František Jan Škroup was a Czech composer and conductor. His brother Jan Nepomuk Škroup

Jan Nepomuk Škroup

Jan Nepomuk Škroup was a Czech composer, conductor, and choirmaster. His brother František Škroup was also a successful composer, known today as the composer of the Czech national anthem, "Kde domov můj?" ...

 was also a successful composer and his father, Dominik Škroup, and other brother Ignác Škroup were lesser known composers.

Biography

At the age of eleven he moved to 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...

 where he supported himself as a choir boy and flautist. He continued his schooling at one of the most important Czech national revival movement centres, Hradec Králové

Hradec Králové

Hradec Králové is a city of the Czech Republic, in the Hradec Králové Region of Bohemia. The city's economy is based on food-processing technology, photochemical, and electronics manufacture. Traditional industries include musical instrument manufacturing – the best known being PETROF pianos...

, where he was a choirboy at the cathedral. While there he studied with the local choirmaster and composer Franz Volkert (1767–1831). He later moved back to Prague to study at the university. He became a fairly successful opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 and singspiel

Singspiel

A Singspiel is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera...

 composer producing more than a dozen stage works. Among Škroup's part time jobs was organist at the "Temple of the Israelite Society for Regulated Worship," known since the late nineteen-forties as the "Spanish synagogue." His last position was as the musical director of the German opera in Dutch Rotterdam. He died there and, as a person without means, was buried in a mass grave. He also produced an oratorio, a mass, and a few other sacred works. He is best remembered today as the author of the melody for the Czech national anthem

National anthem

A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...

 "Kde domov můj?".

Works

From 1827 Škroup was a conductor at the Estates Theatre

Estates Theatre

The Estates Theatre or Stavovské divadlo is a historic theatre in Prague, Czech Republic. The Estates Theatre was annexed to the National Theatre in 1948 and currently draws on three artistic ensembles, opera, ballet, and drama, which perform at the Estates Theatre, the National Theatre , and the...

 in Prague. There he led the Czech premières of many famous works by composers such as Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

. Škroup's oeuvre consists mainly of Czech and German opera which gained significant local popularity.

Opera, Singspiel and Incidental Music

• Dráteník, Singspiel in 2 Acts (1825); libretto by Josef Krasoslav Chmelenský; Škroup sang the title role. Dráteník is considered the first Czech opera.
• Der Nachtschatten, Singspiel (1827); libretto C.J. Schikaneder
• Oldřich a Božena (Oldřich and Božena), Opera (1828); German title: Uldarich und Božena (1833); libretto by Josef Krasoslav Chmelenský
• Der Prinz und die Schlange (The Prince and the Snake, or Amor in the Amazon) (1829); Czech title: Princ a had neb Amor mezi Amazonkami (1835)
• Bratrovrah, Biblical Melodrama (1931); libretto by Jan Nepomuk Štěpánek
  Jan Nepomuk Štěpánek
  Jan Nepomuk Štěpánek was a Czech playwright, director, actor and theatre manager.- Early life :Jan Nepomuk Štěpánek was born in Chrudim to a soapmaker's family. He studied at Litomyšl gymnasium and then philosophy and theology at Charles University in Prague. In 1800 he entered the Austrian army...
  
  
• Die Drachenhöhle (1832)
• Fidlovačka aneb Žádný hněv a žádná rvačka (Fidlovačka, or No Anger and No Brawl), Folk Scenes of Prague Life with Song and Dance (1834); play by Josef Kajetán Tyl
  Josef Kajetán Tyl
  Josef Kajetán Tyl was a significant Czech dramatist, writer and actor. He was a notable figure of the Czech National Revival movement and is best known as the author of the current national anthem of the Czech Republic titled Kde domov můj.-Life:Josef Kajetán Tyl was the first-born son of Jiří...
  
  ; includes "Kde domov můj?"
• Libušin sňatek (Libuše's Marriage) (1835, rewritten 1850)
• Čestmír (1835); incidental music to the historical drama
• Pouť k chrámu umění (Pilgrimage to the Temple of Art) (1846)
• Die Geisterbraut (The Specter's Bride)
• Drahomíra, Opera (première 20 November, 1848); German libretto by V.A. Svoboda-Návarovský
• Žižkova smrt (Žižka´s
  Jan Žižka
  Jan Žižka z Trocnova a Kalicha , Czech general and Hussite leader, follower of Jan Hus, was born at small village Trocnov in Bohemia, into a gentried family. He was nicknamed "One-eyed Žižka"...
  
   Death) (1850); incidental music to the historical drama by Josef Jiří Kolár
• Der Meergeuse (The Sea Geus), Romantic Opera in 3 Acts (1851); libretto by Johann Carl Hickel; premièred in 2003 at the Estates Theatre
  Estates Theatre
  The Estates Theatre or Stavovské divadlo is a historic theatre in Prague, Czech Republic. The Estates Theatre was annexed to the National Theatre in 1948 and currently draws on three artistic ensembles, opera, ballet, and drama, which perform at the Estates Theatre, the National Theatre , and the...
  
   in Prague; Czech title: Mořský geus
• Don César a spanilá Magelona (Don Cesar and the Comely Magolena), Incidental Music (1852)
• Columbus, Opera in 3 Acts (1855); original German libretto by Josef Krasoslav Chmelenský; Czech version premièred on 3 February, 1942 with libretto translated by František Pujman

Orchestral

• Chrudimská ouvertura (Chrudim Overture) (1854); overture for the opening of the municipal theatre in Chrudim
  Chrudim
  Chrudim is a city in eastern Bohemia, in the Pardubice region of the Czech Republic.The oldest archaeological findings which provide first signs of the settlement in this area date back to the 5th millennium BC. Various cultures succeeded one on another in the territory of today’s town of Chrudim...
  
  , Czech Republic

Chamber music

• String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 24
• String Quartet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 25
• String Quartet No. 3 in G major, Op. 29
• Trio for Clarinet (or Violin), Cello and Piano, Op.27
• Trio facile in F Major for Violin (or Flute), Cello and Piano, Op.28
• Trio facile for Violin (or Flute), Cello and Piano, Op.30

Piano

• Polonaise
• Deutsche Tänze (1824)

Vocal

• Věnec ze zpěvů vlasteneckých uvitý a obětovaný dívkám vlastenským (Wreath of Patriotic Songs Collected for and Dedicated to Patriotic Girls) (1835–1839); 5 volumes edited by Škroup and Chmelenský
• Dobrou noc (Good Night) for Horn, Voice and Harp (or Piano); words by Josef Krasoslav Chmelenský
• Píseň společní; words by František Čelakovský
  František Celakovský
  František Ladislav Čelakovský, also known by the pseudonym Marcian Hromotluk, was a Czech writer and translator.-Life:...
  
  ; Both songs are included in Věnec ze zpěvů vlasteneckých uvitý a obětovaný dívkám vlastenským.
• Věnec (1843-1844), second part

External links

• Biography (in Czech)