František Ondříček was a Czech violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

. He gave the first performance of the Violin Concerto

Violin Concerto (Dvorák)

Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 is a concerto for violin and orchestra composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1879. The concerto was premiered in 1883 by František Ondříček in Prague. He also gave the premieres in Vienna and London...

 by Antonín Dvořák

Antonín Dvorák

Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...

, and his achievements were recognised by the rare award of honorary membership of the Philharmonic Society of London

Royal Philharmonic Society

The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...

 (now the Royal Philharmonic Society) in 1891.

Ondříček was born in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, the son of the violinist and conductor Jan Ondříček. He studied at the Prague Conservatory under Antonín Bennewitz

Antonín Bennewitz

Antonín Bennewitz was a Czech violinist, conductor and teacher. He was in a line of violinists that extended back to Giovanni Battista Viotti, and forward to Jan Kubelík and Wolfgang Schneiderhan....

, and was then supported by Henryk Wieniawski

Henryk Wieniawski

Henryk Wieniawski was a Polish violinist and composer.-Biography:Henryk Wieniawski was born in Lublin, Congress Poland, Russian Empire. His father, Tobiasz Pietruszka, had converted to Catholicism. His talent for playing the violin was recognized early, and in 1843 he entered the Paris...

 through two years studying at the Paris Conservatoire, where he shared first prize with Achille Rivarde

Achille Rivarde

Achille Rivarde was an American-born British violinist and teacher, who worked mainly in Europe and London.-Biography:...

.

He was the soloist in the first performance of Dvořák's Violin Concerto, Op. 53 in Prague on 14 October 1883, and performed it again in Vienna on 2 December. In the late 1880s he settled in Vienna, where he taught. He also published a technical treatise on violin technique in 1909.

After World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Ondříček returned to Prague, where he directed the violin masterclass at the Prague Conservatory. He died in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

.

As well as being a highly regarded violinist, Ondříček was also a composer, his works including a set of Bohemian Dances Op. 3 for violin and piano composed in 1883, a Bohemian Rhapsody Op. 21 for violin and piano from 1906, and a String Quartet Op. 22 from 1907. He also left cadenza

Cadenza

In music, a cadenza is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing for virtuosic display....

s for several violin concertos, including those of Mozart and Brahms

Violin Concerto (Brahms)

Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 is a violin concerto in three movements composed by Johannes Brahms in 1878 and dedicated to his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim...

.

Selected works

Chamber music

• String Quartet in A major, Op. 22 (1905-1907)
• Romance for Cello and Piano, Op. 2

Violin and piano

• Ballade (1877)
• Danses bohèmes (Bohemian Dances), Op. 3 (1883, published 1891)
• Fantasie on Motifs from the Opera "The Bartered Bride" by Bedřich Smetana, Op. 9 (1888)
• Barcarole, Op. 10 (1890)
• Romance in D Major, Op. 12 (1891)
• A la Canzona, Op. 13 (1894)
• Vzpomínání (Sorrowful Rêverie), Op. 14 (published 1895); transcription of No. 6 from Antonín Dvořák
  Antonín Dvorák
  Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
  
  's Poetické nálady, Op. 85
• Skočná, Czech Dance from the Opera The Bartered Bride
  The Bartered Bride
  The Bartered Bride is a comic opera in three acts by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana, to a libretto by Karel Sabina. The opera is considered to have made a major contribution towards the development of Czech music. It was composed during the period 1863–66, and first performed at the...
  
  by Bedřich Smetana
  Bedrich Smetana
  Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
  
  , Op. 15 (published 1895)
• Fantasie on Motifs from the Opera "A Life for the Tsar" by Mikhail Glinka, Op. 16 (1889)
• Nocturno, Op. 17 (1900)
• Scherzo capriccioso, Op. 18 (1901)
• Rhapsodie bohème, Op. 21 (1906)
• Valse triste (1913)
• Ukolébavka (Lullaby) (1913)
• Idylka (published 1956); transcription of piano composition (Op. 7, No. 4, II) by Josef Suk
  Josef Suk (composer)
  Josef Suk was a Czech composer and violinist.- Life :Suk was born in Křečovice. He studied at Prague Conservatory from 1885 to 1892, where he was a pupil of Antonín Dvořák and Antonín Bennewitz. In 1898, he married Dvořák's eldest daughter, Otilie Dvořáková , affectionately known as Otilka...
  
  
• Koncertní etuda (Concert Etude) in D major
• Koncertní etuda (Concert Etude) in E major

Piano

• Dumka (Elegie) (published 1907)

Pedagogical works

• Patnáct uměleckých etud (15 Artistic Etudes) for Violin Solo or Violin and Piano (published 1912)
• Tägliche Übungen (Daily Exercises) for the Violinist (published 1909)
• Elementarschule des Violinspiels (Elementary School for the Violinist) (published 1910)
• Mittelstufe des Violinspiels (Intermediate School for the Violinist) (published 1909)
• Neue Methode zur Erlangung der Meistertechnik des Violinspiels (New Method for Acquiring the Master Technique of Violin Playing) (published 1909)

External links