Vilem Tausky

The Moravian-born British conductor, composer and teacher Vilem Tausky died on 16 March 2004, aged 93.

Tausky was born at Perov on 20 July 1910 to a musical family - a Viennese mother who had sung at the Vienna Court Opera and an uncle (Leo Fall) who wrote the operetta The Dollar Princess.

He began his career as a repetiteur at Brno Opera, having studied at the conservatoire in the same city, and first began to conduct in Brno when he was nineteen. At the beginning of World War II, as a Jew, he fled Czechoslovakia, first for Paris, and then England. His many honours and awards include the Czech Military Cross and the CBE.

He conducted both serious and light music, appearing with most of the major British opera companies and orchestras, including ten years with the BBC Concert Orchestra. His conducting career peaked in the 1950s and 60s, but his biggest hit as a composer was with a 1973 Harmonica Concerto for Tommy Reilly. He taught conducting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London until 1987, and was director of opera there until 1992.

Although dismissed in some quarters as an entertainer (due probably to Friday Night is Music Night and his show work with comedians such as Benny Hill, Frankie Howerd and Morecambe and Wise) he knew Janácek and Martinu, and made important contributions to the promotion of Czech music in the UK, introducing, for example, Smetana's folk opera The Kiss. He also premièred many British works.

Information: www.classicalmusicdaily.com/articles/t/v/vilem-tausky.htm

Posted: 31 March 2004

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