Julie Reisserová née Kühnlova (b. 9 October 1888, d. 25 February 1938 , Prague) was a Czech poet, conductor, composer and music critic.

Biography

Julie Reisserová was born in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

. She studied piano with Adolf Mikeš and dramatic singing with Richard Figar, but developed voical strain so took the exams to became a language teacher instead. From 1919-1921 she studied composition in Prague with Josef Bohuslav Foerster

Josef Bohuslav Foerster

Josef Bohuslav Foerster was a Czech composer of classical music. He is often referred to as J. B. Foerster. The surname is sometimes spelled Förster.- Life :...

. She continued her studies in Bern with Ernst Hohlfeld, and also studied conducting in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 with Albert Roussel

Albert Roussel

Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...

 and Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger

Nadia Boulanger was a French composer, conductor and teacher who taught many composers and performers of the 20th century.From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire, but believing that her talent as a composer was inferior to that of her younger...

.

In 1921 she married Czech diplomat John Reisser (b. 1891) and moved with him to Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 (1921–1929), Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

 (1930–1933) and Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 (1933–1936) while pursuing her career as a composer. Her work was performed in Bern, Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 and in Philadelphia.

Reisserová translated the Czech language version of Le testament de la tante Caroline

Le testament de la tante Caroline

Le testament de la tante Caroline is an opéra bouffe or operetta by composer Albert Roussel and librettist Nino . The original production was in the Czech language and in three acts, but the work was later revised into a one act operetta in the French language...

(Aunt Caroline's Will) an operetta by composer Albert Roussel

Albert Roussel

Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...

 and librettist Nino (Michel Veber). The opera premiered on 14 November 1936 in Olomouc

Olomouc

Olomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. The city is located on the Morava river and is the ecclesiastical metropolis and historical capital city of Moravia. Nowadays, it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic...

 and reprised on 18 April 1937 in Prague.

Works

Orchestral music:

• Suite for Orchestra, 1928
• Maritimo Pastorale for orchestra, 1933
• Early spring, 1936

Piano pieces:

• Esquisses, for solo piano
• Musikforlag, 1935
• Deux Allegros (manuscript)

Vocal music:

• March, a song cycle with orchestra, piano, 1934
• Under the snow (sous la neige), 1936 - song cycle with piano to texts of Chinese poetry
• Gala Day, for women's choir 1936, dedicated to Františka Plamínková

In 1934 she also published a book of poetry In Margin Vitae including poems written in Czech, German, French and English.

External links

• Short biographical notice in English