Karel Bendl, or , pseudonym: ''Podskalský'' (16 April 1838, Prague,

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

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20 September 1897, Prague) was a Czech composer.

Life

Bendl was born and died in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. He studied at the organ school, where he met and befriended

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8September 18411May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predec ...

one year before graduating with honors in 1858. By then he had already composed a number of small choral works. In 1861 his ''Poletuje holubice'' won a prize and at once became a favorite with the local choral societies. In 1864, Bendl went to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, where for a short time he held the post of second conductor of the opera. In Paris, he became influenced by the stage works of

Charles Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

and

Ambroise Thomas Charles Louis Ambroise Thomas (; 5 August 1811 – 12 February 1896) was a French composer and teacher, best known for his operas ''Mignon'' (1866) and ''Hamlet (opera), Hamlet'' (1868). Born into a musical family, Thomas was a student at the C ...

and especially by

Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart and Richard Wa ...

. By 1865, he was back in Prague where he was appointed conductor of the choral society known as ', and he held the post until 1879, when Russian (originally from Hamburg), includes engaged his services for his private band. Bendl's first opera ''Lejla'' was successfully produced in 1868. It was followed by ''Břetislav a Jitka'' (1870), ''Starý ženich'', a comic opera (1883), ''Karel Škréta'' (1883), ''Dítě Tábora'', a prize opera (1892), and ''Máti Míla'' (1891). Other operas by Bendl are ''Indická princezna'', ''Černohorci'', a prize opera, and the two operas ''Čarovný květ'' and ''Gina''. His ballad ''Švanda dudák'' acquired much popularity; he published a

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

D minor D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major. The D natural minor scale is: Changes needed ...

for male voices and another mass for a mixed choir; two songs to "Ave Maria"; a

violin sonata A violin sonata is a musical composition for violin, often accompanied by a keyboard instrument and in earlier periods with a bass instrument doubling the keyboard bass line. The violin sonata developed from a simple Baroque music, baroque form wi ...

and a

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

Op.119 in F Major; and a quantity of songs and choruses, many of which have come to be regarded as national possessions of Bohemia.

Notes

References

External links

Karel Bendl String Quartet in F, Op.119

Twelve Gipsy songs. 1st and 2nd series. With pianoforte accompaniment
(From the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection)
Quartet, strings, op. 119, F major
(From the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection) *
Detailed biography
:Some of the information on this page appears on the website of Edition Silvertrust but permission has been granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. ---- {{DEFAULTSORT:Bendl, Karel 1838 births 1897 deaths 19th-century Czech classical composers 19th-century conductors (music) Composers from Austria-Hungary Conductors (music) from Austria-Hungary Czech conductors (music) Czech male conductors (music) Czech opera composers Czech male opera composers Musicians from Prague Czech Romantic composers