Life

Born in Červený Kostelec

Cervený Kostelec

Červený Kostelec is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 8,450 inhabitants.Villages Bohdašín, Horní Kostelec, Lhota za Červeným Kostelcem, Mstětín, Olešnice and Stolín are administrative parts of Červený Kostelec....

, a town in the Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

, on February 27, 1923, Kalabis was an important 20th century Czech composer. Viktor was interested in music from a young age, but due to the Nazi occupation of Prague during the Second World War, he was unable to study music in Prague. After the end of the war, Kalabis studied at the Prague Conservatory and at the Academy of Music and Charles University.

In 1952, Kalabis married Zuzana Růžičková

Zuzana Ružicková

Zuzana Růžičková is a famous Jewish Czech contemporary harpsichordist, an interpreter of classical and baroque music.Růžičková studied music but during 1941–45 she was sent to a Nazi concentration camp. Afterwards she continued the study at music school in Plzeň and Prague...

, who became a famous harpsichord player. They both refused to join the Communist party, making the beginning of their music careers difficult. Eventually, Viktor got work in the children's music section at Prague Radio. It was in this post that he established the now internationally known Concertino Praga competition for young musicians.

He truly established himself as an international composer when in 1957, Manuel Rosenthal performed Kalabis' Concert for violoncello op. 8 at the Orchestera de Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Many of his works were commissioned, for example, by the Czech Philharmony, the Dresden Philharmony, Camerata Zurich, Josef Suk, The Suk Trio, János Starker

János Starker

János Starker |Kingdom of Hungary]]) is a Hungarian-American cellist. Since 1958 he has taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he holds the title of Distinguished Professor.- Child prodigy :...

, Maurice André

Maurice André

Maurice André is a French trumpeter, active in the classical music field.-Biography:He is a classical virtuoso trumpeter, born in Alès, France in the Cévennes into a mining family. His father was an amateur musician....

, The Prague Spring Festival and many others. His composition Sinfonia pacis is one of the world's most-played Czech contemporary music compositions.

Although most of the works of Viktor Kalabis are symphonic, concertante or chamber compositions, his vocal works such as the cantata Canticum Canticorum, the chamber cantata Vojna (The War), song cycles and choruses are of a similar high standard. For stage he was written the Fable for chamber orchestra and the two-part ballet score Two Worlds, inspired by Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...

's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...

. The video recording of this ballet was given the "Parents' Choice Award" of 1993 in the United States. In 1967, he received the Prize of the Czechoslovak Music Critics and in 1969 he was awarded the State Prize.

In an interview with Ales Brezina, a close friend of Kalabis, he described Viktor's musical influence.
Eventually, Kalabis became President of the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation. Here he established the Bohuslav Martinů Institute for studies and information, launched the Martinů Festival and competition, and created a dynamic base from which Bohuslav Martinů

Bohuslav Martinu

Bohuslav Martinů was a prolific Czech composer of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic...

's work has become far better known.

Kalabis died on September 28, 2006. The Viktor Kalabis & Zuzana Růžičková Foundation was established in his memory. Růžičková is the President of the Board of Directors for the Foundation and is dedicated to promoting Kalabis' music throughout the world.

Works

The Viktor Kalabis and Zuzana Růžičková Foundation has the following list of musical compositions.

Ballets

• "Two Worlds"
• "Fable"

Symphonies

• Symphony No. 1
• Symphony No. 2 "Sinfonia pacis"
• Symphony No. 3 (1970–71)
• Symphony No. 4 (1972)
• Symphony No. 5 (1976)

Symphonic music

• Suita for orchestra "Festival of Straznice"
• Symphonic Variations
• Concerto for large orchestra

Instrumental concertos

• Concerto for piano and orchestra No. 1
• Concerto for piano and wind instruments No. 2
• Concerto for violin and orchestra No. 1
• Concerto for violin and orchestra No. 2
• Concerto for harpsichord and string orchestra
• Fantasia Concertante for viola and string orchestra
• Concerto for violoncello and orchestra
• Concerto for trumpet and orchestra ("Le Tambour de Villevielle")
• Concerto for bassoon and wind instruments

Compositions for chamber orchestra

• Diptych for string orchestra
• Chamber Music for String
• Concerto for Chamber Orchestra "Hommage a Stravinskij"

String quartets

• String Quartet No. 1
• String Quartet No. 2
• String Quartet No. 3
• String Quartet No. 4
• String Quartet No. 5 "In Memory of M. Chagall"
• String Quartet No. 6 "In Memory of B. Martinu"
• String Quartet No. 7

Piano quartet

• Ludus for piano quartet op. 82 (1996)

Nonets

• Classical Nonet
• Nonet "Homage to Nature"

Compositions for wind instruments

• Incantation
• Septet "Strange Pipers"
• Octet "Spring Whistles" (1979)
• Divertimento for Wind Quintet
• Small Chamber Music for wind quintet

Duos with piano

• Sonata for violin and piano
• Hallelujah for violin and piano
• Sonata for viola and piano
• Sonata for cello and piano
• Sonata for clarinet and piano
• Suite for clarinet and piano
• Suite ("Bagpiper's") for oboe and piano
• Fantasie for oboe and piano
• Variations for French horn and piano
• Sonata for trombone and piano

Duos with harpsichord

• Sonata for violin and harpsichord
• Dialogues for violoncello and harpsichord
• "Four Pictures" for flute and harpsichord

Duos for other instrumentation

• Duettina for violin and cello
• Duettina for cello and double bass
• 3 Impressions for two clarinets
• Small Suite for two bassoons
• Couples for two flutes
• Compositions for solo instruments

Piano

• Accents (Expressive studies for piano)
• Entrata, Aria e Toccata for piano,
• 3 Polkas for piano
• 4 Enigmas for Graham
• 2 Toccatas for piano
• Allegro impetuoso for piano
  • I. Sonata
  • II. Sonata
  • III. Sonata

Harpsichord

• 6 Two-Voices Canonic Inventions
• Aquarelles
• Preludio, Aria e Toccata, "I casi di Sisyphos"

Violoncello

• 3 Monologues for cello solo
• Rondo Drammatico for cello solo

Flute

• 3 Pieces for flute
• "Tempting" for flute

French horn

• Invocation for French horn solo

Guitar

• "Reminiscences"

Organ

• Symphonic Fresco for organ, "Afresco sinfonico"

Vocal Compositions

• Cantatas
• "Canticum canticorum" for mixed choir, chamber orchestra, alto, tenor
• "The War" for mixed choir, flute, and piano on folk poetry

Songs with orchestral accompaniment

• 5 Romantic Love Songs to words by R.M. Rilke
• "Bird's Weddings" for higher voice and piano
• "Carousel of Life" for lower voice and piano to words by R.M. Rilke

Mixed choirs

• "Dawn", "Autumn", 2 choirs to words by Vl. Sefl

Children choirs

• Children Songs (with piano accompaniment)
• Album of Folksongs (with piano)
• 4 Songs for Little Children (with piano)
• We Sing a Song (with flute and oboe)
• Three Children Choirs (with piano)

External links

• The Viktor Kalabis and Zuzana Růžičková Foundation
• The Dvořák Society for Czech and Slovak Music
• Czech Music Information Centre
• Schott Music Publishers
• Di-Arezzo scores of Viktor Kalabis
• Supraphon Producers