Victor Kolar was a Hungarian

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

-born American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 composer

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 conductor. Kolar was born in Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

 and 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 :...

, where he was a pupil of Otakar Ševčík

Otakar Ševcík

Otakar Ševčík was a Czech violinist and influential teacher. He was known as a soloist and an ensemble player, including his occasional performances with Eugène Ysaÿe.-Biography:...

 (violin) and 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...

 (composition). From 1905 until 1920 he was a violin

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 with the Pittsburgh Symphony and New York Symphony, joining the Detroit Symphony in 1920 as an assistant conductor. He remained with the orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

 until 1941, eventually assuming the post of principal conductor. Active as a composer as well, he wrote 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...

, some tone poems and a few orchestral suites. Of these last, his Americana won first prize in a 1914 contest sponsored by the Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 State Teachers Association.

Kolar died in Detroit in 1957.

Selected Compositions

• Hiawatha, a symphonic poem, performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
  Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
  The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The orchestra's home is Heinz Hall, located in Pittsburgh's Cultural District.-History:...
  
   Jan 31, 1908
• A Fairy Tale, a symphonic poem, performed by the New York Symphony Orchestra
  New York Symphony Orchestra
  The New York Symphony Orchestra was founded as the New York Symphony Society in New York City by Leopold Damrosch in 1878. For many years it was a fierce rival to the older Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York. It was supported by Andrew Carnegie who built Carnegie Hall expressly for the...
  
   Feb 16, 1913
• Americana, Opus 20, a symphonic suite, performed by the New York Symphony Orchestra
  New York Symphony Orchestra
  The New York Symphony Orchestra was founded as the New York Symphony Society in New York City by Leopold Damrosch in 1878. For many years it was a fierce rival to the older Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York. It was supported by Andrew Carnegie who built Carnegie Hall expressly for the...
  
  , Jan 25, 1914
• Symphony in D, performed by the New York Symphony Orchestra
  New York Symphony Orchestra
  The New York Symphony Orchestra was founded as the New York Symphony Society in New York City by Leopold Damrosch in 1878. For many years it was a fierce rival to the older Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York. It was supported by Andrew Carnegie who built Carnegie Hall expressly for the...
  
  , Jan 28, 1916
• Slovakian Rhapsody, for orchestra, performed at the Norfolk Connecticut Music Festival on June 7, 1922

US Citizenship

Victor Kolar became a US citizen March 19, 1906, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania sits in Pittsburgh, Erie, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It is composed of ten judges as authorized by federal law. The Honorable Judge Gary L. Lancaster is currently Chief Judge of the Western Pennsylvania District...

.