Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek (; ''Johann Hugo Worzischek'', 11 May 1791, in

Vamberk Vamberk (; german: Wamberg) is a town in Rychnov nad Kněžnou District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,500 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Merklovice and Peklo are administrative parts of Vambe ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

– 19 November 1825, in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

) was a Czech

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

, and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational ...

Life

Voříšek was born in the town of

, where his father was schoolmaster, choirmaster and

. As a

child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...

, he started to perform publicly in Bohemian towns at the age of nine.Sleeve note of the CD (Supraphon, SU 3678-2001)
/ref> His father taught him music, encouraged his playing the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and helped him get a scholarship to attend the University of Prague, where he studied philosophy. He also had lessons in piano and composition from Václav Tomášek. He found it impossible to obtain sufficient work as a musician in Prague, so in 1813 at the age of 22, Voříšek moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

to study law and, he hoped, to meet

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

. In Vienna he was able to greatly improve his piano technique under

Johann Nepomuk Hummel Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 177817 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was a pupil of Mozart, Salieri and Clementi. He als ...

, but once more failed to gain full-time employment as a musician. Although Voříšek was enthralled by the classical style of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

, he was more intrigued by the incipient romanticism of Beethoven. In 1814, as he was starting to compose, he did indeed meet Beethoven in Vienna. He also met other leading musicians there, including the composers

Louis Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig, was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten symphonies, t ...

Ignaz Moscheles Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (; 23 May 179410 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer. He was based initially in London and later at Leipzig, where he joined his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as professor of piano at the Co ...

, Hummel, and especially

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...

with whom he became fast friends. He completed his law studies in 1821 and was appointed barrister to the Court Military Privy Councillor, for whom he mainly drafted legal documents. But in 1822, he at last found musical employment as second court organist and ended his legal career. He was appointed first organist in 1824. He soon won esteem as a composer of orchestral, vocal and piano music for orchestra. In 1818 he became conductor of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna. Vorišek died, in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, of

respiratory arrest Respiratory arrest is a sickness caused by apnea (cessation of breathing) or respiratory dysfunction severe enough it will not sustain the body (such as agonal breathing). Prolonged apnea refers to a patient who has stopped breathing for a long pe ...

in 1825 at the age of 34. He was buried at the common cemetery in Währing (today's Währinger Park).

Music

Voříšek wrote only one symphony, his Symphony in D major, in 1821. Its style has been likened to Beethoven's first two symphonies, but its melodically inventive early Romantic idiom was similar to Schubert's. In his capacity as imperial court organist, Voříšek composed a Mass in B-flat major. Together with his single symphony, some of his piano works and his Violin Sonata in G major, Op. 5, the Mass has been recorded. The first recorded use of

impromptu An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...

as a musical term occurred in 1817, in the ''Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung'', an idea of the publisher to describe a piano piece by Voříšek . His Impromptus Op. 7 were published in 1822, pieces known to his friend Schubert who subsequently used the description for several sets of music for piano, as did

Frederic Chopin Frederic may refer to: Places United States * Frederic, Wisconsin, a village in Polk County * Frederic Township, Michigan, a township in Crawford County ** Frederic, Michigan, an unincorporated community Other uses * Frederic (band), a Japanese r ...

and numerous other composers. In 1823-24, like Schubert, he was one of the 50 composers to contribute a variation on the same waltz by

Anton Diabelli Anton (or Antonio) Diabelli (5 September 17818 April 1858) was an Austrian music publisher, editor and composer. Best known in his time as a publisher, he is most familiar today as the composer of the waltz on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote ...

for the ''

Vaterländischer Künstlerverein ''Vaterländischer Künstlerverein'' was a collaborative musical publication or anthology, incorporating 83 variations for piano on a theme by Anton Diabelli, written by 51 composers living in or associated with Austria. It was published in ...

'' on which Beethoven composed his 33 variations (Op. 120).

Selected discography

* ''Grand Rondo Concertante'' for Piano, Violin, Cello and Orchestra op25 (B09QNG2NC2), released 2022, coupled with Beethoven Triple Concerto
Lobkowicz Trio
on Rubicon Classics
Cedille Records
recording (CDR 90000 058) of Voříšek's Symphony in D major and Mass in B-flat major with Paul Freeman and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra &

Prague Chamber Choir The Prague Chamber Choir (''Pražský komorní sbor'') is a Czech choir founded in Prague in 1990 by singers of the Prague Philharmonic Choir. It has performed concerts in Australia, Brazil, Israel, Japan, Lebanon and many European countries (e. ...

, with program notes by Andrea Lamoreaux
Cantus Classics
1993 recording (CACD 8.0019 D) of Voříšek's Symphony in D major and Mass in B-flat major with Oldrich Vlchek (resp. Václav Neumann) and the Virtuosi di Praga &

.
ArkivMusic.com
first CD recording of Voříšek's chamber music including his Violin Sonata (Praga 250204), played by the Kocian String Quartet with program notes by James Reel, FANFARE
Hyperion Records
recording (CDA 66800) Voříšek's Symphony in D, with Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. * Opus 111 recording OPS 30241 Fantasia Op. 12, Impromptus Nos 1-6 Op. 7, Sonata in B flat minor and Variations in B flat Op. 19. Olga Tverskaya (piano)

recording RRC1224 Six Impromptus Op. 7, Sonata in B flat minor Op. 20, Variations in B flat Op. 19 and Fantasie Op. 12, also for piano.

recording (CRC 3022) of select pieces for solo piano performed by David Gross

Footnotes

External links

Classical Composers
entry to Voříšek
Calendar of Composers
entry to Voříšek * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vorisek, Jan Vaclav 1791 births 1825 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century classical pianists 19th-century Czech musicians 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century Czech male musicians 19th-century organists Czech classical organists Czech classical pianists Czech expatriates in Austria Czech male classical composers Czech Romantic composers Male classical pianists Male classical organists People from Vamberk Tuberculosis deaths in Austria

Life

Music

Selected discography

Footnotes

Further reading

External links