Josef Suk (violinist)
Encyclopedia
Josef Suk was a Czech violin
ist, violist
, chamber musician and conductor
, the grandson of Josef Suk
, the composer and violinist, and great-grandson of Antonín Dvořák
. In his home country he carried the title of National Artist
.
, who tutored him until his death in 1950. Suk first appeared on concert platforms at the age of eleven. His Prague
debut in 1954 rapidly led to an international career. Before long he was recognized as the heir to the best tradition of the Czech violin school and his 1959 tour with the Czech Philharmonic covered three continents and was one of the greatest expressions of Czech music the world had until then ever heard. He also studied at the Prague Conservatory
with Kocián and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
.
and Canada
. He also formed the Suk Chamber Orchestra
in 1974.
Suk showed an extraordinary affinity for chamber music. This yielded extraordinary fruits, especially through his partnerships with pianist Jan Panenka
and the harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková
- and from 1973 he was a frequent additional player with the Smetana Quartet
, playing second viola
. Suk was also for some years the first violin of the Prague Quartet
. He founded the Suk Trio
(named after his grandfather) in 1951 with Jan Panenka and cellist Josef Chuchro
He became a distinguished violist, having recorded Mozart's
Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra as violist with Iona Brown
and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
Josef Suk had a long and distinguished career in the recording studio, winning the Grand Prix du Disque
six times: including in 1960 for recordings of Leoš Janáček
and Claude Debussy
violin sonatas, and in 1968 for the Alban Berg
violin concerto. He also won the Wiener Floetenuhr Prize and the Edison Prize.
He was a sponsor, with Vladimir Ashkenazy
of Toccata Classics
for whom he recorded "Songs my great-grandfather taught me".
He was esteemed for his refined tone, deep sense of lyricism (expressed unforgettably for example in his Martinů
interpretations) and commitment to the music he played.
(1729), Giuseppe Guarneri
"del Gesu" (1744) and Giovanni Battista Guadagnini
(1758).
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist, violist
Violist
-Notable violists:A* Julia Rebekka Adler * Sir Hugh Allen , conductor* Kris Allen * Johann Andreas Amon * Paul Angerer , composer* Steven Ansell * Atar Arad * Cecil Aronowitz...
, chamber musician and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
, the grandson of Josef Suk
Josef Suk (composer)
Josef Suk was a Czech composer and violinist.- Life :Suk was born in Křečovice. He studied at Prague Conservatory from 1885 to 1892, where he was a pupil of Antonín Dvořák and Antonín Bennewitz. In 1898, he married Dvořák's eldest daughter, Otilie Dvořáková , affectionately known as Otilka...
, the composer and violinist, and great-grandson of Antonín Dvořák
Antonín 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...
. In his home country he carried the title of National Artist
National Artist
National Artist is a honorary title issued by some states as a highest recognition of artists for their significant contributions to the cultural heritage of the nation....
.
Early life
Suk's talent was spotted at an early age by Jaroslav KociánJaroslav Kocian
Jaroslav Kocián was a Czech violinist, classical composer and teacher.- Life :He studied in Prague under Otakar Ševčík, and is considered together with Jan Kubelík as the most important representative of "Ševčík´s school"....
, who tutored him until his death in 1950. Suk first appeared on concert platforms at the age of eleven. His 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...
debut in 1954 rapidly led to an international career. Before long he was recognized as the heir to the best tradition of the Czech violin school and his 1959 tour with the Czech Philharmonic covered three continents and was one of the greatest expressions of Czech music the world had until then ever heard. He also studied 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 :...
with Kocián and the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
Academy of Performing Arts in Prague
The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague is a university level school of music, dance, drama, film, TV and multi-media studies.- Faculties :*Film and TV School - FAMU*Music Faculty - HAMU*Theatre Faculty - DAMU-Notable alumni:...
.
Later career
Suk had a distinguished solo career. His career as a concert violinist started in 1954, and gave concerts all over the world at prestigious music festivals. He reached his greatest success in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He also formed the Suk Chamber Orchestra
Suk Chamber Orchestra
The Suk Chamber Orchestra is a classical chamber orchestra named after the composer Josef Suk.It was founded by the violinist Josef Suk in 1974, on the centenary of his grandfather, the composer Josef Suk. The orchestra currently serves as resident orchestra at the W.A. Mozart Festival...
in 1974.
Suk showed an extraordinary affinity for chamber music. This yielded extraordinary fruits, especially through his partnerships with pianist Jan Panenka
Jan Panenka
Jan Panenka was a Czech pianist. He recorded many of Beethoven's works, and he played for many years with the Suk Trio.- Life :...
and the harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková
Zuzana Ružicková
Zuzana Růžičková is a famous Jewish Czech contemporary harpsichordist, an interpreter of classical and baroque music.Růžičková studied music but during 1941–45 she was sent to a Nazi concentration camp. Afterwards she continued the study at music school in Plzeň and Prague...
- and from 1973 he was a frequent additional player with the Smetana Quartet
Smetana Quartet
The Smetana Quartet was a Czech string quartet that was in existence from 1945 to 1989.- Personnel :1st violin* Václav Neumann , from 1943 to 1945* Jaroslav Rybenský, from 1945 to 1947* Jiří Novák , since 19472nd violin...
, playing second viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
. Suk was also for some years the first violin of the Prague Quartet
Prague Quartet
The Prague Quartet was a string quartet based in Prague that was in existence from 1920 to 1955. Along with Ševčík Quartet and Bohemian Quartet, it was one of the most important chamber ensembles of the interwar years.- History :...
. He founded the Suk Trio
Suk Trio
The Suk Trio is a Czech piano trio founded in 1951. They made their debut on March 5 at the Rudolfinum Hall in Prague with Josef Suk , Jiří Hubička and Alexandr Večtomov...
(named after his grandfather) in 1951 with Jan Panenka and cellist Josef Chuchro
He became a distinguished violist, having recorded Mozart's
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra as violist with Iona Brown
Iona Brown
Iona Brown, OBE was a British violinist and conductor.Elizabeth Iona Brown was born in Salisbury. Her parents Antony and Fiona were both musicians...
and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
Josef Suk had a long and distinguished career in the recording studio, winning the Grand Prix du Disque
Grand 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...
six times: including in 1960 for recordings of Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
and Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
violin sonatas, and in 1968 for the Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
violin concerto. He also won the Wiener Floetenuhr Prize and the Edison Prize.
He was a sponsor, with 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...
of Toccata Classics
Toccata Classics
Toccata Classics is an independent British classic music label founded in 2005.The founder of Toccata Classics is Martin Anderson, a music journalist. The label was founded primarily to promote unrecorded works by lesser-known composers, including British composers...
for whom he recorded "Songs my great-grandfather taught me".
He was esteemed for his refined tone, deep sense of lyricism (expressed unforgettably for example in his Martinů
Bohuslav Martinu
Bohuslav Martinů was a prolific Czech composer of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic...
interpretations) and commitment to the music he played.
Selected discography (violin)
- J.S. BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
: Violin Concertos - Supraphon Records - Bach: Sonatas for Harpsichord and Violin - Lotos
- BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
: Concerto for violin in D; Dvorak: Concerto for violin in A minor - BBC RadioBBC RadioBBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
Classic - BartókBéla BartókBéla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
: Violin Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 - Praga Records - BergAlban BergAlban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
: Concerto for violin; Bartok: Concerto for violin No. 1 - Supraphon - BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
: Concerto, Op. 77; Concerto, Op. 102 - Praga - Brahms: Concerto, Op. 77; Concerto, Op. 102 - Praga
- Brahms: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2 [Germany] - Decca RecordsDecca RecordsDecca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
- Brahms: Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 73; Concerto in A minor, Op. 102 - Supraphon
- Brahms: Symphony No. 2/Double Concerto - Supraphon
- ChaussonErnest ChaussonAmédée-Ernest Chausson was a French romantic composer who died just as his career was beginning to flourish.-Life:Ernest Chausson was born in Paris into a prosperous bourgeois family...
: Concerto for violin, piano & String Quartet; Fauré: Sonata No. 2 for Violin & Piano - Supraphon - DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín 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...
: Concerto for violin in A minor - Supraphon - Dvořák: Piano Quartets Nos. 1 & 2 - Supraphon
- Dvořák: Quartet Op. 51 / Sextet Op. 48 - Lotos Records
- Dvořák: Quintet in E-flat; Quintet No. 1 - Denon RecordsDenon RecordsDenon Records was a Japanese record label owned by Denon, distributed by A&M Records from 1990 through 1992. This was a reissue program that included 390 jazz and classical music titles that were issued on compact disc.-Artists:*Eliane Elias*Peter Erskine...
- Dvořák: Trio No1; Trio No2 - Denon Records
- Dvořák: Violin Concerto; Romance; Josef Suk: Fantasy - Supraphon
- Dvořák: Works for Violin & Piano - Supraphon
- JanáčekLeoš JanácekLeoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
: Complete works for Violin, Cello & Piano - Carlton Classics - Janáček: Sinfonietta, Op. 60; Taras Bulba, rhapsody - Supraphon
- KodályZoltán KodályZoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method.-Life:Born in Kecskemét, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child....
: Musique de chambre - Praga - MartinůBohuslav MartinuBohuslav Martinů was a prolific Czech composer of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic...
: Sonata for violin No. 3; Madrigal Stanzas H.297 - Supraphon - MendelssohnFelix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
: Concerto for violin in E minor; Bruch: Concerto for violin in G minor - Supraphon - MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
: Quintets - Denon Records - Mozart: Sinfonia concertante in E-flat; Sinfonia concertante in E-flat - Panton Records
- RavelMaurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
: Sonatas for Violin and Piano; Sonata for Violin and Cello; Tzigane - Praga - SchubertFranz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
: String Quartet No. 1, D.87/String Quintet in C, Op. 163, D.956 Praga - SukJosef Suk (composer)Josef Suk was a Czech composer and violinist.- Life :Suk was born in Křečovice. He studied at Prague Conservatory from 1885 to 1892, where he was a pupil of Antonín Dvořák and Antonín Bennewitz. In 1898, he married Dvořák's eldest daughter, Otilie Dvořáková , affectionately known as Otilka...
: Piano Quintets, Opp. 1 & 8 - Lotos - Suk: Piano Trio; Piano Quartet; Piano Quintet - Supraphon
Notable instruments
Suk played on rare instruments built by Antonio StradivariAntonio Stradivari
Antonio Stradivari was an Italian luthier and a crafter of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas, and harps. Stradivari is generally considered the most significant artisan in this field. The Latinized form of his surname, Stradivarius, as well as the colloquial, "Strad", is...
(1729), Giuseppe Guarneri
Giuseppe Guarneri
Bartolomeo Giuseppe Antonio Guarneri, del Gesù was an Italian luthier from the Guarneri house of Cremona. He rivals Antonio Stradivari with regard to the respect and reverence accorded his instruments, and he has been called the finest violin maker of the Amati line...
"del Gesu" (1744) and Giovanni Battista Guadagnini
Giovanni Battista Guadagnini
Giovanni Battista Guadagnini ; was an emiliano luthier, regarded as one of the finest craftsmen of string instruments in history.-Biography:...
(1758).