During
World War I, he served in the
Czechoslovak Legion.[3] He enlisted on 14 July 1914 and was assigned to the 8th Infantry Regiment operating in
Sibiu,
Transylvania. He was captured by Russians in 1915 and on 1 August 1916 he joined the Czechoslovak Legion in Russia. During his stay in Russia, he became familiar with the cultural life of the country and occasionally he organized and performed on public concertos.[1] In June 1920, he travelled from
Vladivostok to
Terst and later back to the Czechoslovakia.
In 1925, he attended the masterclasses of
Alfred Cortot at the
École Normale de Musique in
Paris.[1] He also continued his studies in
Vienna and
Prague and earned a doctorate in musicology from
Brno University in 1925. He taught at
Brno Conservatory from 1922 to 1941[1] (until his removal by the
Nazi authorities occupying
Czechoslovakia) and was the first rector at the Brno Academy
JAMU from 1948 to 1961.[4] From 1945 to 1946 he was the director of the Brno Conservatory. From 1946 to 1948 he was head of the music department of the Education Faculty of the
Charles University in Prague. As a pianist he concertized widely both at home and abroad, performing both as a soloist and in chamber music groups and often promoting the music of Czech composers.[5][full citation needed] As a musicologist he is perhaps best known for his analyses of the works of Leoš Janáček.[1][6] He was the father of the writer
Milan Kundera and uncle of the writer
Ludvík Kundera.
Soudobá hudební Morava [Music in present-day Moravia], Československá vlastivěda, viii (Prague, 1935), 558–65
Hudba a revoluce [Music and revolution], Dějiny světové hudby, ed. J. Branberger (Prague, 1939), 553–637
Kvapil (Prague, 1944)
Jak organizovati hudební výchovu v obnoveném státě [How to organize music education in the renewed state] (Brno, 1945)
Janáček a Klub přátel umění [Janáček and the Club of the Friends of Art] (Olomouc, 1948)
Janáčkova varhanická škola [Janáček's organ school] (Olomouc, 1948)
Chopinovy vlivy ve Smetanově klavírní tvorbě [Chopin's influence on Smetana's piano works], Musikologie, ii (1949), 11–37
Ludvík van Beethoven (Prague, 1952)
Janáčkova tvorba klavírní [Janáček's piano works], Musikologie, iii (1955), 306–29
K otázce interpretace Janáčkových děl [The interpretation of Janáček's works], Leoš Janáček a soudobá hudba: Brno 1958, 189–96; also in Sborník Janáčkovy akademie múzických umění, ii (1960), 5–18; Ger. trans. in Operní dílo Leoše Janáčka: Brno 1965, 141–4
O sovětském a našem hudebním školství [Soviet and Czech music education], HRo, xi (1958), 179–82
Beethovenovy klavírní sonáty, i (Prague, 1964)
Václav Kaprál: kapitola z historie české meziválečné hudby [A chapter in the history of Czech music between the wars] (Brno, 1968)
References
^
abcdefgŠlapanská, Eva (2001). Jak jsem je znala. Vzpomínky na významné osobnosti kulturního života spjaté s Brnem (in Czech). Nakladatelství SVAN. pp. 144–151.
ISBN80-85956-17-9.