Dalibor Cyril Vačkář

Who was Dalibor Cyril Vačkář?

Dalibor Cyril Vačkář was one of the most popular contemporary Czech composers, renowned throughout Czechoslovakia.

Dalibor C. Vačkář was born on September 19, 1906, on the island of Korcule in the Adriatic, a son of Václav Vačkář, a musician who later became synonymous with Czech popular music, and Johanna Faltys, an actress.

Vačkář studied composition with Josef Suk, and violin with Karel Hoffman at the Prague Conservatory of Music and Master school, and graduated in 1931. His early compositions reflect the influence of his teacher Josef Suk. They are lyrical, heartfelt and contemplative, and express new formations of harmony and timbre. However, the new musical language of pre-war modernism and the spontaneity of jazz prompted him to set out on his own compositional path.

From early on he was attracted to solo and concert compositions for a wide variety of instruments. The source of this can be found in part in the legacy of his father, the popular composer of waltzes, marches, serenades and songs with whom he also wrote a very popular "Instrumentation for symphony orchestra and brass music“ and also from his own experience as a professional instrumentalist. He created two violin concertos, a piano concerto, a concert for organ, harpsichord, oboe, clarinet, concerto for bassoon, a jazz concerto for trumpet, a concerto for percussions, and one for trombone. All these works have in common unusual and interesting instrumental combinations and rhythmic drive.