SUK Josef: Andante, transcription byBarbora PLACHA

Description

The violinist and composer Josef Suk (1874 – 1935) was born in Křečovice, Bohemia. Known to be one of Antonín Dvořák‘s favorite pupils, Suk also married Dvořák’s daughter Otilie (in 1898).

This Andante, written in 1897 as part of the Sonatina in G Minor for piano, later became the first movement in ‘Four Episodes’. It is an example of Suk’s initial, late Romantic style, clearly influenced by Dvořák. After both Dvořák and Otilie’s deaths within 14 months of each other (1904 and 1905 respectively), Suk’s writing took a more complex, darker and introspective direction.