Vítězslav
Novák
Born: December 5,
1870 in Kamenice nad Lipou, Southern Bohemia
Died: July 18, 1949
in Skutec, Czech Republic
Biography
by
Zoran Minderovic
An eminent
Czech composer, Vitezslav Novák is known for his evocative music in which
innovative harmonies and memorable tone colors are used to express a wide range
of emotions, including inner turmoil, diffuse melancholy, and nostalgia, as
well as a mystical recognition of the awesome power of nature. Like many of his
compatriots, Novák incorporated elements of Czech folk music into his work;
however, the folk motifs are highly stylized, constituting a significant but
not dominant strand in the rich texture of his music.
Novák's
musical talent was discovered early by a sympathetic teacher who developed the
youth's skills in piano and composition. In 1889, Novák obtained a scholarship
to study law at Charles University in Prague, and he also enrolled at the
Prague Conservatory. At the Conservatory, Novák studied piano with Josef
Jiránek, counterpoint with Karel Stecker, and harmony with Karel Knittl. Of all
of his teachers. Knittl was the least sympathetic; in fact, Knittl was so
perturbed by Novák's inventive approach to harmony that he savagely criticized
his student, effectively undermining his self-confidence as a composer.
Fortunately, Stecker showed more intelligence and actually recommended Novák
for Dvorák's master class in 1891. Novák and Dvorák may have disagreed about
compositional technique, but Dvorák was known for his respect for every
student's artistic individuality. Novák's early work was composed in the
Romantic idiom, and he attracted the attention of Brahms, who recommended the
young Czech composer to his publisher, Simrock. In 1896, during a visit to
northern and eastern Moravia, Novák discovered the region's unusual and
somewhat exotic folk music; while folk music never influenced Novák's work
directly, this encounter prompted him to expand his musical language and
transcend the idiom of Romanticism. The effect is evident in his remarkable
Quintet for piano & strings, composed in 1896, in which Novák successfully
blends elements of his early style with a natural melodic spontaneity inspired
by folk music. In his popular symphonic poems, V Tatràch (In the Tatra
Mountains), composed in 1902, and the Slovak Suite, written the following year,
Novák created powerful musical representations of natural beauty. In fact, In
the Tatra Mountains, which captures the many facets of the majestic landscape
of the Tatras, has been favorably compared to the Alpine Symphony by Richard
Strauss. Detailed in its description of the many splendors of nature, Novák's
music also develops a few fundamental, archetypal images, such as the moonlit
night and water. A quiet pond in the South Bohemian Suite, a mountain stream in
the monumental tone poem for piano, Pan (1910), water becomes an overwhelming
and boundless force in the Storm, a dramatic cantata also completed in 1910.
Having succeeded Dvorák as professor of composition at the Prague Conservatory
in 1908, Novák dedicated his energies to teaching. In 1919, when his popularity
as a composer seemed to be waning, he started a master class at the
Conservatory, attracting many promising composers, including Alois Hába. While
Novák's works composed in the 1920s, including operas and ballets, were
regarded as less-successful than his earlier compositions, the symphonic works
written toward the end of his life are mature, thoughtful creations. These
compositions include the South Bohemian Suite (1937), De Profundis (1941), and
May Symphony (1943). The two last works expressed the composer's thoughts about
the destiny of his country in the midst of World War II. As scholars have
noted, while Novák's style is fundamentally melodic, he is also a master of
harmonic development and contrapuntal construction. His compositional skill is
exemplified by his extraordinary ability to create a towering structure, such
as Pan, on the basis of a brief motif.
Source: AllMusic
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