KunC, Jan
KunC, Jan
KunC, Jan, Czech composer; b. Doubravice, Moravia, March 27, 1883; d. Brno, Sept. 11, 1976. He studied at the Brno Teachers’ Training Coll., with Janacek at the Brno Organ School (graduated, 1903), and with Novak in Prague (1905–06). He wrote music criticism in Brno (1909–18), then became an instructor at the Brno Cons. (1919); from 1923 to 1945, was its director. He lectured at the Masaryk Univ. in Brno (1947–52). He was best known as a composer of choral music and songs.
Works
dramatic:o ρ e r a:The Lady from the Seashore (1919; unfinished). ORCH.: Pisen mladi (Song of Youth), symphonic poem (1915–16). chamber: Piano Trio (1905); String Quartet (1909); Violin Sonata (1931); Serenade for Violin and Piano (1952). Piano: Sonata (1903); 4 Compositions (1917); Chronicle, 20 variations on a Slovak folk song (1926); Miniatures (1954-57; also for Wind Quintet, 1958). vocal:Sedmdesat tisic (70, 000) for Chorus (1907); Ostrava for Men’s Chorus (1912); Stala Kaöenka u Dunaja (Catherine Stood by the Danube), ballad for Alto and Orch. (1918–19); 35 Folk Songs of Moravian Slovakia for Women’s Chorus (1960); many folk-song arrangements.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire