Jaroslav Kvapil

Who was Jaroslav Kvapil?

Jaroslav Kvapil was a Czech composer, teacher, conductor and pianist.

Born in Fryšták, he studied with Josef Nešvera and worked as a chorister in Olomouc from 1902 to 1906. He then studied at the Brno School of Organists under Leoš Janáček, earning a diploma in 1909. He studied with Max Reger at the Leipzig Conservatory from 1911 through 1913.

Kvapil was an excellent accompanist, noted for his skill in sight reading. As the choirmaster and conductor of the Brno Beseda he gave the Czech premières of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion, Arthur Honegger’s Judith and Karol Szymanowski’s Stabat mater. He received the Award of Merit in 1955. He taught at the School of Organists and at the Brno Conservatory, and he was appointed professor of composition at the academy in 1947. His students included Hana Janků, Miloslav Ištvan, Ctirad Kohoutek, Čestmír Gregor and Jiří Matys. He died in Brno at the age of 65.