Vladimír Godár
VLADIMÍR GODÁR (1956, Bratislava) studied at the Conservatoire in Bratislava (piano with Mária Masariková, composition with Juraj Pospíšil) and at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Bratislava (compostition with Dezider Kardoš), graduating in 1980 with his Symphony No. 1 for orchestra. Between 1979 - 1988 he worked as an editor of OPUS Publishing House, since 1988 he’s been working at the Institute of Musicology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. Between 1993 - 1994 he was the composer-in-residence at the Slovak Philharmonic. 1991 - 1996 he was the senior editor of Slovak Music quarterly. Since 1996 he has been lecturer of aesthetics at the Komenský University in Bratislava. Godár’s first compositions are marked by twelve-tone music, post-war serialism and the Polish School, later, among the trends of the seventies, he was influenced by ancient European music, which he performed (as a continuo player in ancient music ensembles led by Ján Albrecht), analysed (several studies, including his dissertation Battaglia and Mimesis) and revised (several volumes of Fontes musicae, Ancient Music in Slovakia). Forgotten techniques and sound concepts of old European music were thus incorporated into his language. In his comprehensive works he seeks confrontation of the musical past with the present, making use of polystylistic elements (Ricercar, Charm, Partita, Sonata for Cello and Piano, Concerto grosso, Meditation for Violin and Orchestra, Orbis sensualium pictus, Dariachanga’s Orchard, Sequence for Violin and Piano). He uses methods of reduction and selection to confront characteristic expressive shapes, drawing not on minimal music of the sixties and seventies, but on European music history, and he further simplifies his language in works written after five years of silence (Symphony Nr. 2, Autumn Meditation, Tenderness, Via lucis, Barcarole). He has been awarded a several prizes: J. L. Bella Prize for Partita (1985) and Concerto grosso (1987), Musical Critic´s Prize for Dariachanga’s Orchard (1988) and Golden Nail Prize for film music Tenderness (1991).
Works (selection): Ricercar per 4 stromenti (1977), Sorrowfull Songs to Words from Old Slovak Poetry for female/children’s choir and chamber ensemble (1979), Symphony No. 1 (1980), Trio for violin, clarinet and piano (1980), Violin Duets (1981), Lyrical Cantata for mezzo-soprano and chamber orchestra (1981), Partita for 54 String Instruments, harpsichord, timpani and tubular bells (1983), Grave, passacaglia for piano (1983), Talisman, nocturne for violin, cello and piano (1979 - 1983), Orbis sensualium pictus, oratorio (1984), Meditation for violin and orchestra (1984/rev. 1995), Four Earnest Songs for voice and piano (1985), Sonata to the Memory of Viktor Shklovsky for cello and piano (1985), Concerto grosso per archi e cembalo (1985), Lullabies of Jan Skácel for soprano, flute, cello and harpsichord (1986), Sequence for violin and piano (1987), Dariachangha’s Orchard, myth after O. Chiladze for viola, cello and orchestra (1987), Autumn Meditation for string quartet (1970/1990), Tenderness, music for a film (1991), Tenderness for string quartet (1991), Symphony No. 2, ritual for orchestra (1992), Via lucis for orchestra (1993), Barcarole for violin, harp, harpsichord and strings (1993), Déploration sur la mort de Witold Lutosławski for string quartet (1994), Emmeleia, various versions (1994), The Garden, music for a film (1995), Tombeau de Bartók for orchestra (1995), Ecce puer for soprano, harp, chitarrone, harpsichord and strings (1997), Orbis pictus, music for a film (1997), La Canzona refrigerativa dell arpa di Davide for cello and harp (1998), Bikít Gilgameš for bass and cello (1998), O Crux for cello solo (1999), Krajinka, music for a film (2000), Divertimento in A for violin and cello (2001), Variazioni facili for violin, cello and piano (2001), Filmová suita for string quartet (2001), Stála matka (2001), Kniha žalmov for cello (2003), Pieseň labute for 4 cellos (2003), Malá suita pre saxofónové kvarteto (2003), Le carneval de Venise for string quartet (2005), Slnečný štát, music for a film (2005).