Milan Křížek facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Milan Křížek
|
|
|---|---|
Milan Křížek, 1986
|
|
| Born | 9 March 1926 Lišov, Czechoslovakia
|
| Died | 15 February 2018 (aged 91) |
| Occupation | Composer, music teacher and viola player |
| Era | Contemporary |
Milan Křížek (born March 9, 1926 – died February 15, 2018) was a talented Czech composer, music teacher, and viola player. He spent his life creating music and teaching others about it.
Contents
Life
Early Education and Studies
Milan Křížek finished high school in Tábor between 1937 and 1945. After that, he went to the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague. From 1946 to 1951, he studied musicology (the study of music), music education, and history. He also took private lessons in composition (how to write music) from a teacher named Jaroslav Řídký from 1946 to 1950. In 1959, he passed a special exam for the violin.
Later, Milan Křížek earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Palacký University, Olomouc in 1971. He did more research on music from 1966 to 1972 and earned another advanced degree in 1975.
Teaching Career
After finishing his university studies, Milan Křížek began teaching. From 1950 to 1951, he taught music education at a teaching school in Znojmo. After serving in the military, he moved to České Budějovice. There, he taught at the Music School from 1953 to 1956, and then at the Pedagogical School (which trains teachers) from 1956 to 1958. He also worked to help more people enjoy and understand music.
In 1959, he became an assistant professor in the Music Department at the Faculty of Education. This faculty later became part of the University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice in 1991. He continued to work in the Music Department until he retired in 1986. After big political changes in 1989, he was made an associate professor in 1990.
From 1990 to 2001, Křížek taught music theory and composition at the Conservatoire (a special music school) in České Budějovice. Until 1992, he also played the viola in the Opera Orchestra of the South Bohemian Theatre. He also played in the South Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and other smaller music groups.
Musical Style and Performances
Milan Křížek's music started with ideas from neoclassicism, which is a style that uses older musical forms but with new ideas. Later, his works explored new ways of writing music. He liked to combine modern musical sounds and techniques.
Some of his important pieces were first performed by the South Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra. These included Variations on a theme of Alban Berg (1985), Concerto for orchestra (1988), and Concerto for 14 string instruments (1998). Many of his works were also played at the Days of Contemporary Music in Prague. Some of these were Sonata for viola solo (1996), Sonatina danzante for flute and clarinet (2000), and Capriccia for soprano, flute, viola and percussion on verses of Konstantin Biebl (2005).
His original music scores (the written music) are kept in special places. These include the archives of the Czech Music Fund, the Museum of South Bohemia, the South Czech Philharmonic, and the Conservatoire in České Budějovice.
Selected Works
Milan Křížek wrote many different kinds of music. Here are some of his most important works:
Orchestral Music
These pieces are written for a large group of instruments, like a symphony orchestra.
- Divertimento I for string orchestra (1983)
- Variations on a theme of Alban Berg (1984)
- Concerto for orchestra (1987)
- Concerto grosso for violin, viola and orchestra (1989)
- Divertimento II for orchestra (1992)
- Concerto for 14 string instruments (1995)
- Divertimento III for string orchestra (2002)
- Concertino for clarinet, strings and harp (2003)
- Concerto for violin and orchestra (2010).
Chamber Music
These pieces are written for a small group of instruments, usually with one player per part.
- Preludium and giga for oboe and piano (In memory of Jan Dismas Zelenka) (1959)
- Partita parva for 2 violins (1973)
- It was love: variations on a Moravian song for flute, violoncello and piano (1976)
- Musica brevis for 3 violoncellos (1987)
- String quartet I for 2 violins, viola and violoncello (1988)
- Partita for violin and piano (1993)
- Collage I for 4 flutes (1995)
- Trio for clarinet, violoncello and piano (1996)
- Sonata a due for violin and viola (1997)
- Sonatina danzante for flute and clarinet (1999)
- Good King Wenceslas (variations on English carol for violin, clarinet and piano) (2000)
- Seven sequences for clarinet and percussions (2001)
- Collage III for 2 violins and viola (2003)
- String quartet II (Epitaph for 2 violins, viola and violoncello with baritone solo) (2008)
- Largo desolato: Preludium-Interludia-Postludium for violin, viola and violoncello (2009)
- Collage IV for 3 violoncellos (2011)
- String quartet III (2014)
- Diaphonia, viola and violoncello (2017).
Instrumental Music
These pieces are written for a single instrument.
- Trifolium memoriae Bélae Bartók for piano (1965)
- Strophes for clarinet solo (1978)
- Sonata I for unaccompanied violin (1982)
- Passacaglia for violoncello solo (1988)
- Aulétés (fluteplayer) oboe solo (1992)
- Sonata for unaccompanied viola (1994)
- Sonata II for unaccompanied violin (1998)
- Cantus variabilis for unaccompanied violin (2006)
- Soliloquia for unaccompanied violin (2009)
- Sonata quasi una ballata (violoncello solo) (2012)
- Sonata III for unaccompanied violin solo (2013)
- Diferencias, viola sola (2014).
Vocal and Choral Works
These pieces include singing, either by a single singer or a choir.
- Child (diptych for women's chorus) (1960)
- Points (four songs on texts of Miroslav Holub for middle voice and piano) (1965)
- Three madrigals on old Czech texts for women's chorus, flute, violin and percussion (1979)
- Elegiac fragments for middle voice and viola (1994)
- Noctiluca (4 nocturna pro střední hlas, flétnu, violu a kytaru) (1998)
- Capriccia for soprano, flute, viola and percussions on verses of Konstantin Biebl (2005)
- Butterflies do not live here (children's chorus on verses of Pavel Friedman, Theresienstadt Ghetto 4.6.1942) (2006)
- Two sonnets (2017).
Literary Works
Besides composing, Milan Křížek also wrote books and articles about music.
Books
- Jan Rychlík, the life and work of a composer (published in Prague, 2001). This book is about the life and music of another composer, Jan Rychlík.
Other Writings
- Music life of South Bohemia (published in České Budějovice, 1989). This writing explored the musical activities and history in the South Bohemia region.
