jan novák, 1921-1984

composer

Jan Novák was born on 8 April 1921 in Nová Říše in Moravia. In 1933 he enrolled at the Jesuit Grammar School in Velehrad, which provided a first-class classical education, with emphasis being placed on languages (in addition to Latin and Greek, Russian, German and Esperanto were taught there). Yet owing to his transgressing the strict discipline that reigned at the institution he was expelled. Novák completed his secondary education at the Classical Grammar School in Brno and subsequently attended the Brno Conservatory, where he studied composition (with Vilém Petrželka), the piano and conducting. After spending two and a half years in Germany as a forced labourer, in 1945 he resumed his studies at the Brno Conservatory and after graduating in 1946 began attending the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, where he studied with Pavel Bořkovec, before returning to Brno to enrol at the newly founded Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts. As a recipient of a scholarship from the Jaroslav Ježek Foundation, from June 1947 to February 1948 he studied in the USA, first participating in the summer composition master classes at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood (in the class of Aaron Copland) and subsequently taking private lessons from Bohuslav Martinů in New York. The criticism Martinů initially levelled against Novák’s work (highlighting the somewhat awkward treatment of themes and sloppiness in development of motifs), first acted like a “cold shower” on the fledgling composer. After recovering from the initial shock, however, he experienced a learning curve he would never forget, with the time spent with Martinů and their friendship playing a crucial role in his evolution. Novák returned to Czechoslovakia in February 1948, at the time of the Communist coup. He settled in Brno, mainly earning his living by composing music for short and puppet films, radio and theatre plays, and by giving performances in a piano duo with his wife Eliška Nováková. His works dating from the 1950s, revealing a distinct Martinů influence, were symbolically ushered in by the Variations on a Bohuslav Martinů Theme for two pianos (1949) and its arrangement for orchestra (1959). Attention was also gained by his symphonic and concertante pieces (e.g. the Oboe Concerto written in 1952).In the 1960s, Novák further extended his range of genres and compositional means; for a short time he employed elements of dodecaphony and aleatoricism in his compositions, first applying the twelve-tone technique as a thematic material in the middle section of his Capriccio for cello and small orchestra (1958), with the chamber piece Passer Catulli (1962) being considered one of the apices of this phase. In 1963 he co-founded “Creative Group A”, made up of Brno-based composers and musicologists. From the end of the 1950s, a vital role in his creation was played by his penchant for Latin. The original use of the Latin meter while respecting the proportion between long and short syllables would serve as an impulse for his entire further work. A liberal-minded composer who always avowed his artistic and civic opinions, Novák ran into trouble with the official authorities and the dogmatism of the Czechoslovak Union of Composers, who with great difficulty tolerated his openness and “commotions”; after in 1961 he refused to participate in the election of lay judges, he was briefly expelled from the organisation, subordinate to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. Paradoxically, however, at that time he received commissions from leading Czech and Slovak film directors and created music for Karel Kachyňa (Suffering, Coach to Vienna, Night of the Bride, etc.), Jiří Trnka (The Cybernetic Grandma), Karel Zeman (The Stolen Airship) and Martin Hollý (Raven’s Road). Novák’s experience with film and incidental music also manifested itself in the extreme dramatic forcibility of his cantata Dido (1967) for mezzo-soprano, narrator, male chorus and orchestra to Book 4 of Virgil’s Aeneid, his paramount work prior to emigration. The composer perceived with hope the gradual unclamping of the social situation in Czechoslovakia in the second half of the 1960s. When in August 1968 the Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia, he was on a tour of Italy with the Kühn Mixed Choir. Novák decided not to return to his homeland and he, his wife and two little daughters left via Germany for Aarhus, Denmark. He responded to the tragic events back at home with the choral cantata to his own Latin lyrics Ignis pro Ioanne Palach (1969); another piece with a clearly political subtext was his cantata Planctus Troadum written in the same year. Dating from the time he and his family were about to move to Italy is Mimus magicus for soprano, clarinet and piano to Virgil’s poetry (1969), which Novák composed to commission for the competition in Rovereto, where his family subsequently moved. During his time in Italy (1970–77), Novák mainly created vocal and chamber pieces. Whereas he performed his choruses to Latin texts with his Voces Latinae choir, the bulk of his chamber works were written for his daughters, the pianist Dora and the flautist Clara. In the final phase of his career, following Novák’s departure for Germany, where in 1977 he and his family settled in Neu Ulm, he composed orchestral works (Ludi symphoniaci, Vernalis Temporis Symphonia for solos, chorus and orchestra, Symphonia Bipartita) and a number of pieces for chamber ensemble – Sonata da Chiesa I and II, Sonata solis fidibus for violin and the piano work Hymni Christiani. In addition to a looser fantasy form and a more extended structure, these pieces are characterised by a more profound musical expression. In 1982 the conductor Rafael Kubelík and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus performed the cantata Dido in Munich. During his lifetime, however, Novák did not experience great recognition of his work. On 17 November 1984 he died following a serious illness. In 1996, President Václav Havel awarded him a state honour in memoriam and in 2011 the composer’s remains were relocated from Rovereto to Brno.Novák’s relatively extensive oeuvre includes orchestral, chamber and vocal pieces, an opera, ballets, music for theatre, film and radio plays. The fundamental traits of his musical language are remarkably constant – a lucid form, a bold rhythmic component with frequent use of syncopated and ostinato rhythms, sophisticated melodic ideas, buoyancy, elegance, humour and slight provocation, occasionally employing banalities and trivialities. His linkage to Classicism and inspiration by Bohuslav Martinů’s compositional techniques, as well as the jazz influence and original application of the Latin meter, form a singular synthesis. Eva Nachmilnerová

compositions for solo and chamber music

PIANO

TOCCATA CHROMATICA, 1957. 7min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

LUDI PUERILES, Dětské hry

PUERILIA, 1977

HIRUNDINI, 1970

CARMINA, 1976

CANTICA, 1978. 23min.

ODAE, 1979. 15min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

CINQUE CAPRICCI, 1980. 19min.

ELEGANTIAE TRIPUDIORUM, 1980. 16min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

PRIMA SONATA, 1982. 19min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

IV HYMNI CHRISTIANI with voice ad lib., 1983. 16min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

piano 4 hands

RUSTICA MUSA II, 1975. 16min.

NOCTURNO, 1980. 5min.

2 pianos

VARIATIONES super thema Bohuslavi Martini, 1949. 15min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

HARPSICHORD

INVENTIONES PER TONOS XII, 1960. 20min.

SONATA BREVIS, 1960. Czech Radio Music Publishing

ORGAN

TOCCATA GEORGIANA, 1963. 6min.

IUBILATIONES, 1976. 10min. Baerenreiter Verlag

PHANTASIE, 1981

VIOLIN

SONATA SOLIS FIDIBUS, 1980. 20min.

violin and piano

POCKET SONATA, 1973. 7min.

SONATA super "HOSON ZES..." (also flute and piano), 1981. 20min. Baerenreiter Verlag

violin and guitar

SONATA SERENATA, 1981. 21min.

VIOLA AND ORGAN

SONATA DA CHIESA I, 1981. 19min.

VIOLONCELLO AND PIANO

CAPRICCIO (also with small orchestra), 1958. 15min.

ROTUNDELLI, 1981. 17min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

GUITAR

CITHARA POETICA, 1977.

2 guitars

ROSARIUM, 9 divertimenti, 1975

ACCORDION AND PIANO

SONATA RUSTICA, 1982. 18min.

FLUTE

DUE PRELUDI E FUGHE, 1979. 12min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

TIBIA FUGITIVA, 1979, 18min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

flute and piano

SONATINA, 1976. 9min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

CHOREAE VERNALES (also with guitar or string orchestra), 1977. 16min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

SONATA super "HOSON ZES..." (also violin and piano), 1981. 20min. Baerenreiter Verlag

piccolo and piano

MARSYAS, 1983. 13min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

flute and organ

SONATA DA CHIESA II, 1981. 17min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

2 flutes

SONATA GEMELLA, 1978. 15min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

2 flutes and piano

AEOLIA, 1983. 8min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

3 flutes

PANISCI FISTULA, 1972. 5min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

CLARINET and piano

SCHERZI PASTORALI, 1953, 10min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

CHAMBER MUSIC

horn and violin

PARVUM OFFICIUM, 1976. 8min

flute, violin and piano

SONATA TRIBUS, 1982. Czech Radio Music Publishing

bassoon, cello and piano

SONATA PHANTASIA, 1982. 15min.

4 horns

STREPITUS FESTIVI, 1982. 5min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

2 trumpets and 2 trombones

KASACE, 1946, 9.min

string quartet

STRING QUARTET, 1946

3 INVENCE, 9min.

QUADRICINIUM FIDIUM I, 1978

woodwind quartet (oboe, clar., horn, bassoon)

IOCI PASTORALES, 1972. 14min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

woodwind quintet

CONCERTINO, 1957. 12min.

flute, oboe, 2 violins, cello and piano

VII METAMORPHOSES IN "PASTORALE" (Beethoven), 1983. 9min.

nonet (woodwind quintet, violin, viola, cello, double bass)

BALLETTI a 9, 1955. 19min. baerenreiter

orchestral music

big ensemble

LUDI CONCERTANTES for 18 instruments, 1981

wind band

MUSICA CAESARIANA, 1960

string orchestra

ODARUM CONCENTUS, 1973. 13min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

concerti

CONCERTO for oboe and small orchestra, 1952

CONCERTO for 2 pianos and orchestra, 1955, 28min.

CAPRICCIO for cello and small orchestra, 1958

CONCENTUS EURYDICAE for guitar and string orchestra, 1971

CONCENTUS BIJUGIS for piano 4 hands and orchestra, 1976

CHOREAE VERNALES for flute and string orchestra with harp and celesta or piano, 1977. 16min.

symphony orchestra

PŘÍSLOVĚČNÉ POLKY, 1952.

THE SPECTRE’S BRIDE (SVATEBNÍ KOŠILE), orchester suite, 1954.

VARIATIONES super THEMA BOHUSLAVI MARTINU, 1959 15min.

PHILHARMONIC DANCES, 1956. 16min. Baerenreiter

LUDI SYMPHONIACI, 1978. 23min.

ELEGANTIAE TRIPUDIORUM, 1980.

VERNALIS TEMPORIS SYMPHONIA with choir and soloists, 1982. 31min.

SYMPHONIA BIPARTITA, 1983. 20min.

vocal music

solo voice and accompaniment

CARMINA SULAMITIS, for mezzosoprano and piano/small orchestra, 1947. 19min

X HORATII CARMINA, for voice and piano, 1959

FLORILEGIUM CANTIONUM LATINARUM, for voice and piano, 1970

SCHOLA CANTANS, for voice and piano, 1974

COLUMBAE PACIS ET ALIUD PECUS, for high voice and piano, 1972

IV HYMNI CHRISTIANI with voice ad lib., 1983. 16min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

CANTICA LATINA, for voice and piano, 1984

DAVID V MĚSÍCI, for voice and violin, 1955

DE AMORE AMARYLLIDIS CARMINA, voice and guitar, 1970

CANTIONES LATINAE, voice and guitar, 1971

DULCES CANTILENAE, for soprano and cello, 1961, 8min.

APICIUS MODULATUS, high voice and guitar, 1971

KOUZELNÉ PÍSNĚ - MAGIC SONGS, for soprano, flute and small drum, 13,30min. Czech Radio Music Publishing

MIMUS MAGICUS, for soprano, clarinet or flute and piano, 1969. Czech Radio Music Publishing

LUSCINIA PARADISI, for voice and viola d'amore, 1956, 6,30 min.

ORPHEUS ET EURYDICE, for soprano, viola d'amore and piano, 1970, 24min.

PASSER CATULLI, for bass and 9 instruments, 1962, 9min.

IOCI VERNALES, for bass, 8 instruments and tape, 1964, 22min.

PÍSEŇ ZÁVIŠOVA, for tenor and orchestra, 1958, 21 min.

choir

3 CANTILENAE (Tři Kanzonety), for three voices, 1958

MEDITATIO CANINA, for 4 children's voices, 1967, 8min.

AMORES SULPICIAE, for 4 women's voices, 1967

CATULLI LESBIA, for men's choir, 1967, 13min.

IN PONTE PRAGENSI (Na tom Pražském mostě), for 4 women's voices, 1967, 10min.

SUB GALLI CANTUM, for 3 equal voices, 1977

POLITICON, for men's choir, 1977, 13min.

mixed choir

MISSA PHILADELPHIAE, soprano, alto, tenor (baritone), 2 bass, 1952, 10,30min.

EXERCITIA MYTHOLOGICA, 4-8 voices, 1968

CANTI NATALIZI, 1970

RANA RUPTA, for 5 voices, 1971

SERVATO PEDE ET POLLICIS ICTU, for 4 voices, 1974.

IV FUGAE VERGILIANAE, for 4 voices, 1974, 19min.

BENE UXORATI VIRI CANTUS, 1978

MUSARUM INVOCATIO, for 4 voices, 1979, 3min.

EIS APHRODITEM, for 4 voices, 1980, 6min.

choir with instruments

ASTACUS ET NEAERA, for mixed choir, recit, violin and piano, 1973, 16min.

INVITATIO PASTORUM, for 6 voices and flute, 1974, 12min.

APELLAE TESTAMENTUM, for 4 voices and 4 horns, 1975

DICTERIA, for 2 children's voices and violin, 1975

GLORIA, for 3 women's voices and organ, 1977, 3min.

AESOPIA MINORA for choir and small orchestra or two pianos, 1981

AVE MARIA, for 3 women's voices and organ, 1983, 3min.

IN TUMULUM PARIDIS, for 4 voices and flute, 1983

cantatas

DIDO, for mezzosoprano, recitant, men's choir and orchestra, 1967

PLANCTUS TROADUM, for alto, women's choir, 8 celli, 2 double basses and two percussions, 1969

IGNIS PRO IOANNE PALACH, for choir and orchestra, 1969, 9min. Baerenreiter Verlag

theater

THE SPECTRE'S BRIDE ( SVATEBNÍ KOŠILE), ballet, also orchestral suite or piano suite, 1954

DULCITIUS, opera after Roswitha von Gandersheim, 1974. 60min.

AESOPIA, ballet, for choir and small orchestra, 1981

editions & contact

czech radio music publishing house

https://www.czech.radio/publishing

nakladatelstvi@rozhlas.cz

Baerentreiter Verlag

Heinrich-Schütz-Allee 35-37

34131 Kassel
Germany

https://www.baerenreiter.com

contact: clara.novakova@gmail.com

contact