Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, music theorist, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic music, including Eastern European folk music, to create an original, modern musical style.
Bohuslav Jan Martinů was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. He became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and briefly studied under Czech composer and violinist Josef Suk. After leaving Czechoslovakia in 1923 for Paris, Martinů deliberately withdrew from the Romantic style in which he had been trained. During the 1920s he experimented with modern French stylistic developments, exemplified by his orchestral works Half-time and La Bagarre. He also adopted jazz idioms, for instance in his Kitchen Revue.
Jan Dismas Zelenka, baptised Jan Lukáš Zelenka was a Czech composer and musician of the Baroque period. His music is admired for its harmonic inventiveness and mastery of counterpoint.
Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek was a Czech composer, pianist, and organist.
Pavel Haas was a Czech composer who was murdered during the Holocaust. He was an exponent of Leoš Janáček's school of composition, and also utilized elements of folk music and jazz. Although his output was not large, he is notable particularly for his song cycles and string quartets.
Pavel Bořkovec was a Czech composer and music teacher.
The Sinfonietta from 1926 is a late work for large orchestra by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček. It is dedicated "To the Czechoslovak Army" and Janáček said it was intended to express "contemporary free man, his spiritual beauty and joy, his strength, courage and determination to fight for victory". It started by Janáček listening to a brass band, becoming inspired to write some fanfares of his own. When the organisers of the Sokol Gymnastic Festival approached him for a commission, he developed the material into the Sinfonietta. He later dropped the word military. The first performance was in Prague on 26 June 1926 under Václav Talich.
Jan Hanuš was a prolific Czech composer of the 20th century. Almost every category of composition is represented among his works, many of which are overtly political, expressing anti-Nazi, anti-Fascist and anti-Communist sentiments.
Vítězslava Kaprálová was a Czech composer and conductor of 20th-century classical music.
Josef Suk was a Czech violinist, violist, chamber musician and conductor. In his home country he carried the title of National Artist.
Milan Munclinger was a Czechoslovak flautist, conductor, composer and musical scientist.
Praga is a manufacturing company based in Prague, Czech Republic. The company produced automobiles, trucks and airplanes. The Praga V3S 5-ton truck was used by the Czechoslovak Army for more than half a century. The current company produces karts, racing and road supersports and is involved in car racing. It produces up to 7,000 kart chassis every year, making it one of the most successful kart manufacturers in the world.
Sylvie Bodorová is a Czech composer. During a career spanning from the late 1970s to the present day she has composed a large number of works for various instruments, both solo and orchestral pieces, and produced commissions for cities, festivals and organisations around the world. She was a founder member of the Czech classical group Quattro, formed in 1996.
Viktor Kalabis was a Czech composer, music editor, musicologist, and husband of harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková.
Czech composer Josef Suk's Second Symphony, named "Asrael", was completed in 1906 following the deaths first of his father-in-law, in 1904, and then of his wife. Inevitably mournful but also vital in nature, the five-movement, hour-long work is cast in C minor and scored in Straussian vein for large orchestra. It was published as Opus 27. The composer had married Otilie Dvořáková, daughter of his composition teacher, Antonín Dvořák.
The Vlach Quartet is the name of two consecutive classical string quartet musical ensembles, based in Prague, both of which were founded by members of the Vlach family. The original Vlach Quartet was founded by Josef Vlach in 1950 and wound up in 1975. In 1982 the New Vlach Quartet was founded by his daughter Jana Vlachova, with guidance her father, and came to be known as the Vlach Quartet of Prague, and is still active as a musical ensemble.
Ivan Klánský is a Czech pianist.
A sinfonietta is a musical group that is larger than a chamber ensemble but smaller than a full-size or symphony orchestra.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Prague:
