Zavertal, Ladislaw (Joseph Philip Paul; actually, Josef Filip Pavel)

Zavertal, Ladislaw (Joseph Philip Paul; actually, Josef Filip Pavel), Czech-born English conductor and composer; b. Milan, Sept. 29, 1849; d. Cadenabbia, Jan. 29, 1942. He was the son of the conductor and composer Wenceslaw (Vaclav) Hugo Zavrtal (b. Polepy, Aug. 31, 1821; d. Leitmeritz, Sept. 8, 1899) and nephew of the conductor and composer Josef Rudolf Zavrtal (b. Polepy, Nov. 5, 1819; d. Leitmeritz, May 3, 1893). He began his musical training with his father and his mother, the soprano Carlotta Maironi da Ponte, then studied violin with Tosti at the Naples Cons. His first opera, Tita, was orchestrated by his father and premiered in Treviso (May 29,1870); in 1871 he went to Milan as music director of the Teatro Milanese. That same year he went to Glasgow, where he conducted various orch. groups; in 1881 he became bandmaster of the Royal Artillery Band at Woolwich; then was active in London, where he conducted concerts at St. James’s Hall and Queen’s Hall (1889-95) and Sunday concerts at the Royal Albert Hall (1895-1905); in 1896 he became a British subject; in 1906 he retired to Italy.

Works

dramatic: O p e r a: Tita (Treviso, May 29, 1870; orchestrated by his father; rev. 1880 as Adriana, ovvero II burratinaro di Venezia); I tre perucchi (Milan, 1871); La sura palmira sposa (Milan, 1872); Una notte à Firenze (1872-73; in Czech as Noe ve Florence, Prague, March 20, 1880); A Lesson in Magie (1880; Woolwich, April 27, 1883; rev. as Love’s Magic, 1889; Woolwich, Feb. 18, 1890); Mirra (1882-83; in Czech, Prague, Nov. 7, 1886). ORCH.: 2 syms. (1878-84; 1884); 3 overtures: Garibaldi (1882; not extant; reconstructed as Sinfonia patriottica, 1918), Loyal Hearts (1897), and Slavonic Overture (1898); Chanson arabe (1882); Al fresco for Strings (1884); Virtute et valore, march. OTHER: Band pieces; Piano Quintet (1877); Piano Quartet (c. 1877); choral works.

Bibliography

“Un ambrosiano” (pseudonym of G. Bampo), Del maestro di musica milanese Ladislao Z.(Milan, 1904); A. Faraone, II Commendatore Ladislao Z. (Treviso, 1929); H. Farmer, Ladislao Z.: His Life and Work (London, 1949); idem, Cavaliere Z. and the Royal Artillery Band (London, 1951).

—Nicholas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire