Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction
by Eric Salzman
Period: Early 20th
Century
Born: Sunday, August 7, 1921 in Prague,
Czechoslovakia
As of May 2005 this composer is still living.
To report updated information, please see the Contact Info page.
Nation of Origin: Czechoslovakia/United States
Major Works:
String Quartet No. 3 (1968)
Other Information:
Karel Husa is an internationally known composer and conductor who
was Kappa Alpha professor at Cornell University from 1954 until his
retirement. An American citizen since 1959, Husa was born in Prague
on August 7, 1921, studying at the Prague Conservatory and Academy
of Music, and later at the National Conservatory and Ecole Normale
de Musique in Paris. Among his teachers were Arthur Honegger, Nadia
Boulanger, Jaroslov Ridky, and conductor Andre Cluytens.
Husa was elected Associate Member of the Royal Belgian Academy of
Arts and Sciences in 1974, and to the American Academy of the Arts
and Letters in 1994. He has received honorary doctorates from Coe
College, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Ithaca College,
Baldwin-Wallace College, St. Vincent College, and Hartwick College.
Also, he has been the recipient of many awards and recognitions,
including a Guggenheim Fellowship and awards from the American
Academy and Institute of arts and Letters, UNESCO, the National
Endowment for the Arts, the Kussevitzky Foundation, the Czech
Academy for the Arts and Sciences, the Lili Boulanger Award,
Bilthoven (Holland) Contemporary Music Prize, a Kennedy
Center-Friedheim Award, and the Sudler International Award. His
Concerto for Cello and Orchestra eamed him the 1993 Grawemeyer
Award. In 1995, Husa was awarded the Czech Republic's highest
civilian recognition, the State Medal of Merit, First Class.
His String Quartet No. 3 received the 1969 Pulitzer Prize and, with
over 7,000 performances, his Music for Prague 1968 has become part
of the modem repertory. Another well-known work, Apotheosis of this
Earth is called by Husa a "manifesto" against pollution and
destruction. Major orchestras have perfommed his works all over the
world. Two works were commissioned by the New York Philharmonic:
Concerto for Orchestra premiered by Zubin Mehta, and Concerto for
Violin and Orchestra written for concertmaster Glen Dicterow and
conducted by Kurt Masur; and the Concerto for Trumpet was
commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Sir Georg Solti
for performance in Chicago and on tour with principal trumpeter
Adolph Herseth. Among his recent compositions are the String
Quartet No. 4 (a commission for the Colorado Quartet), Cayuga Lake
(for Ithaca College's centennial celebration), and Les couleurs
fauves for wind ensemble (written for Northwestern University).
Karel Husa has conducted many major orchestras including those in
Paris. London, Hamburg, Brussels, Prague, Stockholm, Oslo, Zurich,
Hong Kong, Singapore, New York, Boston, Washington, Cincinnati,
Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Louisville and others. Every year he
visits the campuses of music schools and universities to guest
conduct and lecture on his music.
Essay contributed by:
Jordanna Rock-Garden
General Bibliography:
Kennedy, Michael, The Oxford Dictionary of
Music, Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 1997, ISBN:
0198691629
Sadie, Stanley and Tyrrell, John; Editors, The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Groves Dictionaries, Inc.,
January 2001, ISBN: 1561592390
Slonimsky, Nicolas and Kuhn, Laura; Editors,
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Gale Group,
December 2000, ISBN: 0028655257
Slonimsky, Nicolas, Music Since 1900,
Schirmer Books, July 1994, ISBN: 0028724186
Links to essays at other sites:
Twentieth Century Music: An Introduction by Eric Salzman |
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Biographical essay at the Naxos site
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