Karel Kovařovic

The Czech musician Karel Kovarovic was long known for his work as a conductor at the Czech National Theatre. The 21st century has seen renewed interest in his compositions, most of them dating from the first part of his career. Kovarovic was born on December 9, 1862, in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Two of Kovarovic's brothers were also musical, and he, his family and some friends formed their own small orchestra. Kovarovic studied at the Prague Conservatory from 1873 to 1882. He studied composition with Zdenek Fibich, and also voice, clarinet, piano, and harp. The versatile young musician played clarinet in the orchestra at the premiere of Smetana's opera Libuse in 1881. Kovarovic was active in the 1880s mostly as a harpist and as a theatrical bandmaster, leaving him plenty of time for composition. He published a song, Osmero pisni, in 1880, while he was still a student at the conservatory, and before long he was attempting larger orchestral works such as the symphonic poem Unos Persefony (1883) and a Piano Concerto in F minor. Especially notable were three string quartets Kovarovic wrote in the late 1880s, the last of which lacks a finale. They are comparable to the quartets of Dvorák in many respects, and the String Quartet No. 2 was dedicated to the older composer. Kovarovic wrote seven operas, most of which had their premieres at the National Theatre. One, Psohlavci (The Dogheads, 1895-1897) was especially successful and may have led to Kovarovic's appointment in 1900 as conductor at the National Theatre, a post he held for the next 20 years. During this period, Kovarovic's compositional output dropped sharply, although he did write incidental music and modified scores for National Theatre productions; he made emendations to Janácek's opera Jenufa that arguably improved the work. Kovarovic died in Prague on December 6, 1920. Recordings of his work have not been frequent, but The Dogheads was recorded for Supraphon in 1998, and the three string quartets were issued by the Stamic Quartet, again on Supraphon, in 2019. ~ James Manheim