Born in Prague, Dec 30, 1859
Died in Nový Vestec, nr Stará Boleslav, Bohemia, May 29, 1951
- Josef Bohuslav Foerster was a composer, music critic, and educator. He was a contemporary of Leoš Janáček and Gustav Mahler.
- *Foerster’s last name is also spelled Förster
- Foerster came from a musical family. His father (also named Josef) was an organist and choirmaster in the foremost Prague churches and served on the faculty at Prague Conservatory. His uncle Antonín was a pupil of Smetana as well as an organist, choirmaster, and conductor.
- Foerster married soprano Berta Lautererová and moved to various cities around central Europe based on her singing engagements, including Hamburg and Vienna. He always took up prominent teaching positions wherever he landed, in addition to composing and writing for journals.
- In 1918, the couple returned to Prague. Foerster continued to teach at prominent institutions, such as the Prague Conservatory and the Charles Conservatory.
- Despite having faded into the background among other Czech composers, Foerster was a highly respected figure during his lifetime and held several notable titles. From 1920-45, he was president of the Association of Czechoslovak Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers, and from 1931–9, he was president of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Art. In 1945, he was awarded the title of National Artist.
- As a composer, Foerster was a traditionalist deeply loyal to the nationalist 19th-century vernacular. His extensive compositional oeuvre includes opera, cantatas, choral music, songs, orchestral music, chamber pieces, and more.1
Learn More
Short biography from Naxos
Short biography from Britannica
Sources
- Oldřich Pukl, John Tyrrell, and Vlasta Reittererová, “Foerster [Förster], Josef Bohuslav,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed April 3, 2023, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000009911.