Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | (1791-05-11)11 May 1791 |
| Died | 19 November 1825(1825-11-19) (aged 34) |
| Occupation | Composer |
| Instruments | Piano, organ |
Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek (Czech pronunciation:[janˈvaːtslafˈɦuɡoˈvor̝iːʃɛk];Johann Hugo Worzischek, 11 May 1791, inVamberk,Bohemia – 19 November 1825, inVienna,Austria) was a Czechcomposer,pianist, andorganist.
Voříšek was born in the town ofVamberk,Bohemia, where his father was schoolmaster, choirmaster andorganist. As achild prodigy, he started to perform publicly in Bohemian towns at the age of nine.[1]His father taught him music, encouraged his playing thepiano and helped him get a scholarship to attend theUniversity of Prague, where he studied philosophy. He also had lessons in piano and composition fromVáclav Tomášek. He found it impossible to obtain sufficient work as a musician in Prague and in 1813, at the age of 22, moved toVienna to study law, hoping to meetBeethoven. In Vienna Voříšek was able to greatly improve his piano technique underJohann Nepomuk Hummel, but once more failed to gain full-time employment as a musician.
Although Voříšek was enthralled by the classical style ofMozart, he was more intrigued by the incipient romanticism of Beethoven.
In 1814, as he was starting to compose, he did indeed meet Beethoven in Vienna. He also met other leading musicians there, including the composersLouis Spohr,Ignaz Moscheles, Hummel, and especiallyFranz Schubert with whom he became fast friends.
He completed his law studies in 1821 and was appointed barrister to the Court Military Privy Councillor, for whom he mainly drafted legal documents. But in 1822, he at last found musical employment as second court organist and ended his legal career. He was appointed first organist in 1824.
He soon won esteem as a composer of orchestral, vocal and piano music for orchestra. In 1818 he became conductor of theSociety of Friends of Music in Vienna.
Vorišek died, inVienna, ofrespiratory arrest in 1825 at the age of 33. He was buried at the common cemetery inWähring (today's Währinger Park).
Voříšek wrote only one symphony, hisSymphony in D major, in 1821.
In his capacity as imperial court organist, Voříšek composed a Mass in B-flat major. Together with his single symphony, some of his piano works and his Violin Sonata in G major, Op. 5, and the Mass have been recorded.
The first recorded use ofimpromptu as a musical term occurred in 1817, in theAllgemeine musikalische Zeitung. His Impromptus Op. 7 were published in 1822, pieces known to his friend Schubert who subsequently used the description for several sets of music for piano, as didFrederic Chopin and numerous other composers.
In 1823–24, he was, like Schubert, one of the 50 composers to contribute a variation on the same waltz byAnton Diabelli for theVaterländischer Künstlerverein on which Beethoven composed his33 variations (Op. 120).
