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)