Kubin, Rudolf

Kubin, Rudolf, Czech composer and pedagogue; b. Ostrava, Jan. 10, 1909; d. there, Jan. 11, 1973. He was a student at the Prague Cons. (1924–29) of Junek (cello) and A. Hâba (composition). In 1929 he became a cellist in the Prague Radio Sym. Orch., and beginning in 1935 he alternated as music director of the Ostrava and Brno sections of the Czech Radio. After World War II, he helped to organize the Ostrava Higher Music Teaching Coll., of which he served as director in 1953-54; when it became a cons., he was its director also (1958–60). In 1959 the Czech government honored him with the Order of Work. His studies with Hâba prompted him to compose several quarter tone pieces early in his career. After pursuing expressionist paths, he took up the cause of socialist realism.

Works

dramatic:Zena, ktera zdelila muze (The Woman Who Did Down Men) or Zenich z prerie (The Bridegroom from the Prairie), operetta (Prague, March 29, 1930); Tri muSketyft (The 3 Musketeers) or Kralovnin nahrdelnik (The Queen’s Necklace), musical comedy (Prague, April 19, 1931); Letnt noe (Summer Night), radio opera (Czech Radio, Sept. 26, 1931); Kavalir (The Cavalier), operetta (1932); Cirkus zivota (Circus of Life), operetta (Prague, May 15, 1933); Ta leskâ muzika, ta srdee pronika (That Czech Music, it Speaks Straight to the Heart), folk play (1933); Zasnoubeni na palouöku (A Greenwood Betrothal), folk play (1933); Zpëv uhli (Song of Coal; unfinished; overture, 1936); Dëvoatko z kolonie (The Girl From the Mining Settlement), operetta (Ostrava, March 22, 1942; rev. version, Ostrava, Sept. 10, 1955); Naëi furianti (Our Defiant Ones), comic opera (1942-43; rev. version, Ostrava, Sept. 18, 1949); Selsky knize (The Village Prince), operetta-burlesque (Prague, April 10, 1947); Koleje mladi (The Ways of Youth), play (Brno, Sept. 15, 1949); Pasekaft (People of the Glades), operetta (1950-51; rev. version, Ostrava, April 30, 1954); Jifikovo vident (Jink’s Vision), folk opera (1952; unfinished); Heva, folk operetta (1955–64). orch.:Prologue (1929); Czech Overture (1932); Sinfonietta (1935–36); Trombone Concerto (1936); Symphony Concertante No. 1 for 4 Horns and Strings (1937) and No. 2 for Cello and Orch. (1969); Clarinet Concerto (1939); 2 violin concertos (1940, 1960); Moravian Rhapsody (1942); May, overture (1945); Accordion Concerto (1950); Ostrava, symphonic cycle (1950–51); Gero], in memoriam Klement Gottwald (1953); Julius Fuöik, overture (1954); Cello Concerto (1960); Tuba Concertino (1962); Salutation to Frenëtât (1968); Reminiscence, sym. (1968); Ostrava Variations (1971). chamber: String Quartet (1925–26); Scherzo for 2 Clarinets and Piano (1933) and for Violin and Piano (1942); Ballade for 4 Cellos (1942); Nonet (1944); Suite for Cello (1970). quarter tonepiano: 2 suites (1925, 1927); 2 fantasies (1926, 1927); Piano Pieces (1927). vocal: Cantatas; song cycles; solo songs.

Bibliography

V. Grebor, R. K.: Obraz zivota a dila (Ostrava, 1975).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire