Josef Přibík

Significance

Josef Přibík was a Czech conductor, composer and teacher who spent a large part of his professional life at opera theatres in Ukraine. According to the Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine (ESU) he conducted in Kharkiv, Lviv and Kyiv and, from 1894, in Odesa; in 1919 he became a professor at the Odesa Conservatory there, and in 1932 he received the title People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR. His career spans the opera theatres of several Ukrainian cities. [PRB01]

Life

Přibík was born at the Svatá Hora estate near Příbram in the Austrian Empire and died in Odesa on 20 October 1937. The sources differ on his birth year (see the section on disagreements). He studied in Prague: according to ESU he graduated from the Prague piano academy in 1875 and from the Prague Conservatory in 1876 as a pianist and conductor; Czech Wikipedia mentions an organ school completed in 1872 and dates his move to Russia to 1875. [PRB01; PRB02]

According to ESU he conducted the Lviv opera in 1882–1883, the Kyiv opera in 1883–1885, the Kharkiv opera again in 1888–1889, and in 1889–1893 was kapellmeister of I. Pryanishnikov's opera company in Kyiv. Odessa Journal adds that in 1880 he became second conductor of the Kharkiv Opera and in 1882 principal conductor in Lviv, and that he declined the directorship of the Lviv Conservatory. [PRB01; PRB03]

From 1894 Přibík worked in Odesa. According to ESU he became a professor at the Odesa Conservatory in 1919, chief conductor of the Odesa opera in 1920 and its honorary conductor in 1926; Odessa Journal agrees on 1920 and 1926. [PRB01; PRB03]

Ukrainian connection

According to ESU, in Kyiv Přibík gave the first productions of Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades (1890) and Borodin's Prince Igor (1891); the article notes that they followed the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. His repertoire also included rarely performed operas, among them Verdi's Falstaff and Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. [PRB01] In Odesa, according to Odessa Journal, several Russian operas had their premieres under his direction, including Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila and Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel; in 1933, at an anniversary evening for Stolyarsky, he accompanied David Oistrakh in Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. [PRB03]

Among his own works ESU lists one-act stage pieces, ballet suites, the musical picture "Festival in the Village", folk-song arrangements, a "Ukrainian Rhapsody", a string quartet on Moldavian themes and romances. [PRB01] A memorial plaque stands in Odesa (Czech Wikipedia and Odessa Journal both give Mayakovsky Street 6). [PRB02; PRB03]

Disagreements in the sources

Birth date: ESU gives 13.4.1853 as the main date but also mentions 11.3.1855; Czech Wikipedia gives 11.3.1855 from a parish register; Odessa Journal has 1853–1937 in its heading and 11 March 1855 in its text, without explanation. [PRB01; PRB02; PRB03]

Chronology of the theatres: ESU places the Kharkiv work in 1870–1882 while dating the end of his studies to 1875–1876; Odessa Journal places his start at the Kharkiv Opera in 1880. The same ESU article says he lived in Smolensk in 1878–1893 and headed the local branch of the Russian Musical Society, which overlaps with his work in Lviv, Kyiv and Kharkiv; the source gives no explanation. Czech Wikipedia gives no years for Kharkiv, Lviv or Kyiv. [PRB01; PRB02; PRB03]

Titles: ESU dates the title People's Artist of the Ukrainian SSR to 1932; Czech Wikipedia names "National Artist of Ukraine" and "Hero of Labour" without dates; Odessa Journal also mentions both without dates. Czech Wikipedia further links Přibík with a Prague production of The Queen of Spades on 11.10.1892, called the first in Europe; the other sources used do not mention this. [PRB01; PRB02; PRB03]