Karel Boleslav Jirák
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Karel Boleslav Jirák | |
|---|---|
 Karel Boleslav Jirák,1929 | |
| Born | Karel Bohuslav Jirák January 28, 1891 |
| Died | January 30, 1972 (aged 81) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Nationality | Czechoslovak |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, conductor |
| Known for | Composition, conducting |
| Notable work | Apolonius z Tyany (later titled Žena a Bůh), six symphonies, Symphonic Scherzo |
Karel Boleslav Jirák (né Karel Bohuslav Jirák; January 28, 1891, Prague, Bohemia – January 30, 1972, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) was a Czechoslovak composer and conductor.
Jirák became a pupil of Josef Bohuslav Foerster and Vítězslav Novák at the Charles University and at music academy in Prague. From 1915-18 he was the Kapellmeister at the Hamburg Opera and worked from 1918 to 1919 as a conductor at the National Theatre in Brno and Ostrava.[1]
From 1920-30, he was a composition teacher at the Prague Conservatory, and principal conductor of the Czechoslovak Radio Orchestra until 1945.[citation needed]
In 1947, he emigrated to the United States, where from 1948 to 1967 a professor at Roosevelt University, Chicago, and, in 1967, a composition teacher at the Conservatory college in Chicago. He remained in this position until 1971.[1]
Jirák's opera was Apolonius z Tyany (Apollonius of Tyana, 1912–1913), which was initially ignored by Prague's National Theatre and later accepted under the title Žena a Bůh (The Woman and the God, 1936). He wrote six symphonies and several symphonic variations.[citation needed]
In 1952, he wrote a Symphonic Scherzo for volume[clarification needed]. He also wrote many suites and overtures, numerous pieces of chamber music, many preludes and a Suite for organ, a Requiem, choruses, and song cycles. He was a popular and renowned musical theorist.[citation needed]
References
[edit]External links
[edit]- Biography, Musicbase.cz; accessed February 10, 2018.
- Piano Concerto (1946)
