Vítězslav Novák ‒ Pan, A Poem in Tones,

Vítězslav Novák (1870 - 1949), Pan, A Poem in Tones, (1910) Performed by Frantisek Rauch 00:00 - No. 1 Prologue 07:45 - No. 2 The Mountains 15:45 - No. 3 The Sea 25:14 - No. 4 The Forest 36:57 - No. 5 Woman Vítězslav Novák was one of the most respected Czech composers and pedagogues, almost singlehandedly founding a mid-century Czech school of composition. Stylistically, he was a leading figure in the neoromantic movement, and his music has been occasionally considered an early example of Czech modernism. The height of his compositional career was acknowledged, even in the criticism of the day, to consist of two great achievements, both completed in 1910: Pan, the five-movement tone poem for piano solo (totalling some sixty pages of music, op. 43), and Bouře (The Tempest, op. 42, to a text by Svatopluk Čech, unrelated to Shakespeare’s play). The latter was an immense symphonic cantata for soloists, chorus, and orchestra,