Váša Příhoda
Encyclopedia
Váša Příhoda was a famous Czech
violinist known for the perfection of his technique and the beauty of his tone. He was considered a Paganini
specialist, and his recording of the Violin Concerto in A minor
by Dvořák
is still very highly praised. His artistry was controversial, and tended to polarise listeners.
Váša Příhoda was born in Vodňany
in 1900. His father, Alois Prihoda, was his first teacher and remained so for ten years. Váša Příhoda studied privately with Jan Mařák (a student of Otakar Ševčík
), making his first public concert at age 13, playing the 4th Violin Concerto
by Mozart
. At age 19 a tour of Italy proved unsuccessful; poverty-stricken, he joined the orchestra of the Café Grand’Italia in Milan
to earn money. There he was heard by chance by Arturo Toscanini
, who arranged a benefit concert for him. He then resumed his Italian tour, this time to great success. He was said to have been given Niccolò Paganini
's own violin on which to play. He toured Brazil and the United States in 1920, and the USA again in 1921. He once shared the stage of the Royal Albert Hall
with Pablo Casals
, but the pairing was considered unfortunate. Prihoda concertized extensively all over the world and made a number of recordings when the industry was in its infancy. Unfortunately, some of his recordings were not well-produced so the sound quality is poor. He played in the U.S. many times and was greatly admired for his style, dazzling technique, and finesse. Critics have suggested that Heifetz was jealous of him.
He married the violinist Alma Rosé
in 1930, but they divorced in March 1935 in Czechoslovakia. The circumstances of this have been controversial; it has been claimed that he divorced her for opportunistic reasons, she being Jewish in an increasingly anti-semitic environment, and to remain with her would have been detrimental to his career. But this theory is given the lie by the fact that his second wife was also Jewish.
He appeared in two films in 1936: Between Two Worlds and Die Liebe des Maharadscha.
During World War II
he taught at the Mozarteum in Salzburg
. Because he continued to perform in Germany and German-occupied territories after the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia
, he was briefly charged with collaboration after the war, and censured by the Czech government. He later taught at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna, where his students included Friedrich Cerha
. His students also included the cellist Jascha Silberstein
. Vienna was his base of operations for many years though he taught in Prague, Munich, and Salzburg as well. After 1950, he dedicated most of his time to teaching and he also composed small chamber works which are no longer played. In 1946 he left Czechoslovakia with his family, returning in 1956. This comeback was received most enthusiastically in Prague. He played recitals with pianist Alfred Holeček in the Rudolfinum Music Hall, and performed Dvořák's violin concerto in Smetana Hall of the Municipal House during the Prague Spring Festival.Prihoda also composed his own cadenzas to all the concertos he played. He gave his last concerts in April, 1960 and died (of heart disease) on July 26, 1960.
Váša Příhoda wrote a number of minor pieces, such as Slawische Melodie, Caprice and Sérénade, some of which he recorded. He also wrote cadenza
s to the Beethoven
Violin Concerto in D major
, which have been recorded by Josef Suk
.
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Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
violinist known for the perfection of his technique and the beauty of his tone. He was considered a Paganini
Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...
specialist, and his recording of the Violin Concerto in A minor
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 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...
is still very highly praised. His artistry was controversial, and tended to polarise listeners.
Váša Příhoda was born in Vodňany
Vodnany
Vodňany is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has around 7,000 inhabitants.Administrative parts of Vodňany are: Čavyně, Hvožďany, Křtětice, Pražák, Radčice, Újezd, Vodňanské Svobodné Hory, Vodňany I and Vodňany II....
in 1900. His father, Alois Prihoda, was his first teacher and remained so for ten years. Váša Příhoda studied privately with Jan Mařák (a student of Otakar Ševčík
Otakar Ševcík
Otakar Ševčík was a Czech violinist and influential teacher. He was known as a soloist and an ensemble player, including his occasional performances with Eugène Ysaÿe.-Biography:...
), making his first public concert at age 13, playing the 4th Violin Concerto
Violin Concerto No. 4 (Mozart)
Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major K. 218 was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1775 in Salzburg. The autograph of the score is preserved in Biblioteka Jagiellońska, Kraków.- Structure :...
by Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
. At age 19 a tour of Italy proved unsuccessful; poverty-stricken, he joined the orchestra of the Café Grand’Italia 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 ,...
to earn money. There he was heard by chance by Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed musicians of the late 19th and 20th century, he was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his photographic memory...
, who arranged a benefit concert for him. He then resumed his Italian tour, this time to great success. He was said to have been given Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...
's own violin on which to play. He toured Brazil and the United States in 1920, and the USA again in 1921. He once shared the stage of the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
with Pablo Casals
Pablo Casals
Pau Casals i Defilló , known during his professional career as Pablo Casals, was a Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time...
, but the pairing was considered unfortunate. Prihoda concertized extensively all over the world and made a number of recordings when the industry was in its infancy. Unfortunately, some of his recordings were not well-produced so the sound quality is poor. He played in the U.S. many times and was greatly admired for his style, dazzling technique, and finesse. Critics have suggested that Heifetz was jealous of him.
He married the violinist Alma Rosé
Alma Rosé
Alma Rosé was an Austrian violinist of Jewish descent. Her uncle was the composer Gustav Mahler. Alma Rosé was deported by the Nazis to the infamous concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. There she directed an orchestra of terrified prisoners who played to their captors in order that they...
in 1930, but they divorced in March 1935 in Czechoslovakia. The circumstances of this have been controversial; it has been claimed that he divorced her for opportunistic reasons, she being Jewish in an increasingly anti-semitic environment, and to remain with her would have been detrimental to his career. But this theory is given the lie by the fact that his second wife was also Jewish.
He appeared in two films in 1936: Between Two Worlds and Die Liebe des Maharadscha.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he taught at the Mozarteum in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
. Because he continued to perform in Germany and German-occupied territories after the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, he was briefly charged with collaboration after the war, and censured by the Czech government. He later taught at the Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna, where his students included Friedrich Cerha
Friedrich Cerha
Friedrich Cerha is an Austrian composer and conductor.-Biography:Cerha was born in Vienna.He received his education at the Viennese Music Academy and at the University of Vienna...
. His students also included the cellist Jascha Silberstein
Jascha Silberstein
Jascha Silberstein was a German-born American musician. He was for thirty years first cellist of the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City....
. Vienna was his base of operations for many years though he taught in Prague, Munich, and Salzburg as well. After 1950, he dedicated most of his time to teaching and he also composed small chamber works which are no longer played. In 1946 he left Czechoslovakia with his family, returning in 1956. This comeback was received most enthusiastically in Prague. He played recitals with pianist Alfred Holeček in the Rudolfinum Music Hall, and performed Dvořák's violin concerto in Smetana Hall of the Municipal House during the Prague Spring Festival.Prihoda also composed his own cadenzas to all the concertos he played. He gave his last concerts in April, 1960 and died (of heart disease) on July 26, 1960.
Váša Příhoda wrote a number of minor pieces, such as Slawische Melodie, Caprice and Sérénade, some of which he recorded. He also wrote 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 to the Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
Violin Concerto in D major
Violin Concerto (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, was written in 1806.The work was premiered on 23 December 1806 in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. Beethoven wrote the concerto for his colleague Franz Clement, a leading violinist of the day, who had earlier given him helpful advice on...
, which have been recorded by Josef Suk
Josef Suk (violinist)
Josef Suk was a Czech violinist, violist, chamber musician and conductor, the grandson of Josef Suk, the composer and violinist, and great-grandson of Antonín Dvořák. In his home country he carried the title of National Artist....
.
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Recordings
- Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
: Double Violin ConcertoDouble Violin Concerto (Bach)The Concerto for 2 Violins, Strings and Continuo in D Minor, BWV 1043, also known as the Double Violin Concerto or "Bach Double", is perhaps one of the most famous works by J. S. Bach and considered among the best examples of the work of the late Baroque period. Bach wrote it between 1730 and 1731...
(with Franco Novello) - BachJohann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
-GounodCharles GounodCharles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
: Ave MariaAve Maria (Bach/Gounod)The Bach/Gounod Ave Maria is a popular and much-recorded setting of the Latin text Ave Maria.Written by French Romantic composer Charles Gounod in 1859, his Ave Maria consists of a melody superimposed over the Prelude No. 1 in C major, BWV 846, from Book I of The Well-Tempered Clavier, written by...
(with the soprano Selma KurzSelma KurzSelma Kurz was an Austrian operatic soprano known for her brilliant coloratura technique.-Background:...
(one of his recordings pits his recording of the Bach-Gounod Ave Maria with those of Jan KubelíkJan KubelíkJan Kubelík was a Czech violinist and composer.-Biography:He was born in Michle . His father, a gardener by occupation, was an amateur violinist. He taught his two sons the violin and after discovering the talent of Jan, who was aged five at the time, arranged for him to study with Karel Weber and...
and Jaroslav Celeda) - Antonio BazziniAntonio BazziniAntonio Joseph Bazzini was an Italian violinist, composer and teacher. As a composer his most enduring work is his chamber music which has earned him a central place in the Italian instrumental renaissance of the 19th century...
: La ronde des lutins, Op. 25 - Vincenzo BelliniVincenzo BelliniVincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
: "Ah, non credea mirarti ... Ah! Non giunge uman pensiero" from La sonnambulaLa sonnambulaLa sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.The first...
(with Selma Kurz) - Frédéric ChopinFrédéric ChopinFrédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
: Berceuse in D flat majorBerceuse (Chopin)Frédéric Chopin's Berceuse Op. 57 is a lullaby to be played on piano. It consists of variations in D-flat major. At first the composer titled the work Variations, but the title was altered for publication to the current Berceuse....
, Op. 57 - Antonín DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín 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...
: Violin Concerto in A minorViolin 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... - Dvořák: Slavonic Dance in A flat major, Op. 72, No. 8
- Benjamin GodardBenjamin GodardBenjamin Louis Paul Godard was a French violinist and Romantic composer.-Biography:Born in Paris, Godard was a student of Henri Vieuxtemps. He entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1863 where he studied under Vieuxtemps and Napoléon Henri Reber and accompanied Vieuxtemps twice to Germany...
: Berceuse ("Ah! ne t'éveille pas encore") from JocelynJocelyn (opera)Jocelyn is a four-act opera by Benjamin Godard, set to a French libretto by Paul Armand Silvestre and the famous tenor Victor Capoul. Taken from the poem by Alphonse de Lamartine, the action takes place in Grenoble and the surrounding mountains during Corpus Christi at the close of the 18th century...
(with Selma Kurz) - Godard: En regardant le Ciel
- Charles GounodCharles GounodCharles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
: Sérénade (with Selma Kurz) - Jenő HubayJeno HubayEugen Huber , better known by his Hungarian name Jenő Hubay , was a Hungarian violinist, composer and music teacher.-Early life:Eugen Huber was born into a German family of musicians in Pest, Hungary...
: Zephyr - Fritz KreislerFritz KreislerFriedrich "Fritz" Kreisler was an Austrian-born violinist and composer. One of the most famous violin masters of his or any other day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately...
: Caprice viennois (with Selma Kurz) - MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
: Violin Concertos No. 3Violin Concerto No. 3 (Mozart)The Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg in 1775. Mozart was only 19 at the time.- Movements :The piece is in three movements:AllegroAdagioRondeau. Allegro- I. Allegro :...
and No. 4Violin Concerto No. 4 (Mozart)Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major K. 218 was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1775 in Salzburg. The autograph of the score is preserved in Biblioteka Jagiellońska, Kraków.- Structure :... - Niccolò PaganiniNiccolò PaganiniNiccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...
: Violin Concerto No. 1Violin Concerto No. 1 (Paganini)The Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 6, was composed by Niccolò Paganini in Italy, probably between 1817 and 1818. The concerto reveals that Paganini's technical wizardry was fully developed...
in E flat major (usually transposed to D major) - Paganini: Introduction and Variations on "Nel cor più non mi sento" from PaisielloGiovanni PaisielloGiovanni Paisiello was an Italian composer of the Classical era.-Life:Paisiello was born at Taranto and educated by the Jesuits there. He became known for his beautiful singing voice and in 1754 was sent to the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio at Naples, where he studied under Francesco Durante, and...
’s La Molinara, elaborated by Příhoda - Paganini: Sonatina for solo violin
- Anatol ProvazníkAnatol ProvazníkAnatol Provazník was a Czech organist and composer.Anatol Provazník was son of Alois Provazník, a regional composer. He studied at the gymnasium in Rychnov nad Kněžnou and then at the music conservatory in Prague, finishing in 1907...
: Valse Joyeuse for violin and piano, Op. 137
- Nikolai Rimsky-KorsakovNikolai Rimsky-KorsakovNikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
: The Song of the Indian Guest from SadkoSadko (opera)Sadko is an opera in seven scenes by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by the composer, with assistance from Vladimir Belsky, Vladimir Stasov, and others. Rimsky-Korsakov was first inspired by the bylina of Sadko in 1867, when he completed a tone poem on the subject, his Op. 5... - Leon de Saint-Lubin: Fantasie on the Sextet from DonizettiGaetano DonizettiDomenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
's Lucia di LammermoorLucia di LammermoorLucia di Lammermoor is a dramma tragico in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's historical novel The Bride of Lammermoor.... - Pablo de SarasatePablo de SarasatePablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués was a Navarrese Spanish violinist and composer of the Romantic period.-Career:Pablo Sarasate was born in Pamplona, Navarre, the son of an artillery bandmaster...
: ZigeunerweisenZigeunerweisenZigeunerweisen , Op. 20, is a musical composition for violin and orchestra written in 1878 by the Spanish composer and virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate and premiered during the same year in Leipzig... - Sarasate: Spanish Dances, Op. 22: No. 1, Romanza Andaluza; No. 2, Jota Navarra
- Franz SchubertFranz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
: Litanei auf das Fest Aller Seelen ("Ruh'n in Frieden alle Seelen"), D. 343 - Bedřich SmetanaBedrich SmetanaBedřich 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...
: Z domoviny (Aus der Heimat; From My Homeland) for violin and piano - his own transcription of waltzes from Richard StraussRichard StraussRichard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
's Der RosenkavalierDer RosenkavalierDer Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac... - Giuseppe TartiniGiuseppe TartiniGiuseppe Tartini was an Italian baroque composer and violinist.-Biography:Tartini was born in Piran, a town on the peninsula of Istria, in the Republic of Venice to Gianantonio – native of Florence – and Caterina Zangrando, a descendant of one of the oldest aristocratic Piranian families.It...
: Sonata for violin and continuo in G minor, Devil's Trill SonataDevil's Trill SonataThe Violin Sonata in G minor, more famously known as the Devil's Trill Sonata is a famous work for solo violin by Giuseppe Tartini , famous for being extremely technically demanding, even today....
, realized VieuxtempsHenri VieuxtempsHenri François Joseph Vieuxtemps was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century.... - Enrico ToselliEnrico ToselliEnrico Toselli was an Italian pianist and composer. He studied the piano with Giovanni Sgambati and composition with Giuseppe Martucci and Reginaldo Grazzini. At a very early age he started on a brilliant career as a concert pianist in Italy, the principal European capitals and also in Alexandria...
: Serenade (with Selma Kurz) - Henri VieuxtempsHenri VieuxtempsHenri François Joseph Vieuxtemps was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century....
: Violin Concerto No. 4 - Giovanni Battista ViottiGiovanni Battista ViottiGiovanni Battista Viotti was an Italian violinist whose virtuosity was famed and whose work as a composer featured a prominent violin and an appealing lyrical tunefulness...
: Sinfonia Concertante for two violins and strings in F major (with Franco Novello) - attrib. Tomaso Antonio VitaliTomaso Antonio VitaliTomaso Antonio Vitali was an Italian composer and violinist from Bologna, the eldest son of Giovanni Battista Vitali...
, trans. Ottorino RespighiOttorino RespighiOttorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals...
: Chaconne