Mraczek (actually, Mracek), Joseph Gustav
Mraczek (actually, Mraček), Joseph Gustav
Mraczek (actually, Mraček), Joseph Gustav, Czech composer, violinist, conductor, and teacher; b. Brunn, March 12,1878; d. Dresden, Dec. 24,1944. He received his first instruction from his father, the cellist Franz (František) Mraček (1842–98), then was a chorister in various churches in Brunn before going to Vienna, where he studied with Hellmesberger, Stocker, and Lowe at the Cons. From 1897 to 1902 he was concert-master at the Stadttheater in Brunn; then taught violin at the Cons, there (1898–1919). He settled in Dresden and conducted the Phil. (1919–24) and taught composition at the Cons, (from 1919).
Works
dramatic: Opera: Der gläserne Pantoffel (Brunn, 1902); Der Traum (Brunn, Feb. 26,1909); Aebelö (Breslau, 1915); Ikdar (Dresden, 1921); Herrn Dürers Bild oder Madonna am Wiesenzaun (Hannover, Jan. 29, 1927); Der Liebesrat (not perf.); Der arme Tobias (1936). orch.:Rustans Traum, symphonic poem (1911); Max und Moritz, symphonic burlesque (1911); Orientalische Skizzen for Chamber Orch. (1918); Eva, symphonic poem (1922); Variété, scenes (1928). chamber: Piano Quintet; String Quartet; piano pieces. vocal: Choral pieces; songs.
Bibliography
E. Müller, J.G. M.(Dresden, 1917).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire