Ján Cikker (29 July 1911 – 21 December 1989) was aSlovak composer, a leading exponent of modern Slovakclassical music. He was awarded the titleNational Artist inSlovakia, theHerder Prize (1966) and theIMC-UNESCO International Music Prize (1979).

Cikker was born in formerAustria-Hungary, today Slovakia, inBanská Bystrica. His first music teachers were his mother, Mária Psotková, andViliam Figuš-Bystrý. After he graduated from high school, he studied at thePrague Conservatory from 1930 to 1935, where he attended courses of composition ofJaroslav Křička, of conducting and organ. He then studied at the Master's School of thePrague Conservatory from 1935 to 1936, where he was a student ofVítězslav Novák. Later on, he moved toVienna, where he studied withFelix Weingartner from 1936-1937.

From 1939 to 1949, he taught at theBratislava Conservatory. At the same time he was a repertory advisor of the opera of theSlovak National Theatre from 1945 to 1948. He was forced to leave this post after thecommunist takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1948.^[1] Finally, he worked as professor for composition at theBratislava Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (VŠMÚ), where he was the teacher of many Slovak composers. He died inBratislava, where a museum in his name has opened.

His pronounced style is characterized by a typical richness of contrasting moods and characters (dance, expressive, lyrical pronunciation), and by the emphasis on humane and ethical conduct. His first creative works were nearly always instrumental, but from the 1950s onward he increasingly devoted himself to composing operas.

• cycle of symphonic poemsO živote – Leto, Vojak a matka, Ráno (About life – Summer, Soldier and Mother, Morning; 1941-1946)
• operas:
  • Juro Jánošík (1950-1953, libretto byŠtefan Hoza),
  • Beg Bajazid (1955-1956, libretto by Štefan Hoza),
  • Mister Scrooge (1958-1959, alternative nameTiene /Shadows/, afterCharles Dickens'A Christmas Carol),
  • Vzkriesenie (1960; Resurrection, afterTolstoy'snovel),
  • Hra o láske a smrti (Play of Love and Death, afterRomain Rolland),
  • Coriolanus (1970–72; afterShakespeare'splay),
  • Obliehanie Bystrice (1969-1971; The Siege ofBystrica afterKálmán Mikszáth),
  • Zo života hmyzu (1983–86; afterKarel Čapek's andJosef Čapek's playPictures from the Insects' Life),
  • Antigona (1987–89, unfinished; afterSophocles'play)

• chamber and orchestral pieces:
  • String quartet no. 1 op. 13 (1935)
  • String quartet no. 2 op. 14 (1936)
  • Spring Symphony (1937)
  • Symfonietta Op.16 (1937, dedicated to his teacher Jaroslav Křička)
  • Concertino for piano and orchestra Op.20 (1942)
  • Slovenská suita (1943; Slovak suite)
  • Spomienky (1947; Memories)
  • Meditácie na Schützovu tému (1964; Meditations on a theme by Schütz)
  • Štúdie k činohre (1944; Studies for a theatre play, referred sometimes as “Fyzici”)

• choral works

Óda na radosť (1982, Ode to Joy; oratorio for speaker, soloists, choir and orchestra on words by Milan Rúfus. Written for the bicentennial of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig).

• piano music:Sonatina op. 12, no. 1 (1933),Tatra brooks (1954),Piano Variations on a Slovak Folksong (1973)
• song cycle:O mamičke (1940; About Dear Mum)
• adaptations of folk songs
• theatre and film music (Varúj!)
• music for folk dance groups, e.g. for SĽUK (Slovak Folk Art Collective), Lúčnica and VÚS.

Oxford Music Online,Cikker, Ján

• 1911 births
• 1989 deaths
• Musicians from Banská Bystrica
• Slovak classical composers
• Male opera composers
• Slovak opera composers
• Czechoslovak classical composers
• Slovak male classical composers
• Herder Prize recipients
• 20th-century male composers
• Slovak male musicians
• Prague Conservatory alumni

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata