Axman, Emil
Axman, Emil
Axman, Emil, Czech composer; b. Rataje, June 3, 1887; d. Prague, Jan. 25, 1949. He studied musicology with Nejedlý and Hostinský at the Univ. of Prague (Ph.D., 1912, with the diss. Moravské opery ve století 18.[18th Century Moravian Operas]; publ. in Časopis moravského musea, 1912), and received private training in composition with Novák (1908–10) and Ostrčil (1920). In 1913 he became keeper of the music archives at the National Museum in Prague. He was the author of Morava v české hudb 19. století (Moravian and Czech Music of the 19th Century; Prague, 1920). His music was of a highly lyrical nature.
Works
ORCH.: 2 symphonic poems: Sorrows and Hopes (1919–20) and A Bright Sky (1921–22); 6 syms.: No. 1, Tragic (1925–26), No. 2, Giocosa (1926-27; Frankfurt am Main, July 3, 1927), No. 3, Spring (1928), No. 4, Eroica (1932), No. 5, Dithyram-bic (1936), and No. 6, Patriotic (1942); From the Beskids for Chamber Orch. (1934); Violin Concerto (1936); Piano Concerto (1939); Cello Concerto (1940); Double Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Orch. (1944); Suite in the Form of Variations (1948). CHAMBER: Violin Sonata (1923); 4 string quartets (1924, 1925, 1929, 1946); Cello Sonata (1924); Piano Trio (1924–25); Wind Quintet (1938); Suite for String Quartet (1940); Divertimento for Nonet (1944); 3 Moravian Dances for Nonet (1944); Variations for String Quartet (1944). piano: 3 sonatas (Appassionata, 1922; To the Memory of a Great Man, 1922; 1924); Sonatina charakeristicka (1922); Moravia Sings (1925; also for Orch., 1935). VOCAL: Cantatas, including My Mother (1926) and The Cemetery of Sobotka (1933); choruses; song cycles.
Bibliography
L. Hovorka, Sborová tvorba A.ova (Prague, 1940); F. Pala, E. A. (Prague, 1951).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire