Josef Slavík
Musical artist
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Josef Slavík (also known as Josef Slawjk or Joseph Slawik; 26 March 1806 – 30 May 1833) was a Czech violin virtuoso and composer, who was expected by Viennese musical critics to become Paganini's successor after composing a supposedly unplayable Concerto in F-sharp minor and teaching himself to play Paganini's "La Campanella" after a single hearing.[1][circular reference]
Career
The first son of Barbora (born Krásová) and Antonín Slavík, teacher and musician, who started to teach Josef violin in the age of four.
Later on, he was a student of violin by Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis and music theory and composition by Friedrich Dionys Weber[2] at the Prague Conservatory.[3] Before leaving Prague, Slavík played his final concert. He went to Vienna in 1825 and became enjoyed critical success.[4] He was then a young man of nineteen, but already technically superior to other violinists that had been heard in the Austrian capital. The celebrated Mayseder called him a "second Lipinski".[5]
Frédéric Chopin who heard Slavík on several occasions described his skills as: "With the exception of Paganini, I have never heard a player like him. Ninety-six staccatos in one bow! It is almost incredible! He plays like a second Paganini, but a rejuvenated one, who will perhaps in time surpass the first. Slavík fascinates the listener and brings tears into his eyes... he makes humans weep, more he makes tigers weep."[6]
Franz Schubert composed two violin sonata-like pieces for Slavík and pianist Carl Maria von Bocklet: the Rondo in B minor, D 895 (1826), and the Fantasy in C major, D 934 (1827).[7]
His last performance was in 1833 in Vienna, immediately prior to a scheduled tour to Hungary. He was suffering from influenza and played while ill. Shortly after arriving in Budapest, the fever came back and Slavik died, at the age of 27.[8]
Works
- Variations in E major (1820)
- Violin Concerto No.1 in F-sharp minor (Conservatory graduation work, 1823)
- "Caprice" in D major, for violin solo (1824)
- "Grand-Potpourri" in E major, for Violin and Orchestra (1825/26)
- "Rondino" for violin and piano (1826)
- Violin concerto No.2 in A minor (orchestration Decledek, 1827)
- Piano Polonese in D major (1828)
- Variations "Il Pirata" (Vincenzo Bellini) on the G-String for Violin and Piano (1832)