suk, josef (i) in oxford music online

8/11/2019 Suk, Josef (i) in Oxford Music Online

1/5

Oxford Music Online

articleurl: http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/27094

Suk, Josef (i)

(b Keovice, 4 Jan 1874; dBeneov, nr Prague, 29 May 1935). Czech composer and violinis t.

1. Life.

He learnt the piano, the violin and the organ from his father, Josef Suk (18271913),schoolmas ter and choirmas ter in the Bohemian village of Keovice. In 1885 he entered thePrague Conservatory, where he studied the violin with Bennewitz, theory with Foerster, Knittl andStecker, and from 1888 chamber music with Wihan. He began composing seriously in his thirdyear at the conservatory and in 1891 graduated with his Piano Quartet op.1. He remained an extrayear at the conservatory for special tuition in chamber mus ic with Wihan and compos ition withDvok, who had joined the teaching staff in January 1891. Under Wihan, Suk played secondviolin in the group which in 1892 became known as the Czech Quartet; its first concert in Vienna(1893) won the approval of Brahms and Hansl ick and inaugurated a distinguished internationalcareer during which it gave more than 4000 concerts until Suks retirement in 1933. UnderDvok, Suk graduated from the conservatory in 1892 with his Dramatick ouverturaop.4. He was

Dvoks favourite pupil and in 1898 married his daughter Otilie (Otilka). Simrock had publ ishedhis Serenade for strings op.6 (1892) in 1896 on Brahms s recommendation and by the turn of thecentury Suk was regarded, with Novk, as the leading composer of the modern Czech school. In1922 he was appointed professor of composition for the advanced classes of the PragueConservatory, where he trained 35 compos ers, including Bokovec, Jeek, Hlobil, Martin, Reiner,Vak and several Slovenes, Croats, Serbs and Poles. During his four terms as rector (19246,19335) he worked energetically to raise the standards of the conservatory. He was anextraordinary (1901) and ordinary (1913) member of the Czech Academy of Sciences and in 1933was awarded an honorary doctorate by Brno University.

Josef Suk: portrait by Dr Desiderius, watercolour, 1928

2. Works.Suk won early success as a composer, writing some of his best-known pieces (the Serenade forstrings and the Pse lsky,Love Song, from his op.7 piano pieces, 18913) before he was 20,and was soon regarded as Dvoks natural successor. Despite opportunities through his

Grove Music Online

Suk, Josef (i)
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/img/grove/music/F920036http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/img/grove/music/F920036http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/img/grove/music/F920036http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/img/grove/music/F920036http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/book/omo_gmohttp://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/img/grove/music/F920036


2/5

constant travels as a performer to hear the latest European novelties he was subject to no otherstrong musical influences; his virtuoso orchestral technique and subtle control of sound show hisawareness of Strauss and the French Impressionists, but he followed his own path in a steady,organic development from lyrical Romanticism towards a complex polytonal mus ical language.

Like his teacher Dvok he was m ost at home with instrumental music. His early mass (188890) was his only venture into liturgical music; he wrote almos t no songs; and the three choral setsof 18991900, opp.15, 18 and 19, though well made and effective, are ess entially explorations ofa genre to which he returned only once more with his m ale-voice choruses op.32 (191112). He

wrote no operas but the second of the two plays for which he suppl ied incidental music, Podjab lon(Beneath the Apple Tree, op.20, 190001), includes sus tained choral scenes which givethe suite (1912) arranged from it an almost oratorio-like character. As in the earlier score Radz aMahulena(Radz and Mahulena, 18978), there are, in addition to the instrumental pieces, afew short songs and some melodrama passages for important scenes.

It is surprising that as a profess ional quartet player Suk wrote so little chamber music. Much of itoriginated from his student days as he tried out various combinations (the String Quartet in Dminor, 1888; Piano Trio op.2, Piano Quartet op.1 and Piano Quintet op.8, 188993). The mos tsuccessful chamber work from this period is the String Quartet op.11 (1896), which has all thefreshness and melodic charm of Suks early music and, in its s low movement, a foretaste of themore s erious and personal style ofAsrael. He wrote only one more quartet (op.31, 1911).

Although his only important works for the solo violin are the well-known tyi skladby(FourPieces, op.17, 1900) and a one-movement concerto, the Fantasy op.24 (19023), the sound ofthe solo violin combining with the orchestra is one that permeates much of Suks music, from thefamous Radzsolo onwards. Suk was also a fine pianist, performing frequently to his friends andoccasionally in public, and he wrote rather more piano music. The earlier compositions weregenerally published in small groups of characteristic pieces (opp.7, 10 and 12, 18916) whosefull-blooded, well-placed chords suggest Brahms, but whose undemanding forms, rich ifmeretricious harmony, melodic clichs and fluent passage-work more often suggest the salon.The Suite op.21 (1900, originally planned as a sonatina) attempts a more balanced design,continued in the programmatic suites Jaro(Spring) op.22aand Letn dojmy(SummerImpressions ) op.22b , both written in 1902 after the birth of his son. They illustrate Sukssubjective Romantic piano s tyle at its ripest, the last piece of op.22a, V roztouen (In Love),achieving a popularity similar to that of the Love Songfrom op.7. But op.22aalso contains Vnek(The Breeze), a delicate, Impress ionis tic piece, revealing a more imaginative approach tofiguration, and a type of harmony that was turning from heavy chromaticism to a more modalidiom. These qualities, and the intimate nature of O matince(About Mother, op.28, 1907), writtenafter the death of his wife, are developed in Suks greatest work for the piano, the suite of ten shortpieces ivotem a snem(Things Lived and Dream t, op.30, 1909). All have detailed descriptionsof their character, some have additional programm es (no.5 on the recovery of my son) and allinhabit a very personal world; in their economical evocation of mood, their exploration of newmus ical means and their assured piano technique they foreshadow Debuss ys Prludes. In laterpiano works s uch as Ukobavky(Lullabies, op.33, 191012) and O ptelstv(AboutFriendship, op.36, 1920), Suk pared down his means to achieve a class ic simplicity in which the

subtle control of harmony is particularly striking.

Suks central achievement was in orches tral mus ic. The high point of his early orchestral writingis the Serenade for strings op.6 (1892) and the op.16 suite, Pohdka(Fairy Tale, 18991900),arranged from the Radzmus ic. The more ambitious works that followed, the Violin Fantasyop.24 (19023) and the Straussian tone poem Pragaop.26 (1904), have a sl ightly portentousquality that seems out of keeping with Suks limited emotional range up to then. The deaths ofDvok (1904) and his daughter (1905), Suks young wife, within the space of 14 monthsshattered the composers li fe and attitudes, and set into motion the vastAsraelsymphony op.27(19056). It is arguably his greatest work, and one of the finest and mos t eloquent pieces oforchestral music of its time, comparable with Mahler in its s tructural mastery and emotionalimpact. Although none of the orchestral works which followAsraelare designated symphonies, all

have symphonic ambitions and proportions, particularly the two single-movement pieces Zrn(Ripening, op.34, 19127) and Epilogop.37 (192029). Pohdka lta(A Summers Tale, op.29,19079) is the lightest of the post-Asraelorchestral works, a suite more than a symphony,showing a s erene acceptance of life whose equanimity is dis turbed only by the poignancy of theBlind Musicians movement or the Mahlerian imagery of the fourth movement, In the Power of


3/5

Phantoms. As the title suggests, Ripeningcharts a mans personal development (that of Sukhimself) as he grows through the pain of lifes tragedies. In Epilogthe psychological programme made more concrete by the texts sung by solois ts and chorus becomes darker as its subjectbegins to contemplate his own mortality.

3. Style.

Unlike his Czech contemporaries Janek and Novk, Suk derived almost no stimulus from folkmus ic and very little from li terary sources . Julius Zeyers was the only important literary influenceon him: his Radz and Mahulena, with its legendary Slavonic world, its mess age of true,courageous love and clear-cut moral values articulated much of the young Suks outlook on life.Its dreamy, sl ightly sad, introspective mood is one that runs through much of Suks early music, atfirst no more perhaps than as a fin-de-siclepess imism, but soon acquiring a specificallySlavonic direction characterized by his dumka mus ic. Suk wrote dumkas in opp.7 and 21 (thepoco tristemovement of op.17 was also originally entitled Dumka) but there are dumka-likemovements (such as the Legendaof op.10) in all his early mus ic. The funeral march is anotherRadzfeature, anticipated in Suks early orchestral funeral m arch (1889, dedicated to himself),apotheosized in the second movement ofAsraeland becoming terrifyingly grim in the march

section of Ripening(based on the seventh piece, marked forthright, later with an expression ofoverpowering force, of Things Lived and Dreamt). In the polka mus ic for the game of the swanand the peacocks in Radz(later worked into the second movement of the suite) Suk wrote in apopular s tyle derived from Czech dance music. There are other such pieces among the pianomus ic (notably the minuet from op.21) and even during the years of Ripeningand EpilogSukwrote light, appealing music such as the Ella Polka(1909) or the marches V nov ivot(Towardsa New Life, op.35c, 191920), which won him an award at the 1932 Olympics at Los Angeles,and Pod Blankem(Beneath Blank, 1932). His las t composition was a Czech dance, aSousedsk(1935) for small chamber ensemble.

Radzis central to Suks development. He identified the young couple Radz and Mahulena wi thhimself and his wife at the happies t time of their lives; it drew from him his m ost radiant, tender,

earnest and abundantly melodic mus ic. He remodelled some of it in his next work, the womenschoruses op.15. It also became a point of reference for future works, its death motif of twoaugmented 4ths recurring prominently fromAsraelonwards. There are other examples in Sukslater mus ic (notably in Things Lived and Dreamtand Ripening) of self-quotation and otherpersonal symbols. Another prominent topos is that of the fantastic dance. Early examples are theBacchanale in Beneath the Apple Tree(190001) and the Fantastick scherzoop.25 (1903), adanse macabrewith banal waltz rhythms, quirky chromatic tunes and highly imaginativeorchestration. Later metamorphoses in the scherzo movements ofAsraelandA Summers Talesuppress the dance element and heighten the malevolence of the fantasy. In Epilogthe dance ispropelled by the biblical quotation sung by the male chorus: Prach jsi a v prach se obrt!(Death thou art and unto death shalt thou return!). This verbal context, together with the deaththeme from Radzon the brass cutting through skirling wind, scurrying strings, death-rattle s ide-

drums and the moaning of demons (the wordless male chorus), conjures up an apocalypticvision whose intensity is unique in Suks work.

Suks late orchestral music had become very complicated. His harmony was originallysensuous ly Romantic, with a fondness for augmented chords (especially that of the augmented5th), chromatic alteration, Neapolitan relations and the tonal ambiguity produced by frequentpedals (e.g. in pedal movements such as the lullaby fromAbout Motherand the secondmovement ofAsrael). Later he began to exploit polytonality more explicitly and systematically inRipeningand Epilog. He was able to make these last scores comprehensible only by his preciseaural imagination and his superb craftsmanship as an orchestrator, a skill on which he placedgreat emphasis as a teacher.

Suks later formal control grew from unpretentious beginnings. Most of his piano pieces havesimple repetitive structures; he s uccessfully employed (e.g. in the violin Balada, 1890) thefashionable monothematicism of the time but his early attempts at sonata form, even in the lastmovement of the Serenade for strings are uneven, lacking a sense of the dramatic opposition ofkey centres (so s triking inAsrael) and tending towards an uncharacteristic long-windedness. The


4/5

seams of the one-movement Violin Fantasy are carelessly concealed, but the later single-movement string quartet is m uch more s ubtle and adept. It cost him m uch effort, even at theheight of his powers , and prepared the way for the impress ive single spans of RipeningandEpilog. These two pieces showed Suks musical language at its utmos t sophistication, hisresponse to the modern mus ic he came across on his frequent tours. They also s howed himdangerous ly far from his roots as a s imple muzikant of the Czech kantortradition. From about1912 his rate of compos ition noticeably slackened. His tiring life as a performer meant thatcompos ition was a spare-time occupation; his duties at the Prague Conservatory, which he tookvery seriously, made further demands, but as the premires of his works became more spaced

out it became clear that neither these commitments nor the increasing effort that the later scoresmus t have cost fully explained the gaps . Suk seems to have had misgivings about hisincreasingly complicated musical speech, alien to many of his lis teners; indeed, he derived achildlike pleasure from the enthusiasm that his popular pieces (such as the New Lifemarch)aroused. The gulf between Suk the kantor and Suk the sophis ticate was perhaps too great tobridge.

Bibliography

SHS[incl. fur ther bibliography]

J. Suk: Aus meiner Jugend: Wiener Brahms-Erinnerungen, Der Merker, ii (1910), 14750

Na poest 60. narozenin Josefa Suka [In honour of Suks 60th birthday], Tempo/Listy Hudebn matice, xiii(19334), no.5 [incl. Suks v iew on his development as a composer, Kvts s tudy of Suk and Zeyer, andother documents and reminiscences]

J.M. Kvt, ed.: Josef Suk: ivot a dlo: studie a vzpomnky[Life and works: studies and reminiscences](Prague, 1935) [incl. articles by Kvt, K. Hoffmeister, V. tpn, O. ourek, B. Vomka, O. n, B. tdro,K. Reiner, A. Hba, F. Pcha, M. Bezdk, H. Boettinger, and a list of Suks published w orks]

V. tpn: Novk a Suk(Prague, 1945) [repr. of 3 substantial essays on Suk]

J.M. Kvt, ed.: iv slova Josefa Suka[In Suks ow n w ords] (Prague, 1946)

O. Filipovsk: Klavrn tvorba Josefa Suka[Suks piano works] (Plze, 1947)

J. Berkovec: Josef Suk (18741935): ivot a dlo[Life and w orks] (Prague, 1956, 2/1962, rev. and abridged1968 as Josef Suk; Eng., Ger., Fr. and Russ. trans., 1968) [all versions contain full list of w orks andextensive bibliography]

J.M. Kvt: Josef Suk v obrazech[Suk in pictures] (Prague, 1964)

R. Budi, ed.: Josef Suk: vbrov bib liografie[select bibliography] (Prague, 1965) [incl. chronological andalphabetical catalogues of w orks, annotated bibliography, and discography]

Z. Sdeck: Lyrismus v tvorb Josefa Suka[Lyr icism in Suks w orks] (Prague, 1966) [incl. bibliography,

commentary on sources, list of Suks articles, speeches and letters]

M. Kuna: Josef Suk Vclavu Talichovi: korespondence z Talichovy pozstalosti [Suk to Talich:correspondence f rom Talichs estate], HV, vii (1970), 35689

E. Illingov: Listy ptelstv: Josef Suk v korespondenci Ilon a Vclavu tpnovm a Vilmu Kurzovi[Letters of a friendship: Josef Suk in his correspondence to Ilona tpnov, Vclav tpn and VilmKurz], Pspvky k djinm esk hudb, iii (1976), 12363 [incl. 27 letters by Suk written 191835]

J. Suk: Dopisy nejblm[Letters to those closest to him], ed. M. Svobodov (Prague, 1976)

J. Doubravov: Sound and Structure in Josef Suks Zrn, International Review of the Aesthetics andSociology of Music, viii (1977), 7387

J. Berkovec and B. Prochzka: Pivtiv krajina Josefa Suka[The pleasant countryside of Josef Suk](Prague, 1982)

OM, xv ii/8 (1985) [Suk issue, incl. J. Volek: K smantice zvtenho kvintakordu v hudebn e Josefa Suka[On the semantics of the augmented 5th in Josef Suks musical speech], 22539]
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article_citations/grove/music/27094#abbr-explainedhttp://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article_citations/grove/music/27094#abbr-explainedhttp://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article_citations/grove/music/27094#abbr-explained


5/5

Copyright Oxford University Press2007 2012.

Z. Nouza: Sukv Pozdrav km na Slovensko [Suks Greeting to Pupils in Slovakia], OM, xviii (1986), 2631

Zprvy spolenosti Josefa Suka, nos.17 (198693)

M. Svobodov: M setkn s Josefem Sukem [My meetings w ith Josef Suk], HRo, xli (1988), 3314

V. Karbusick: Josef Suk a Gustav Mahler, OM, xxii (1990), 24551

M. Svobodov: Josef Suk: tematick katalog(Jinoany, 1994) [NB incipits mostly connected to the w rongpieces]

M. Svobodov-Herrmannov: Milovan Souata Josef Suk a Pardubice [Beloved little Suks: Josef Suk andPardubice], HRo, xlvii/6 (1994), 337 [reminiscences and letters]

Z. Nouza: Suks Schaf fen im Spiegel der zeitgenssischen tschechischen Musikkritik: die tschechischeMusikkritik im Spiegel der Musik von Josef Suk, Prager Musikleben zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts, ed. A.Bezina (Berne, 2000), 15376

Z. Nouza: Autorsk poznmky k Tematickmu katalogu skladeb Josefa Suka [Commentary on Suks Thematiccatalogue of w orks], HV, xxxix (2002), 28593

Z. Nouza and M. Nov: Tematick katalog skladeb Josefa Suka/Thematic catalogue of the works of JosefSuk(Prague, 2005)

See alsoCZECH QUARTET.

John Tyrrell
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/07025http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article_citations/grove/music/27094#abbr-explainedhttp://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article_citations/grove/music/27094#abbr-explainedhttp://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article_citations/grove/music/27094#abbr-explainedhttp://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article_citations/grove/music/27094#abbr-explainedhttp://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article_citations/grove/music/27094#abbr-explainedhttp://www.oup.com/

suk, josef (i) in oxford music online

Documents