Vilém Blodek - Symphony in D-minor (1859)

Vilém Blodek

 (October 3, 1834, Prague – May 1, 1874, Prague), was a Czech composer, flautist, and pianist.

Symphony in D-minor (1859)

Mov.I: Andante sostenuto - Allegro agitato 00:00
Mov.II: Andante sostenuto 09:08
Mov.III: Scherzo 17:56
Mov.IV: Finale: Molto vivace 24:09

Orchestra: Pilsen Radio Orchestra
Conductor: Bohumír Liška

Blodek was born into a poor family and was educated at a German Piarist school in Prague. After studying with Dreyschock (piano) and at the Prague Conservatory (1846–52) with Antonín Eiser (flute) and Johann Friedrich Kittl (composition),^[1] he became a music teacher in Lubycza, Galicia (1853–5). on returning to Prague, he worked as a concert pianist and music teacher and, briefly, as second conductor of the Prague Männergesangverein, for which he wrote a number of patriotic choruses. In 1860 he succeeded Eiser as professor of flute at the conservatory, and, as a basis for teaching, he wrote his own flute tutor (1861). He was active as a writer of incidental music for the German and Czech theatres: from 1858 onwards he wrote music for 60 plays and collaborated with Smetana on music for the tableaux for the 1864 Shakespeare celebrations. In 1865 he married his pupil Marie Doudlebská. Overwork caused a nervous breakdown, and after a spell in a mental home in 1870, he returned there permanently in May 1871.