Petr Eben

Petr Eben (b. 22 January 1929 in Žamberk) is one of the leading contemporary composers in the Czech Republic.

His Life
Eben spent his youth in Český Krumlov. There he studied the piano, and later the cello and organ. After the troubled years of German occupation and World War II he was admitted to the Prague Academy for Music where he studied the piano with František Rauch and composition with Pavel Bořkovec.

In 1955 he was appointed to the staff of the Music Department of the University of Prague. From 1978-1979 he was professor of composition at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. In 1990 he became professor of composition at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and President of the Prague Spring Festival. He is well-known for his improvisations on the piano and organ, but composition remains his main area of interest.

Petr Eben is a prolific composer of music in several genres. Among his most important commissions are the oratorio Apologia Socratus, the ballet Curse and Benediction (Kletby a dobroreceni), written for the Holland Festival 1983, the orchestral works Hours of the Night (Nocni hodiny) and Prague Nocturne (Prazske nokturno), for the Vienna Philharmonic, the Organ Concerto no 2 for the dedication of the new organ for Radio Vienna, the mass Missa cum populo for the Avignon Festival, the oratorio Holy Symbol (Posvatna znameni) for Salzburg Cathedral, and the Church Opera Jeremiah. He has also written organ music, and some enchanting children’s songs.

List of selected compositions
Missa adventus et quadragesimae, 1952
Organ Concerto no 1, 1954
Sunday Music, organ, 1957-59
Horka hlina (Bitter Earth), cantata, 1959-60
Piano Concerto, 1960-61
"Laudes", organ, 1964
Ordinarium missae, 1966
Apologia Socratus, oratorio, 1967
Truverska mse, mass, 1968-69
Vox clamantis, 1969
"Ten Preludes on Chorales of the Bohemian Brethren", organ, 1971-73
Pragensia, cantata, 1972
Nocni hodiny (Hours of the Night), sinfonia, 1975
Faust, incidental music, 1976
Hamlet, incidental music, 1976-77
Pocta Karlu IV., cantata, 1978
"Mutationes", organ, 1980
Missa cum populo, 1982
Kletby a dobroreceni, ballett, 1983
Hommage à Dietrich Buxtehude, organ, 1987
Job, organ, 1987
"A Festive Voluntary: Variations on Good King Wenceslas", organ, 1987
Organ Concerto 2, 1988
Prague Te Deum, 1989 (for mixed choir, 4 brass instruments, timpani and percussion or organ)
"Biblical Dances", organ, 1990-91
Posvatna znameni, oratorio, 1992-93
Proprium festivum monasteriense, hymn, 1993
"Amen—es werde wahr: Choralphantasie für Orgel", organ, 1994
"Momenti d'organo", organ, 1994
Hommage à Henry Purcell, organ, 1994-95
Jeremiah, opera, 1996-97
"Campanae gloriosae", organ, 1999