with Antonín Dvořák or Bohuslav Martinů...
and conducting with Bohumír Liška, both at 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 :...
.
In 1968-70, under the auspices of Czechoslovak Radio, a course in electronic and concrete music was run in which I participated, since it was led by my teacher, the composer Miloslav Kabeláč. For my end-of-course composition I produced Sonáty Slavíčkové, in the course of which I learned much that I was later to employ in my composition Raab
[Jaroslav Krček from liner notes to 'Aide-Mémoire/Folk Music/Sonáty Slavíčkové' LP, Recommended Records, England, 1985].
Krček was the musical director for Plzeň Radio and the music editor for the recording company Supraphon
Supraphon
Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, it is oriented mainly towards publishing classical music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers.- History :...
. He is the artistic leader and performer in the folklore group Chorea Bohemica (founded 1967), for which he has composed and adapted a number of songs and dances. Musica Bohemica, a chamber ensemble specialising in Czech (Bohemian) Christmas songs, was created in 1975 by Krček as an offspring of Chorea Bohemica. Some of Krček's music is inspired by early Czech music, medieval and Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
songs, 16th century hymn books and baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
music. Also interested in folk music of the 18th and 19th centuries, Krček has arranged several hundred folksongs and folk dances. He has done extensive and systematic individual, creative work in the realisation of folklore and anonymous musical works. Krček has recorded more than fifty albums of his own compositions and folk songs.
Raab - An Electronic Opera
Raab (aka Raab The Harlot) or Nevěstka Raab (The Prostitute Raab) is one of Krček's most renowned compositions. It was created in the Prague Electronic Music Studio in 1970-71. It is often described as an electronic opera, or electroacoustic oratorio. It was banned by the communist regime in 1972, and it was never staged in Czechoslovakia until the Velvet RevolutionVelvet Revolution
The Velvet Revolution or Gentle Revolution was a non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that took place from November 17 – December 29, 1989...
of 1989. The music of Raab was composed during the same period as many contemporary avant garde music dramas such as Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis
Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
' Nuits (1968) and Bernd Alois Zimmermann
Bernd Alois Zimmermann
Bernd Alois Zimmermann was a post-WWII West German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera Die Soldaten which is regarded as one of the most important operas of the 20th century...
's Requiem Für Einen Jungen Dichter (1969).
Plot
The story of Raab (Rahab
Rahab
Rahab, was, according to the Book of Joshua, a woman who lived in Jericho in the Promised Land and assisted the Israelites in capturing the city...
in English, Rachav in Hebrew) is based on the account of the Fall of Jericho
Jericho
Jericho ; is a city located near the Jordan River in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories. It is the capital of the Jericho Governorate and has a population of more than 20,000. Situated well below sea level on an east-west route north of the Dead Sea, Jericho is the lowest permanently...
as told in the Book of Joshua
Book of Joshua
The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament. Its 24 chapters tell of the entry of the Israelites into Canaan, their conquest and division of the land under the leadership of Joshua, and of serving God in the land....
. A Jewish king was planning to conquer the town: Joshua son of Nun sent two spies out from Shittim secretly and instructed them: “Find out what you can about the land, especially Jericho. They stopped at the house of a prostitute named Rahab and spent the night there [Joshua 2:1]. Rahab helps the two spies and hides them from the King of Jericho's guards, thus helping the Israelites conquer Jericho. The libretto is by Zdeněk Barborka using an invented language approximating Aramaic, the vernacular language of the Jews during most of the Bibilical era. The opera opens with an introductory recitation in Czech, followed by one of several long instrumental crescendos built from slow trumpet calls and cymbal crashes, reaching a climax before a long decaying low-pitched rumble: an allusion to the trumpets used by Joshua during the seven-day siege of Jericho. The sound is reminiscent of the bell scene in Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, writer, film editor, film theorist, theatre and opera director, widely regarded as one of the finest filmmakers of the 20th century....
's film Andrei Rublev
Andrei Rublev
Andrei Rublev is considered to be the greatest medieval Russian painter of Orthodox icons and frescoes.-Biography:...
, 1966. It sets the tone for the rest of a hieratic, imposing score. The opera relies mostly on vocals with occasional electroacoustic interjections in the form of processed acoustic instruments like viola, tam-tam or full orchestra, transformed through studio treatment and montage. Vocal deliveries are diverse, ranging from singing to sprechgesang
Sprechgesang
Sprechgesang and Sprechstimme are musical terms used to refer to an expressionist vocal technique between singing and speaking. Though sometimes used interchangeably, sprechgesang is a term directly related to the operatic recitative manner of singing , whereas sprechstimme is...
, from the plaintive to the exalted, from emphatic to hushed voices. The cast included core members of the Chorea Bohemica ensemble, from which the Musica Bohemica ensemble was derived, founded by Krček in 1975.
A new production of Nevěstka Raab was staged in 2003 at Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts
Janácek Academy of Music and Performing Arts
Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts is a university-level school in Brno in the Czech Republic.The Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts is one of two academies of music and the dramatic arts in the Czech Republic...
(JAMU) in Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
, with costume and stage design by Radka Mizerová (born 1976). Another production was presented in 2004, by stage director Magdalena Krčková (born 1977) at Jičín
Jicín
Jičín is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It lies approximately 85 km northeast of Prague in the scenic region of the Bohemian Paradise under the Prachov Rocks ....
's Cultural House (Kulturní dům v Jičíně). Interestingly, this performance included dancers as well as actors and singers.
Selected works
- Vocal and chamber compositions: Variations For Orchestra, 1967
- Musique concrete: Sonaty Slavičkove (Nightingale Sonatas), 1971
- Opera: Nevěstka Raab, 1971 ; Bread out of Stones [date]
- Symphony N°1, 1975
- Dialogues With Time, a concert for 2 voices and magnetic tape, 1979
- Chamber Suita Semplice, 1979
- Concerto For Violin And Orchestra, 1980
- Concerto For Oboe, harp and Chamber Orchestra, 1981
- Orchestral suite: Ad Radices, 1982
- Four Renaissance Miniatures commissioned by Trio Spektrum
- Musica per Musica Bohemica, for chamber ensemble, 1990
- Symphony No 4 'Desidearata', premiered at the Prague Premieres 2005
- Symphony No 5 'Renaissance', 2010
Film music
- Škaredá dedina (1975)
- Plaché příběhy (1982).... 2. Vražedný útok,3. Modrá chryzantéma
- Poslední propadne peklu (1982)
- Všichni mají talent (1984)
- Moře začíná za vsí (1987)
- Tichý společník (1988)