Emil Votoček (5 October 1872 – 11 October 1950) was a Czech chemist,
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 ...
and
music theorist
Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the " rudiments", that ...
.
He is noted for
his chemistry textbooks and
multilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
dictionaries in both chemistry and music.
Chemistry career
Votoček studied at the
Czech Institute of Technology later in
Mulhouse
Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...
and received his PhD with
Bernhard Tollens at the
University of Göttingen
The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...
for his chemistry of sugar.
In 1895 he returned to the
Czech Institute of Technology where he became lecturer and professor in 1907. His academic career ended with the closure of the institute by the Nazis in 1939. He held six honorary doctorates and was an honorary member of various corporations and societies.
[Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed., 1954]
Music career
His chemistry career kept him from doing anything about his interest in music until the age of thirty. Then he studied music with
František Špilka for six years. But his other work again intervened, for a further 25 years. From his early 60s through to his mid 70s, he wrote about 60 works, including five orchestral works, much chamber music, piano sonatas and pieces, and songs. He also compiled a Czech dictionary of French and Italian musical terms.
[
]
Selected publications
* ''O derivatech karbazolu'' (1896)
* ''Kondensace methylfurola s floroglucinem'' (1897)
* ''O stanovení methylovaných pentos'' (1897)
* ''Ueber das Verhalten der Hydrazine zu dem photographischen Lichtbilde'' (1899)
* ''Cvičení v chemii organické'' (Exercises in Organic Chemistry) (1899–1901)
* ''Chemie anorganická'' (Inorganic Chemistry) (1902)
* ''O antipodii rhodeosy a fukosy'' (1904)
* ''O konfiguraci rhodeosy'' (1907)
* ''Chemie organická'' (Organic Chemistry) (1927)
* ''Česko-francouzská konversace a fraseologie'' (1938)
* ''Chemický slovník'' (Chemistry Dictionary), Czech-German-French-English-Italian-Latin (1941)
* ''Hudební slovník cizích výrazů a rčení'' (Music Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases) (1946)
Selected compositions
Votoček wrote approximately 70 music compositions.Emil Votoček
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* ''Fantasie'' for viola and piano (1943)
* ''Od svítání do soumraku'' (From Dawn to Dusk) for orchestra
* ''Suita'' for viola and piano
* ''Téma s variacemi pro klavír a soprán'' (Theme and Variations) for piano and soprano (1934); final variation with soprano solo; words by Jaroslav Vrchlický
Jaroslav Vrchlický (; 17 February 1853 – 9 September 1912) was a Czech people, Czech lyrical poet. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel prize in literature eight times.
Life
He was born Emilius Jakob Frida in Louny ...
* ''Tři ballatine'' (3 Ballatines) for viola and piano (published 1945)
See also
* Alexander Borodin
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin (12 November 183327 February 1887) was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was one of the prominent 19th-century composers known as " The Five", a group dedicated to prod ...
References
1872 births
1950 deaths
People from Hostinné
People from the Kingdom of Bohemia
Czech chemists
Czech composers
Czech male composers
Academic staff of Czech Technical University in Prague
Czech Technical University in Prague alumni
Chemists from Austria-Hungary
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