Petr Eben
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Petr Eben (b. 22 January 1929 in Žamberk) is one of the leading contemporary composers in the Czech Republic.
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[edit] His Life
Eben spent his youth in Český Krumlov. There he studied the piano, and later the cello and organ. After the troubled years of German occupation and World War II he was admitted to the Prague Academy for Music where he studied the piano with František Rauch and composition with Pavel Bořkovec.
In 1955 he was appointed to the staff of the Music Department of the University of Prague. From 1978-1979 he was professor of composition at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. In 1990 he became professor of composition at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and President of the Prague Spring Festival. He is well-known for his improvisations on the piano and organ, but composition remains his main area of interest.
Petr Eben is a prolific composer of music in several genres. Among his most important commissions are the oratorio Apologia Socratus, the ballet Curse and Benediction (Kletby a dobroreceni), written for the Holland Festival 1983, the orchestral works Hours of the Night (Nocni hodiny) and Prague Nocturne (Prazske nokturno), for the Vienna Philharmonic, the Organ Concerto no 2 for the dedication of the new organ for Radio Vienna, the mass Missa cum populo for the Avignon Festival, the oratorio Holy Symbol (Posvatna znameni) for Salzburg Cathedral, and the Church Opera Jeremiah. He has also written organ music, and some enchanting children’s songs.
[edit] List of selected compositions
- Missa adventus et quadragesimae, 1952
- Organ Concerto no 1, 1954
- Sunday Music, organ, 1957-59
- Horka hlina (Bitter Earth), cantata, 1959-60
- Piano Concerto, 1960-61
- "Laudes", organ, 1964
- Ordinarium missae, 1966
- Apologia Socratus, oratorio, 1967
- Truverska mse, mass, 1968-69
- Vox clamantis, 1969
- "Ten Preludes on Chorales of the Bohemian Brethren", organ, 1971-73
- Pragensia, cantata, 1972
- Nocni hodiny (Hours of the Night), sinfonia, 1975
- Faust, incidental music, 1976
- Hamlet, incidental music, 1976-77
- Pocta Karlu IV., cantata, 1978
- "Mutationes", organ, 1980
- Missa cum populo, 1982
- Kletby a dobroreceni, ballett, 1983
- Hommage à Dietrich Buxtehude, organ, 1987
- Job, organ, 1987
- "A Festive Voluntary: Variations on Good King Wenceslas", organ, 1987
- Organ Concerto 2, 1988
- Prague Te Deum, 1989 (for mixed choir, 4 brass instruments, timpani and percussion or organ)
- "Biblical Dances", organ, 1990-91
- Posvatna znameni, oratorio, 1992-93
- Proprium festivum monasteriense, hymn, 1993
- "Amen—es werde wahr: Choralphantasie für Orgel", organ, 1994
- "Momenti d'organo", organ, 1994
- Hommage à Henry Purcell, organ, 1994-95
- Jeremiah, opera, 1996-97
- "Campanae gloriosae", organ, 1999
[edit] Bibliography
- K. Vondrovicova, Petr Eben, Prague 1993
