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Vítezslava Kaprálová wins an award to study in Paris with Charles Munch, and is mentored by fellow Czech Bohuslav Martinu.

Born in 1915 into a musical family, Vítezslava Kaprálová was one of the brightest young composers to emerge in Czech music inbetween the two world wars. You may have come across her name in association with her mentor, the composer Bohuslav Martinu, with whom she later became romantically involved, but irrespective of that link Kaprálová achieved considerable success under her own steam, notching up a series of professional achievements that set her apart from her contemporaries. She was the first woman to graduate as a composer from the Brno Conservatory, the first woman to be given the prestigious Smetana award for composition and the first woman to conduct the Czech Philharmonic. Here in the UK Kaprálová joined the ranks of British composer Dame Ethel Smyth and Nadia Boulanger in conducting the ´óÏó´«Ã½ Symphony Orchestra before the Second World War.

There's litte doubt that the turbulence of the times in which Kaprálová lived created obstacles in her creative path. She became an exile after the Munich Agreement of 1938 and the subsequent onset of the Second World War. Furthermore, like the talented French composer, Lili Boulanger some twenty years earlier, Kaprálová's life was cut short; she died in France in 1940, at the age of just twenty-five. Nonetheless she was able to compose quickly and naturally, so a sizeable legacy exists of some fifty works, spread across vocal, chamber, solo piano and orchestral forms. Donald Macleod explores Vítezslava Kaprálová's extraordinary story with Karla Hartl, the founder of The Kaprálová Society.

The opportunity to study in Paris marked a personal turning point in the life of the young Czech composer Vítezslava Kaprálová. She arrived there in 1938, as the terms of the Munich Accord, which gave part of Czechoslovakia to Germany, were being thrashed out. A year later the Germans invaded her homeland. For Kaprálová this had a profound result. She would remain in exile for the rest of her life. Her life became increasingly complicated. Money was hard to come by and her relationship with her composition mentor, Bohuslav Martinu, deepened emotionally. Presented by Donald Macleod, with Karla Hartl, founder of The Kaprálová Society.

Smutny vecer (Sad Evening)
Olena Tokar, soprano
Igor Gryshyn, piano

Waving Farewell
Czech Symphony Orchestra of Brno
Vilém Pribl, tenor
Frantísek Jílek, conductor

String Quartet, Op.8 (3rd movement: Allegro con variazioni)
Å kampa Quartet

Martinu: Koleda milostná (Love Carol) for voice & piano
Kaprálová: Koleda milostná (Love Carol) for voice & piano
Lenka Škornicková, soprano
Jítka Drobílková, piano

Variations sur le carillon
Virginia Eskin, piano

Suita rustica
Brno Philharmonic
Jirí Pinkas, conductor.