Jarmil Michael Burghauser (born Jarmil Michael Mokrý; 21 October 1921,

Písek Písek (; ) is a town in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 31,000 inhabitants. The town is known for the oldest bridge in the country. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument z ...

19 February 1997,

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 ...

) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

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 ...

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

, and

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

. Burghauser's parents were painters František Viktor Mokrý and Zdenka Burghauserová. He studied piano since he was 6 years old under

Jaroslav Křička Jaroslav Křička (; 27 August 1882 in Kelč, Moravia – 23 January 1969 in Prague) was a Czech people, Czech composer, Conducting, conductor, and Music education, music teacher. He was the brother of poet Petr Křička:de:Petr_Křička, e...

and later

Otakar Jeremiáš Otakar Jeremiáš (17 October 1892 – 5 March 1962) was a Czech people, Czech composer, conductor and teacher. He was the son of composer Bohuslav Jeremiáš and the brother of composer Jaroslav Jeremiáš. Life Jeremiáš was born in Píse ...

. He continued his musical education by studying composition with

Václav Talich Václav Talich (; 28 May 1883, Kroměříž – 16 March 1961, Beroun) was a Czech conductor, violinist and later a musical pedagogue. He is remembered today as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, the object of countless reissue ...

Prague Conservatory The Prague Conservatory () is a public music school in Prague, Czech Republic, founded in 1808. Currently, the school offers four- or six-year courses, which can be compared to the level of a high school diploma in other countries. Graduates c ...

. From 1948 to 1953 Burghauser was a choirmaster in National Theatre. After the short-lived

Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...

, he incurred the disfavor of his country's

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

and had to adopt the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

Michal Hájků in order to write a series of compositions in a style which evoked earlier periods of music, called ''Storia apocrifa della musica Boema''.

Works

Operas

* ''Alladina and Palomid'' (1943–1944) * ''The Miser'' (1949) * ''Karolinka a lhář'' (1950–1953) * ''The Bridge'' (1963–1964)

Ballets

* ''Honza a čert'' (1954) * ''The Servant of Two Masters'' (1957) * ''Tristram and Isolde'' (1969)

Film scores

* ''Premiera'' (1947) * ''Z mého života'' (1955) * ''Legenda o lásce'' (1961) * ''Labakan'' (1961) * ''Kde řeky mají slunce'' (1961) * ''Místo v houfu'' (1964) * ''Polka jede do světa'' (1965) * ''Jarní vody'' (1968)

Cataloguing of Dvořák's works

Burghauser created a reliable catalog of works by

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 ...

. It is to replace the traditional

opus number In music, the opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition, or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer's publication of that work. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among ...

, which is not only incomplete but also confusing for the case of Dvořák. Today academic references to Dvořák's works often use the Burghauser number from the catalogue.

References