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Miloslav Kabeláč

From Unearthing The Music

Miloslav Kabeláč. Photo sourced from Discogs

Miloslav Kabeláč (1 August 1908 – 17 September 1979) was a prominent Czech composer and conductor. Miloslav Kabeláč is one of the foremost Czech symphonists, and his work is sometimes compared with Antonín Dvořák's and Bohuslav Martinů's. In the communist period Kabeláč's work found itself on the periphery of official attention and was performed only sporadically and in a limited choice of compositions.

Biography

Kabeláč was born in Prague. In 1928–31 he studied at the Prague Conservatory as a pupil of Karel Boleslav Jirák, simultaneously (in 1930–31) he was a pupil of Alois Hába. In 1932–54 Kabeláč was employed by Prague Radio. From 1957 to 1968 he worked as a teacher at the Prague Conservatory. He had heralded the successful creative development of his pupils - Zdenek Lukas, Jan Malek, Jaroslav Krcek, Jan Slimacek and Ivana Loudova. Among others his, work has been quoted by Jaroslav Krcek in his violin concerto, and by the Slovak composer Roman Berger in his composition for organ Exodus II.

During his life Kabeláč was active in Umělecká beseda, in the Federation of Czechoslovak Composers and other organisations. In the 1960s he tried to revive contacts with Western modern music and composers, but after the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia he was mostly silenced. His works were essentially performed only abroad from then on.

He was active at the Service de la Recherche de I O.R.T.F. and the Centre for Electronic Music in Utrecht. He passed the newly-won knowledge over to the Czech creative public through his seminars of electronic and concrete music, established by Radio Prague between 1968-70.

Works

Miloslav Kabeláč is one of the most distinguished Czech composers of the 20th century. His music is characterised by his own extraordinary artificial tone-creative principles. His musical expression makes use of elements of exclamation, rhythmic shouts, monotonous and exalted invocations, mysterious, magical and symbolic meanings. The basic idea of Kabeláč’s works is an emphatic warning against the danger of a decline of all positive values of humanity in context of the historical situation at the time of the origin of main works (World War II, communist regime and the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968).

In his early career and during war time Kabeláč focused on chamber opuses (Wind Sextet, Sonata for cello and piano, Two pieces for violin and piano) and Symphonic (1st and 2nd symphonies). Over time he explored other directions (as in the pieces 8th symphony, Mysterium of Time and Reflections, some of his most significant works), including pieces for drums and percussion (such as Eight Inventions for percussion). In the 1960s, which saw him gain wide recognition in the form of the State Prize and Foreign Orders, he received influences from the foreign avant-garde, which he had organically incorporated into his compositional morphology. He also excelled in pedagogical activities and was highly interested in non-European cultures. He was one of the first promoters of electro-acoustic music in Czechoslovakia.

Numerous choreographers have also taken up his work "Eight Inventions for Percussion Instruments.", Alvin Ailey with the American Dance Theater is perhaps the most prominent among them, and his choreography titled Streams, was performed in Prague in 1979.[1]

Symphonies

  • Symphony No. 1 in D for strings and percussion, Op. 11 (1941–42)
  • Symphony No. 2 in C for large orchestra, Op. 15 (1942–46)
  • Symphony No. 3 in F for organ, brass and timpani, Op. 33 (1948–57)
  • Symphony No. 4 in A, "Chamber Symphony", Op. 36 (1954–58)
  • Symphony No. 5 in B flat minor, "Dramatic", for soprano without text, and orchestra, Op. 41 (1960)
  • Symphony No. 6 "Concertante", for clarinet and orchestra, Op. 44 (1961–62)
  • Symphony No. 7 for orchestra and reciter on the composer's text after the Bible, Op. 52 (1967–68)
  • Symphony No. 8 "Antiphonies", for soprano, mixed choir, percussion and organ, on words from the Bible, Op. 54 (1970)

Further orchestral works

  • Overture No. 2 for large orchestra, Op. 17 (1947)
  • Childish Moods. Little orchestral suite, Op. 22 (1955)
  • Suite from the music to Sophocles' Electra for alto, female choir and orchestra, Op. 28a (1956)
  • Mystery of Time. Passacaglia for large orchestra, Op. 31 (1953–57)
  • Three Melodramas to accompany the play Kuo Mo-jo "Master of Nine Songs" for reciter and chamber orchestra, Op. 34b (1957)
  • Hamlet Improvisation for large orchestra, Op. 46 (1962–63)
  • Reflections. Nine miniatures for orchestra, Op. 49 (1963–64)
  • Metamorphoses II, for piano and orchestra, Op. 58 (1979)

Piano compositions

  • Passacaglia TGM, Op. 3 (1937)
  • 7 compositions for piano, Op. 14 (1944–47)
  • Easy Preludes, Op. 26 (1955)
  • 8 preludes for piano, Op. 30 (1955–56)
  • Cizokrajné motivy – Motifs from Foreign Countries, Op. 38 (1959)
  • Small Suite for piano 4 hands, Op. 42 (1960)

Organ compositions

  • Fantasies for organ in G minor and D minor, Op. 32 (1957–58)
  • 4 preludes for organ, Op. 48 (1963)

Other chamber compositions

  • Wind Sextet, Op. 8 (1940)
  • Sonatina for oboe and piano, Op. 24 (1955)
  • Ballad for violin and piano, Op. 27 (1956)
  • Suite for saxophone and piano, Op. 39 (1959)
  • 8 Invenzioni for percussion instruments, Op. 45 (1962–63)
  • Otto ricercari, for percussion instruments, Op. 51 (1966–67)
  • Lamenti e risolini 8 bagatelles, for flute and harp, Op. 53 (1969)
  • Fated Dramas of Man. Sonata for trumpet, piano and percussion instruments with recitation, Op. 56 (1975–76)
  • Compositions for solo voice with accompaniment
  • Moravian Lullabies for soprano and chamber orchestra, on texts from folk poetry, Op. 20 (1951)
  • Love Songs for soprano, baritone and piano, Op. 25 (1955)
  • Six Lullabies on text folk poetry for alto solo, small female choir and instrumental ensemble, or for alto and piano, Op. 29 (1955)
  • Hunters' Songs for baritone and 4 horns, Op. 37 (1958–59)
  • Echoes from Far Away. 5 songs for alto and piano, without words, Op. 47 (1963)

Choruses

  • 6 choruses for male choir on words by Jiří Wolker, Op. 10 (1939–40)
  • Blue Sky. Children's choruses on the poetry by František Hrubín, after the pictorial cycle of Josef Čapek, Op. 19 (1950)
  • To Nature. Cycle of children's choruses on the words of folk poetry, Op. 35 (1957–58)

Cantatas

  • Do Not Retreat!. Cantata for male voice choir, wind and percussion instruments on folk texts and the words of the chorale "Ye Warriors of God", Op. 7 (1939)
  • Eufemias mysterion (Mystery of Silence), for soprano and chamber orchestra to Greek words, Op. 50 (1964–65)
  • Metamorphoses I of the oldest Czech chorale for mixed choir, solo baritone, male voice choir and solo higher female voice), Op. 57 (1979)

Electro-acoustic music

  • E fontibus Bohemicis. Visiones sex (6 tableaux from Czech annals), Op. 55 (1965–72) [Latin for From Bohemian springs: Six views]

References

  1. "Miloslav Kabeláč". Vltava (in Czech). 2012-04-24. Retrieved 2020-04-10.
  2. Jiří Vysloužil: Hudební slovník pro každého II. Vizovice: Lípa, 2001. ISBN 80-86093-23-9
  3. Miloslav Kabeláč – Eugen Suchoň, Prague: NAMU, 2010, 196 pp. ISBN 9788073311582. (Czech)
  4. Discogs Profile

External links

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