Jozef Kresánek

Prof. PhDr. Jozef Kresánek, CSc. was a Slovak musicologist, ethnomusicologist, composer, and university professor. He was a founding figure of Slovak musicology, known for his wide-ranging and multifaceted scholarly approach. He studied composition at the State Conservatory in Prague, later at the Master School of the Prague Conservatory under Vítězslav Novák, while simultaneously pursuing musicology at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University.

His primary research interests lay in music history, with a focus on the musical culture of Slovakia and historiography, especially in terms of methodological issues; music theory from the perspective of tonality, tectonics, and music pedagogy; systematics of musicology; and ethnomusicology with field research. He also explored topics such as the phenomenology of music, musical thinking, and the social function of music.

Among his most significant and internationally recognized works are Slovenská ľudová pieseň zo stanoviska hudobného (Slovak Folk Song from a Musical Perspective, 1951, 1997), Sociálna funkcia hudby (The Social Function of Music, 1961), the trilogy Základy hudobného myslenia (Foundations of Musical Thinking, 1977), Tonalita (Tonality, 1983), Tektonika (Tectonics, 1994), Úvahy o hudbe (Reflections on Music, 1965), Úvod do systematiky hudobnej vedy (Introduction to the Systematics of Musicology, 1980), a monograph on the National Artist Eugen Suchoň (1961, 1978), the study Hudba a človek (Music and Man, 1992, 2000), and university textbooks Hudobná historiografia (Music Historiography, 1981, 1992).

In the final years of his life, Jozef Kresánek turned his attention to music journalism. In his writings, he frequently emphasized the importance of music and aesthetic education within the school system.

He composed orchestral, vocal-instrumental, and chamber works, choral pieces, and arrangements of folk songs.

"His compositional work was influenced by Slovak folklore; he handled folkloric or folklorically tinged original musical material analytically (in the manner of B. Bartók), incorporating polytonality—such as by confronting diatonic melody with chromatic accompaniment (Klavírne trio – Piano Trio), or by combining triadic harmony with quartal or secundal harmony. At the same time, similarly to Novák, he liked to draw on the lyrical and rhapsodic diction of Slovak folk songs. His compositions often reveal a tendency toward intellectually playful detail, and in his mature works, an Apollonian moderation and subtlety of expression prevail (Klavírne kvinteto – Piano Quintet; Tri piesne na slová Ivana Krasku – Three Songs on the Poetry of Ivan Krasko)."

(ZVARA, Vladimír: Jozef Kresánek. In: 100 slovenských skladateľov [100 Slovak Composers]. Eds. Marián Jurík, Peter Zagar. Bratislava: National Music Centre, 1998, p. 159.)