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Dve vzpominky na Oskara Morawtze
V patek 11. cervna 2007 zemrel v Torontu, neceleho pul roku po dovrseni svych devadesatych narozenin, jeden z nejprednejsich kanadskych hudebnich skladatelu, Oskar Morawetz. I kdyz se v jeho skladbach obcas ozvou motivy lidovych melodii jeho rodneho Ceskoslovenska, Oskar Morawetz byl skladatelem kanadskym. Nejen, ze prakticky vsecky sve skladby komponoval v Kanade, ale v Kanade take promoval - na Torontske univerzite, kde svoji akademickou karieru ukoncil jako profesor emeritus hudby. Podrobnejsi seznam jeho skladeb jsme uvedli pri prilezitosti jeho devadesatych narozenin v lednu. Dnes se zminime jen o tech nejznamejsich: Carnival Overture (1945), ktera dosud patri mezi jeho nejhranejsi dila; Piano Concerto No.1 (za ktere Morawetz obdrzel Zubin Mehta Award), From the Diary of Anne Frank (dilo poctene Segal Foundation Special Award), Divertisimo for Strings {provedene na Bruselske svetove vystave v roce 1958), Fantasy in D for Piano, nahrana Glenn Gouldem; choralova skladba Keep Us Free, kterou byl na CBC uveden projev kralovny Alzbety v Ottawe v roce 1951. Ale jeho daleko nejznamejsim dilem je Memorial to Martin Luther King. Bylo objednano ruskym celistou Mstislavem Rostropovicem a v roce 1993 pri prilezitosti 25. vyroci jeho smrti v provedeni New York Philharmonic rizenem Kurt Masurem s celistou Yo Yo Ma vysilano po celem svete.
Jednou z Morawetzovych poslednich praci byla transkripce pro housle, celo a orchestr dvou Dvorakovych skladeb, ktere byly provedeny za jeho pritomnosti ve Smetanove sini 16. prosince 1993 Boston Symphony pod taktovkou Seiji Ozawa se solisty Itzhak Perlmanem a Yo Yo Ma a nahrany pro Sony Classsics o rok pozdeji.
Morawetzovy skladby byla dirigovany nejznamejsimi dirigenty jeho doby a byly provedeny prednimi pianisty (Glenn Gould a Rudolf Firkusny) a zpevaky (Jon Vickers, Louis Quilico a Ben Hepner). Mezi vyznamenanimi, jichz se mu dostalo, uvedme Rad Kanady a Rad Ontaria, Canada Council Fellowship, Critics Award, International Competition Contemporary Music, Cava di Tirreni, Jan V. Matejcek Concert Award, Juno Award, Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal 2002. CBC vydala antologii jeho hudby...
Oskar mel genialni pamet nejen pro hudbu, ale i pro vtipy, ale soucasne "trpel" profesorskou zapometlivosti: zapomnel, kde zaparkoval auto, prisel prednaset ozdoben dvema vazankami.
I kdyz v mnohem smeru zil v jinem svete, vedel, jak jednat s medii a dirigenty, stejne jako mel vyvinuty smysl pro investovani.
Byl laskavy, ale dovedl byt ostre ironicky a jestlize v nem neco vyvolavalo pocit blizky nenavisti, pak to byli naciste a jejich prisluhovaci. Svuj soucit s jejich obetmi vyjadril v skladbe From the Diary of Anne Frank, stejne jako lidska sounalezitost vsech ras inspirovala jeho Memorial to Martin Luther King. Ackoliv byl svedkem ohyzdne doby, nedovedl pochopit (a to je mirou jeho idealizmu), ze svet tak bohaty jako nas, necha miliony deti hladovet; ze lidstvo, ktere vytvorilo a vytvari tolik krasneho a je schopno cinu neuveritelne sebeobeti, se vybiji ve vrazednych orgiich a absurdni nicivosti.
Posledni leta jeho zivota k nemu nebyla dobra. Nejtiz ze vseho nesl, ze ztratil nejdriv schopnost komponovat a pak i schopnost hrat na klavir. Ackoliv nikdy nehovoril o nabozenstvi, ve sve posledni vuli vyjadril prani, aby byl pohrben jako Zid. Take urcil sve palbearers, dva jsou cleny ceske komunity: Jan V. Matejcek a ja. Soukromy pohreb (rodina a nejblizsi pratele) se konal 17. cervna 2007 v Holy Blossom Temple a recepce v domove Jana a Maureen Morawetzovych. Rozloucili se s nim vsichni jeho sourozenci: Sonja Sinclair, Herbert a Jan Morawetzovi. Sirsi verejnost se s nim rozlouci ve Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building (Faculty of Music), UofT 28. cervna 2007. Odesel v nem veliky skladatel, ktery se vzdycky hlasil k svemu cesstvi. A snad jeste vetsi clovek.
Jeho detem a vsem clenum jeho rodiny vyslovujeme uprimnou soustrast.
Josef Cermak
***
When composer Oskar Morawetz turned seventy in 1987, the Toronto Symphony paid homage to him by performing his composition entitled From the Diary of Anne Frank. Morawetz stood on the stage in his charcoal suit, a little smile dancing on his lips, as he was introduced to the audience. Unassuming and with a sense of humour, happy with his accomplishments but not losing his perspective. This is how I first saw him in person.
Oskar Morawetz was born to industrialist and land owner Richard Morawetz on January 17, 1917. In his younger years Oskar met many of his father's friends, including the first Czechoslovak president T. G. Masaryk and his family.
"I am not sure if, had the war not interfered, I would not be a land owner now. Even Tchaikovsky had to follow his father's wishes and study law. Only after my arrival in Canada in 1940 did I decide to become a musician."
Before the war, Morawetz studied piano at the Prague Conservatory of Music and never gave any thought to leaving his native country. The German occupation of Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1939, changed all of that. The Morawetz family fled from Czechoslovakia just in the nick of time. The Gestapo came to arrest Oscar's father just two days after their escape.
"If I painted the canvass of my life... well, there would be many people in it. The first one would probably be Prof. Karel Hoffmeister, director of the Prague Conservatory. He was sure from the start that I would grow up to be a composer and not a pianist."
In 1937, conductor George Szell, who later joined the Cleveland Symphony, recommended Morawetz as a conductor to the Prague Opera. Instead, Morawetz decided to continue his musical studies, first in Vienna and, after the Nazi occupation of Austria, in Paris.
Morawetz finished his musical studies in Toronto, where he arrived in 1942 to join the rest of his family. In 1953, Morawetz obtained a Doctorate of Music. In 1952, he was appointed a Professor of Theory and Composition at his Alma Mater, a post which he held until his retirement in 1982.
"In Canada many people helped me make my music known. Walter Susskind and Karel Ancerl played a lot of my music. Ancerl even took my composition from the Diary of Anne Frank for a tour of the United States shortly before he passed away."
After more than five decades in the music world, Morawetz has only one complaint: nobody takes a composer seriously when he is young. "My most important break came when in 1962 I won a piano concerto competition sponsored by the Montreal Symphony. The judge was Zubin Mehta."
Morawetz won with his Piano Concerto No. 1. The Concerto was premiered by Mehta the following year. Anton Kuerti was the soloist.
"The second break came in 1966 when I won the coveted Critics' Award in the International Competition of Contemporary Music in Cava dei Tirreni, Italy. My composition was performed by the Brno Symphony. Richard Kozderka, the first violist of the Moravian Philharmonic, wrote to me: 'You will surely win. Your composition is exquisite.' I was pleased to learn that his prediction was true. More than 100 works were submitted. I won with my Sinfonietta for Winds and Percussion. The world premiere took place again under Zubin Mehta's baton.
"My style evolved a great deal over the years. I started with compositions in Dvorak's spirit, nice and cheerful. But as time went on, I started to write in a more contemporary style, and in this style I wrote my most beloved compositions: Memorial to Martin Luther King, and From the Diary of Anne Frank."
"Oskar is Oskar," says CBC music producer David Jaeger who studied under Morawetz at the University of Toronto and produced many programs of his music. "Oskar is never influenced by fashion and he is neither conservative nor experimental. He is just following his inner voice. I think every artist finds himself doing that if he wants to be true to his values. The moments of glory are very short in an artist's life."
One of the moments from those early days will remain embedded in Morawetz's memory forever: "When I was ten years old, I went to the opera with my mother. In the morning she said: 'Oskar, I wanted to take you tonight to see Aida, but they are performing something else. I do not know if you are going to like it.' It turned out to be the German premiere of Kata Kabanova and its composer, Leos Janacek, was in attendance. I was spell-bound."
During one of his visits to Toronto, conductor Vaclav Neuman praised Morawetz's efforts to make Czech music known abroad. As Morawetz says: "I have always tried to promote Czech music here, in particular the work of composers Vitezslav Novak and Josef Suk."
Morawetz's absent-mindedness was legendary. About 20 years ago, I saw him crossing Dundas St. at Bay St. on the red light, oblivious to the traffic, probably working on some composition in his mind, putting himself fully at the mercy of drivers.
Since he retired, Morawetz spends most of his days in his living room, surrounded by memorabilia he collected during his long and productive life. Photographs of his family and friends hang above the sofa. Under a picture of Jan Masaryk, Czechoslovak Minister of External Affairs and son of President T. G. Masaryk, is written a reminder of happy days in pre-war Czechoslovakia.
The main feature of Morawetz's living room was a huge piano. This was where the composer spent numerous hours.
"I do not know if I have any recipe for success or for vitality. But I must agree that people usually think that I am 20 years younger than I really am. I think it is genetic. My mother is over 90 and she looks very young. And as far as artistic success is concerned, I write only what I feel and I do not look for the most modern trends. I am not a little girl searching for the most stylish hat."
A. Machova (zkraceno)

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