Josef Bohuslav Foerster
In this edition of Czechs in History we'll focus on the life and work of Josef Bohuslav Foerster, a Czech composer who lived a long and fruitful life. He was born in Prague in 1859 and died here at the age of 91.
Associate professor Jarmila Gabrielova from Charles University in Prague, says Foerster was born with music in his blood: As a little boy, Josef loved to listen to the music his father played on the piano. Josef spent more and more time playing the instrument himself, but he also found time for other activities, such as acting and painting. But in the end it was music that won: Foerster started composing music at the age of 20, and when his first works were performed it was clear that the young man had a great talent. Young Foerster was given encouragement by many, including the great Russian composer, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovski, who later became his friend. In 1888, Josef Bohuslav Foerster married Berta Lauterer: As a soloist at the Hamburg opera, Berta also sang the role of Marenka in Smetana's opera The Bartered Bride, and Foerster wrote in his diary that Marenka soon became a 'sold-out' bride, because it was almost impossible to get tickets. After the family returned to Prague, Foerster soon became established: ...astonishing because Minister Nejedly was a Communist hard-liner, while Foerster was a deeply religious person, and religion in Czechoslovakia in the 1940s and 50s was something that the Communists intended to completely eradicate. But Foerster was highly valued for the wide variety of music he composed: It is widely believed that Foerster followed the example of Bedrich Smetana and composed a truly Czech music, but Dr. Gabrielova does not fully agree with this view...
