Ondříček, František (EN)

Ondříček František, *29 April 1857 Prague, †12 April 1922 Milan, Czech violinist, composer and teacher, son of Jan. František’s first teacher was his father, in whose ensemble he performed with his brothers Josef, Jan and Karel (1863–1943), later violinist and concertmaster of orchestras in Prague, New York and Boston and member (1899–1902) of the American string quartet Kneisel Quartet. From 1873 to 1876, František Ondříček studied in the class of A. Bennewitz at the Prague Conservatory, and from 1877 to 1879, in the class of L.J. Massart at the Paris Conservatory, from which he graduated with first prize. In 1879–81, he was a soloist at Pasdeloup’s concerts in Paris. He also performed in Brussels, London and Vienna, where in 1882–83, he achieved successes that opened concert halls for him all over Europe (1884 in Russia) and America. He also gave concerts in Poland – in Warsaw, Kraków, Lviv and Łódź (1889, 1891 and 1896). In addition to solo sonatas by J.S. Bach, works by Beethoven, Brahms, Paganini, and Czech composers, including J. Suk, a significant item in his repertoire was the Violin Concerto in A minor by A. Dvořák, of which František Ondříček was the first performer (Prague 14 October 1883, Vienna 2 December 1883) and propagator. Ondříček conducted pedagogical activity in Vienna and Prague; in 1909–1919, he taught and conducted at the Neues Wiener Konservatorium, which he founded. From 1919 to 1922, he led the violin master class at the Prague Conservatory.

Literature: B. Šich František Ondříček, Prague 1947, 2^nd ed. 1970, Russian ed. Moscow 1958.