20th century
Baroque
Classical
Romantic
20th century
21st century
Solo repertoire
Piccolo
Alto flute
Bass flute
Jirák Karel Boleslav
Aitken, Robert
Amirov, Fikret
Amlin, Martin
Amram, David
Andriessen, Jurriaan
Arnold, Malcolm
Arrieu, Claude
Auric, Georges
Babbit, Milton
Bacchus, Peter
Bacri, Nicolas
Baker, Michael Conway
Baksa, Robert
Barber, Samuel
Barrere, Georges
Bartók, Béla Viktor János
Baton, René-Emmanuel
Beaser, Robert
Bennet, Richard Rodney
Berg, Gunnar
Berio, Luciano
Bernofsky, Lauren
Bernstein, Leonard
Bloch, Ernest
Bolling, Claude
Bon, Maarten
Bonis, Mel
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Boulanger, Marie-Juliette
Boulez, Pierre
Bourdin, Roger
Bournonville, Armand
Bowen, Edwin York
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Jirák, Karel Boleslav
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Sonata for flute and piano Op. 32
Sonata for flute and piano Op. 32
Karel Boleslav Jirák: Sonata for flute and piano Op. 32 was written in 1927 and dedicated to the Czech flautist Josef Bok, who was a prominent soloist and orchestral player in Prague during the 1920s.
It was premiered in 1928 in Prague at a concert organized by the Mánes Association of Fine Artists, a hub for the Czech avant-garde.
The first movement’s Allegro starts with a church bells-like sound, introducing the main theme. The slow movement, Calmo, is a meditative cantilena, and the final Allegro energico continues rhythmic and intervallic patterns of the first movement.
In 1927, Jirák was a leading figure in the "Prague Modernist" circle. Having moved away from his early Romantic influences (Suk and Novák), he adopted a leaner, more Neoclassical and linear approach influenced by the French "Les Six" and Hindemith. At the time of composition, Jirák was also a Professor of Composition at the Prague Conservatory.
In 1927, he was serving as the Head of Music at Czechoslovak Radio and was a high-ranking member of the ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music).
The Sonata was composed during a period when Jirák was frequently traveling to international festivals. The work's sophisticated, cosmopolitan language was intended to showcase Czech music as part of the broader European modern movement rather than just a provincial folk tradition.
Jirák Karel Boleslav
Karel Boleslav Jirák (1891 – 1972) was a Czech composer, teacher, and educator. He served as a crucial bridge between the Czech National School and the international avant-garde.
Born in Prague, Jirák was raised in the vibrant cultural atmosphere of the late Austro-Hungarian Empire. He studied law at Charles University while simultaneously pursuing advanced musical training. His primary compositional training came from two of the most influential Czech composers of the time: Vítězslav Novák and Josef Suk. Under their tutelage, he mastered the Late-Romantic traditions of Dvořák and Brahms.
In Berlin (1913), he briefly studied with Arnold Schoenberg. While he did not fully adopt the twelve-tone system, this encounter pushed him toward expressionism and extended tonality.
He started his musical career as the Kapellmeister at the Hamburg Opera in 1915. From 1918 to 1919, he worked as a conductor at the National Theatre in Brno and Ostrava. From 192,0 he taught composition at the Prague Conservatory and became the principal conductor of the Czechoslovak Radio Orchestra, which he led up until 1945.
He was a founding member of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM), working alongside Hindemith and Bartók to promote a "cosmopolitan" modernism.
Right after World War I, he emigrated to the United States, where he taught composition at Roosevelt University, Chicago, until 1967.
Jirák’s music is characterized by intellectual discipline, clear formal structures, and a mastery of counterpoint. Besides six symphonies, he composed opera, choral, organ, and chamber music pieces.