• 1930

    completed the Music and Drama Academy in Bratislava (double bass) and joined the Bratislava Radio Philharmony

  • 1931 – 1935

    Music Academy in Prague (composition with Josef Suk)

  • 1931 – 1938

    double bass and tuba player in the Prague Radio Symphony

  • 1935 – 1938

    studied composition at Masters School (Vítězslav Novák, later Jozef Křička) and conducting (Pavel Dědeček)

  • 1939 – 1942

    conductor of the Bratislava Radio Orchestra

  • 1942 – 1952

    head conductor of the Bratislava Radio Orchestra

“Babušek's compositional development was very slow and unsystematic. As a composer-conductor Babušek rather dealt with the daily needs of radio broadcasting as a conscious creative process. Therefore his early works (Serenáda / Serenade; Svadobná polonéza pre orchester / Wedding Polonaise for Orchestra; Radostná nálada / Jolliness; Scherzo pre orchester / Scherzo for Orchestra) respect the needs of radio programs more than creative self-realization. He indicated higher composing ambitions in his graduation composition (Passacaglia / Passacaglia for organ and orchestra) which led to The Piano Concerto in D Minor from 1950 (premiered by M. Karin) and cantata Pieseň života / The Song of Life. His most successful compositions include Prelude for Strings (performed in Slovak Philharmony by V. Talich), which was created by recomposing his original Overture in D.”

 

(JURÍK, Marián: František Babušek. In: 100 slovenských skladateľov. Ed. Marián Jurík, Peter Zagar. Bratislava: Národné hudobné centrum, 1998, p. 23 – 24.)

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