Vitezslava Kaprálová

Born in Brno in 1915 and died in Montpellier in 1940, Vítězslava Kaprálová occupies a singular place in 20th-century Czechoslovak music through her double career as composer and conductor. Trained at the Brno Conservatory and then in Prague, before pursuing her studies in Paris, Kaprálová early on developed a style located between Central European modernism, post-Romantic heritage, French clarity, Impressionism, polytonality, and echoes of Czech folklore. Her catalog, concentrated in less than a decade, gathers orchestral music, piano pieces, a string quartet, songs and choral works. Among the best-identified scores are the Piano Concerto op. 7, the Appassionata Sonata op. 6, the String Quartet op. 8, the Military Sinfonietta op. 11, the April Préludes op. 13, Variations on the Carillon of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont op. 16, the Suita rustica op. 19 and the Partita for String Orchestra and Piano op. 20. Her sojourn in Paris, where she worked notably with Charles Munch and within Bohuslav Martinů’s circle, broadened her aesthetic horizon and her presence on the contemporary scene. In 1938, Kaprálová conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the International Society for Contemporary Music festival in London, a milestone often cited in her career. Rediscovered over the decades through editions, recordings and musicological research, Kaprálová remains associated with a short, dense oeuvre and a strongly personal writing style.