Ivan Parík

Ivan Parík (Born 17 August 1936 in Bratislava - died 2 March 2005 in Bratislava) was a Slovak composer and teacher.

Life

He graduated from a grammar school in Bratislava in 1953. During his studies at the grammar school, he studied privately with Alexander Albrecht. He continued at the Bratislava Conservatory, where he learned composition from Andrej Očenáš and conducting from Kornel Schimpl. He completed his studies in 1962 at the Academy of Performing Arts with Alexander Moyzes.

From 1959 he worked as a dramaturge in Czechoslovak Television in Bratislava. After graduating from the Academy of Performing Arts, he became a teacher of music theory and composition at this school and in 1984–1994 he led the Department of Music Theory. He was appointed Professor in 1990 and became Rector of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava in 1994. From 2003 until his death in 2005, he worked as the head of the Department of Music Education at the Faculty of Education of Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra.

Work

In his early days, the work of Ivan Parík was influenced by the work of Claude Debussy, Paul Hindemith and Béla Bartók. Later he was inspired by songs of the post-war avant-garde, especially Anton Webern. He has also significantly influenced the development of electro-acoustic music.

Orchestral Compositions

• Overture for the Great Orchestra (1962)
• Ballet Music Four Fragments for Big Orchestra (1968)
• Fragments (Suite of Ballet 1969)
• Musica pastoralis for Great Orchestra (1984)
• Musica festiva (1981)
• Triptych. Contemplation on Jacopone da Todi's Poems for Soprano and Orchestra (2003)
• Music for Flute, Viola and Orchestra (1987)

Chamber Music

• Flute Sonata (1962)
• Trumpet Sonata (1965)
• Cello Sonata (1967)
• Exercises for Trumpet (1968)
• Violin Sonata (1971)
• Sonata for Oboe (1973)
• Sonata for Clarinet (1974)
• Bassoon Sonata (1975)
• Trumpet Sonata (1975)
• Sonata for Viola (1983)
• Singing for Flute (1991)
• Meditation (1956)
• Jar for Flute and Harp (1958)
• High Old Tree Song for Cello and Piano (1962)
• Epitaph II. for flute and guitar (1976)
• Nocturno for Violin and Piano (1979)
• Duo for Violas (1981)
• Meditation on Jacopone da Todi's Texts for Flute and Organ (1997)
• Three meditations. A Series of Three Short Songs for Trumpet in B and Organ (1999)
• Improvisation Epitaph for Flute, Viola and Cello (1961)
• Micro studies for flute, viola and harpsichord (1963)
• Music for Three (1964)
• Quadrophony for Four Cellos (1987)
• Music for Four String Instruments (1958)
• Music for Miloš Urbásek for String Quartet (1981)
• Song for String Quartet (1997)

Piano Works

• Rhapsody for Piano (1956)
• Three Piano Songs (1960)
• Songs about falling leaves for piano (1962)
• Sonata for Piano (1966)
• Leaves to girlfriend. Five Little Pieces for Piano (1994)
• Night for Two Pianos (1956)

Organ

• Missa Brevis for Organ (1957 1957, rev. 1999)
• Pastorale for Organ (1979)
• Kyrie to Memory of Constantine the Philosopher for Organ (1997)

Vocal Songs

• Two Songs on the Texts of Old Japanese Poets (1959)
• Seen Close To The Lake For A Reciter And 10 Instruments (1979)
• Two arias on fragments of Stabat mater for tenor (soprano) and organ (piano) (1989)
• Missa brevis (vocal-instrumental adaptation, 2001)
• Meditation (Aria III) for Soprano, Flute and Organ (2002)
• Two Slovak Folk Songs (1960)
• Departure Time (Autumn Herd, Indian Summer) (1976-78)
• Missa brevis for mixed choir (1957 1957, rev. 1997)
• Quotes for mixed choir (1964)
• Mixed Choir Study (1965)
• Between the Mountains for Mixed Choir (1973)
• Hay. Mixed Chorus at the Poetry of M. Rúfus (1982)

Electroacoustic compositions

• Hommage to William Croft
• Music for Opening II (1970)
• Variations on Miloš Urbásek's Paintings (1970)
• In memoriam Ockeghem (1971)
• Sonata-canon for cello and mg. belt (1971)
• Tower Music for Brass and Drums (1971)
• Sonata pastoralis (1974)
• Outside the Door (1974)
• Cantica Feralia (1975)
• Homage to Hummel (1980)
• Concerto Grosso (1991)

Literature

• Czechoslovak Music Dictionary of Persons and Institutions II. (M – Ž), 1965, Státní hudební vydavatelství, Praha, p
• Zuzana Martináková: Ivan Parík. Slovak Composers After 1900. Formation and Styles . Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica, Banská Bystrica 2002, pp. 196–206
• Ľubomír Chalupka: Slovak musical avant-garde. The stylistic formation of the composer's generation coming in the 1960s. Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava 2011

Text adapted from the Czech Wikipedia.