Josef Suk (violinist)
| Josef Suk (Jr) | |
|---|---|
Josef Suk (1957)
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| Background information | |
| Born |
8 August 1929 Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| Died | 6 July 2011 (aged 81) Prague, Czech Republic |
| Genres | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | violinist, pedagogue, writer, actor |
| Instruments | Violin |
| Years active | 1949 to 2011 |
| Notable instruments | |
| - the "Duc de Camposelice - Váša Příhoda" Stradivarius, 1710 - the "Libon" Stradivarius, 1729 - the "Prince of Orange" Guarnerius, 1744 - a modern Czech violin by Přemysl Špidlen |
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Josef Suk (8 August 1929 – 6 July 2011) was a Czech violinist, violist, chamber musician and conductor. In his home country he carried the title of National Artist.
Josef Suk was born in Prague, the grandson of the composer and violinist Josef Suk, and great-grandson of the composer Antonín Dvořák. After finishing high school in 1945 he entered the Prague Conservatory (1945-1951), where his teachers were Jaroslav Kocián, Norbert Kubát and Karel Šnebergr.
The most important of all his teachers was Jaroslav Kocián, who started teaching him privately when Suk was 7 years old. Led by him, Suk mastered the violin art drawing from the spectacular interpretative art of his teacher, who was specific with his noble technique of tone formation.
During his studies, in 1949, Suk was sent to Paris and Brussels where he represented successfully the young generation of Czech violinists.
After leaving the Prague Conservatory, he spent four terms at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (AMU) with the professors Marie Hlouňová and Alexandr Plocek. However, before finishing his studies he was suspended for political reasons.
"AMU was rather a military and political school at that time. For example, I protested against being obliged to trench. That was because our fingers suffered – and I wanted to be a musician, not a soldier. That was the reason why I was suspended after four terms and detached to the military division of Košice for punishment. In the last minute I was saved when I got to the Army artist company, where I spent the two years of military service playing the violin."
"Since the very beginning, when I got my first violin from my father, a binding feeling of big expectations bore on me. I wasn’t sure whether I was able to be up to the wishes and hopes of my parents and my grandfather. The great commitment of filling my family tradition attached all my artist career. Sometimes it might have opened some gates and routes, but on the other hand it meant also an indispensable stress." .
1950-1952 he was the primarius of the Prague quartet, 1953-1955 concert master of the dramatic orchestra of the National theatre in Prague, then till 1957 a soloist of the Army artist company.
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