Josef Suk

Although he was known primarily as a performer and teacher in his lifetime, Josef Suk entered music history as an outstanding composer. The Czech composer was born in 1874. He got his piano, organ and violin lessons from his choirmaster father and was accepted at the age of eleven to the Prague Conservatoire, where he graduated in 1891 with his Piano Quartet Op. 1. Antonín Dvořák was appointed head of the institution that year, so Suk stayed on for a year after graduation just to study with him. Dvořák described Suk as his best pupil, and from 1898 he became not only a colleague but also his son-in-law. Suk's first period as a composer was influenced by the late romantic style and the legacy of Dvořák. Some chamber music, a few songs and the lack of operatic composition characterize this period, when orchestral works were the most common. His Serenade for Strings Op. 6, praised by Brahms brought him fame. His best-known work, the Radúz a Mahulena was written for a play and a film. After Dvořák's death in 1904 and the loss of his wife in 1905, Suk’s compositions became more introspective, complex and emotional. His major work, the Asrael Symphony, was written at this time, and it was also during this period that he began to experiment with polytonality. Unlike his contemporaries, he never used folk music motifs in his works. Suk died in 1935.