19. - 20. století
Bohuslav Martinu
Eminent Czech composer whose work is remotely reminiscent of A. Dvorak’s
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<highlight>He was a world-famous Czech modernist composer of the 20th century, who lived and composed in France</highlight>
He came from a simple family and studied at the Prague Conservatory, where he had a heavy workload (violin, piano, organ). For a short time he studied under Josef Suk, but his love for Impressionism and his admiration of Debussy brought him to France. Since 1923 he permanently resided outside of his homeland.
In France he was influenced by Stravinsky and by jazz, also finding pleasure in working with folklore motifs.
His professional growth led Martinu to compose the opera of his dreams, which he named Julietta and which became his masterpiece.
Due to the war he emigrated from France to the United States. There his work took on a purely imaginative and specific nature and in some ways remotely reminds us of his co-religionist, Antonin Dvorak. In his last works he returned to the basic elements of human existence, which can be best seen in The Greek Passion and in The Epic of Gilgamesh. This great composer died in Switzerland after the war.
