Přehled o publikaci

The Elegantiae tripudiorum cycle is one of the key piano works of the important Czech and Brno composer Jan Novák. This year marks 100 years since his birthday and we are commemorating this big anniversary. Besides F. Schäfer and V. Petrželka, he also studied privately with B. Martinů. According to Jan Novák, this internship was fundamental and revolutionary in its impact on his compositional thinking. He emigrated in 1968 and stayed with his family in Denmark, Italy and Germany. The 1970s were a very fruitful creative period for this man as he composed in Rovereto, Italy. He continued his work in the 1980s after moving to Ulm, Germany. During this stage of his life, he created important piano compositions such as Prima Sonata, IV Hymni Christiani or the already mentioned cycle Elegantiae tripudiorum. The Ten Dances, sometimes called the Ten Waltzes reflect the optimism, joy and satisfaction of life. The author is influenced by a number of styles in his composition and he often uses elements of impressionism or other compositional directions of the 20th century. There is an interesting parallel with the noble and sentimental waltzes by M. Ravel, where both Ravel and Novák instrumented their piano cycles more and more towards a symphony orchestra over time. The daughter of J. Novák and the excellent pianist Dora Nováková Wilmington describes this composition as a cycle that will take the audience through the whole era of waltzes, the very name of which promises an overflowing dose of compositional humour and elegance.