Personendetails

Emanuel Vašák

Vašák, Emanuel (1818-1891). Amateur Czech composer. Educated and employed variously as a state official and as a teacher, but also studied music, possibly with Tomášek and with Josef Krejčí. He established himself during the late 1850s and in the 1860s as a leading composer of vernacular Czech choruses and songs, his works frequently being performed in concerts staged by native choral societies. His works were most frequently cast in a simple, animated and accessible quasi-folk Slavonic style that was rewarding to sing and immediate in effect. Vašák was responsible for the editing and publication of Národní zpěv a ples (1864), an important serial publication of new Czech chorus that formed the basis of popular repertoire of the time.