Kafenda, Frico

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Kafenda, Frico

Kafenda, Frico , significant Slovak pedagogue and composer; b. Mošovcé, Nov. 2, 1883; d. Bratislava, Sept. 3, 1963. He studied conducting with Nikisch and composition with Jadassohn at the Leipzig Cons. (1901–05). In 1920 he became a piano instructor at the Bratislava Cons., where he served as its director from 1922 to 1949; then taught at the Bratislava Academy of Music and at the Univ. of Bratislava. As a teacher of composition, he had great influence upon Slovak music; among his students were R. Berger, M. Novák, and E. Suchon. His wife, Anna Kafendovâ- Zochovâ, taught piano at the Cons, and the Academy in Bratislava. His compositions are permeated with the spirit of midEuropean Romanticism, and include a Cello Sonata (1905), String Quartet (1916), Violin Sonata (1918), choral music, and songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire