Edvard Schiffauer

Tomáš Edvard Schiffauer (born 26 March 1942), more commonly known as Edvard Schiffauer, is a Czech composer of classical music. Schiffauer is mainly a composer of music for theatre. He moreover composed vocal pieces like operas, an oratorio, a mass and others, along with chamber music, such as sonatas, sonatinas, a string quartet, pieces for a brass quintet, a wind octet, a string trio and more.

Edvard Schiffauer
Photograph of Edvard Schiffauer in 2011
Born	Tomáš Edvard Schiffauer 26 March 1942 Ostrava, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (now Czech Republic)
Occupation(s)	Composer, professor of composition
Notable work	Rural Christmas Mass (op.4), Children's opera Vrat' nám, ptáku, Hastermana! (op.5)
Spouse	Věra Heřmánková
Children	Jakub, Filip, Sylvie
Parents	Leopold Schiffauer (father) Marta Dušková (mother)

Biography

Edvard Schiffauer was born in Ostrava in an educated upper-middle-class family. However, the family's quality of life degraded after the communist 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état. In 1960, Schiffauer started his study at the Technical University of Ostrava, which he discontinued, but he completed his master's degree at the Pedagogical Institute of the University of Ostrava in 1964. He also started studying musical composition in the Academy of Performing Arts.

In 1961, Schiffauer and other students established the theatre Divadélko Pod okapem (Little Theatre under the Gutter), which became an Ostravian equivalent of the Semafor Theatre, in Prague. Furthermore, he was involved in the foundation of the theatre Divadlo Waterloo (Waterloo Theatre) and wrote the music for the musical Syn Pluku (op. 3) (Son of the Regiment) in 1968. Later, the Waterloo Theatre was banned by the authorities in the normalization era in Czechoslovakia and a large-scale court trial was held with those involved in the theatre. Schiffauer was expelled from the Academy of Performing Arts and sentenced to nine months of imprisonment as a result of having composed for Syn Pluku.

Portrait by Antonín Kroča, 2005

He served his sentence in the prison in Pilsen-Bory, wherein he wrote the children's opera Vrat' nám, ptáku, Hastermana! (Bring us Hasterman back, Bird!) with the author Ivan Binar, his friend and later Charter 77 signatory. Schiffauer was employed as a worker and was being permanently interrogated by the State Security Police throughout the normalization era. This experience was briefly summarized by Schiffauer in an interview published on YouTube in February 2019.

After the Velvet Revolution, Schiffauer was allowed to complete his university education (Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts) and could fully engage himself into composition of music. He taught in the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava and in the Silesian University in Opava.

Works

Opus Number	Title	Year	Notes
1	Agent 3,14159	1969	This is music for a theatre play. This piece was premiered on 2 December 1969 in the theatre Waterloo.
2	Pamphlets	1969	Czech/original: Pamflety. This is a collection of scenic music and songs. This piece was premiered on 14 January 1969 in the Theatre Waterloo.
3	Son of the Regiment	1969	Czech/original: Syn Pluku. This satirical musical was the cause of Schiffauer's arrest in 1972. This music was premiered 1 April 1969 in the Theatre Waterloo.
4	Rural Christmas Mass	1969	Czech/original: Venkovská Vánoční mše. Words by Ivan Binar. This is one of Schiffauer's most well-known compositions. This piece is included in a CD named "Vánoce" (Christmas) (the CD also contains op.17 and op.21) released in 1998. This mass was premiered in the Church of Mokré Lazce by the Kostelní sbor a orchestr v Mokrých Lazcích (Church Choir and Orchestra of the Mokré Lazce). Otherwise, this composition was performed in churches of Moravia, Silesia, Poland, Slovakia and even the Netherlands and Denmark. This piece was also published on YouTube. Listen to this mass
5	Bring us Hasterman back, Bird!	1973	Czech/original: Vrat' nám, ptáku, Hastermana!. This is an opera for kids. This is one of Schiffauer's most well-known compositions. Schiffauer wrote the plot of this opera in prison with Ivan Binar. This piece was released on a standalone CD named "Vrat' nám, ptáku, Hastermana!". This opera was premiered on 4 September 2015 in the Puppet Theatre of Ostrava. And under the title "Zob, Zob, Zoban!", this opera was premiered in the National Moravian-Silesian Theatre (in the Theatre of Antonín Dvořák), on 24 September 2017. Also, under the name of "Nøkkemannen Lucian", this opera was premiered in Norway in the Ringsaker Opera Theatre, in Ringsaker, on 29 May 2019.Listen to a part of this piece.
6	Teasing	1975	Czech/original: Škádlení. Written for 3 mixed choirs and a Capella.
7	Sneers	1982	Czech/original: Jízlivosti. Written for male voice and harp. This Composition was premiered in 1982 in a festival named "Hudební současnost" (Musical Contemporaneity), in Ostrava.
8	Small Evening Entry Fees	1983	Czech/original: Malé večerní vstupné. Written for a French horn quartet.
9	Sonata I for Violin and Guitar	1984–1985	–
10	Zoo Suite	1984	Czech/original: Zoologická suita. Written for a brass quintet. This suite was premiered in 1985 in a festival named "Hudební současnost" (Musical Contemporaneity), in Ostrava.
11	Hymn of Morava	1985	Czech/original: Hymnus Moravy. Written for fourteen brass instruments.
12	Sonatina I for French Horn and Guitar	1985	–
13	Vzepětí String Quartet	1989	–
14	Music to Go with White Wine (Best if from a Barrel)	1992	Czech/original: Hudba k bílému vínu (Nejlépe sudové). This composition was included in a CD.
15	...and the Flower Remains	1993	Czech/original: ...a kytička zůstává. Written for flute, cello and piano. Upon the death of Schiffauer's mother, Marta Schiffauerová, he found himself stricken by grief. This composition was, in a way, a therapeutic outlet for the composer's sorrow. The title derives from Schiffauer's memory of his mother's funeral, at which her coffin was adorned by a flower, the final ornament of her coffin (and thus indeed of her existence) that was perceived by the composer before she was ceremoniously taken away.
16	Crusade	1994	Czech/original: Křížová výprava. This is a scenic oratorio buffo.
17	Christmas Singing at Home, or Elsewhere	1994	Czech/original: Vánoční zpívání doma, i jinde. Written for mixed choir. This collection of carols from all over the world edited by Schiffauer was included in a CD named "Vánoce" (Christmas) (the CD also contains op.4 and op.21) released in 1998.
18	A Hare, a Hare!	1995	Czech/original: Zajíc, zajíc!. This is music for theatre.
19	Ondras and Juras, Lord of the Bald Mountain	1996	Czech/original: Ondráš a Juráš, Pán Lysé hory. This is a tragic opera comedy.
20	Whispers	1996	Czech/original: Šepoty. Written for female voice and a string trio.
21	Three Small Christmas Pastorels	1997	Czech/original: Tři malé Vánoční pastorely. Written for a wind octet. These three pieces were included in a CD named "Vánoce" (Christmas) (the CD also contains op.4 and op.17) released in 1998.
22	Clevernesses	1998	Czech/original: Chytrosti. Written for 3 female voices and a magnetic tape.
23	Singing about Rusalka	1998	Czech/original: Zpívání o Rusalce. This is music for theatre and for musical preparation.
24	Czardas for solo tuba	1999	–
25	Sinful Toccata, Prelude and Toccata for Organ	1999	Czech/original: Hříšná toccata.
26	Nausikaa	1999	This is music for theatre.
27	Sonatina II for French Horn and a Student Orchestra	1999	–
28	Returns	2000	Czech/original: Návraty. Written for solo bayan.
29	Paraphrase on a Folk Song	2000	Czech/original: Úlety s lidovou písní. Written for a female vocal trio, viola and guitar.
30	Pictures to Vernissage II, Correctly Music to Vernissage II	2001	Czech/original: Obrázky k vernisáži II, správně Hudba k vernisáži II. Written for harp.
31	Scream	2002	Czech/original: Výkřik. Written for a string orchestra.
32	Fragment of a Neu-Baroque Sonata	2002	Czech/original: Fragment neubarokní sonáty. Written for a string orchestra and violin.
33	Little Moravian Suite or Moravian Suitek	2006	Czech/original: "Moravský Suitek". Written for a clarinet quartet. The "Suitek" is the name of a musical form invented by Schiffauer. The suffix "-ek" indicates a diminutive in Czech. Thus, "suitek" roughly translates to "little suite."
34	Chickens	2006	Czech/original: Slépky (a dialectal word for chickens). Written for three flutes, a string orchestra and a whip.
35	Maid in Trouble	2008	Czech/original: Komorná v nesnázích. Written for a soprano and violin.
36	Five on Five	2020	Czech/original: Za pět na pět. Written for cello, piano and percussion instruments. A march composed of two movements.
37	Three-Flute Pele Mele for Fiala the Rabbit	2021	Czech/original: Třífletnové pelemele pro králíka Fialu. Written for three flutes and various percussion instruments. The composition is composed of six movements, each a counterpart of a chapter of a tale written by Schiffauer's friend Ivan Binar, a fellow former inmate (who also wrote, notably, the plot for Op. 5), named Králík Fiala (Fiala the Rabbit). This piece has been published on YouTube. Listen to this work.
38	Transatlantic Serenade	2020-2022	Czech/original: Serenáda transatlantická. Written for solo piano. Collaborative composition involving Schiffauer as well as his great-nephew Jakub Edward Schiffauer Medraj and his brother Leopold Jiří Schiffauer, whereby each composer wrote a continuation, however long as deemed natural, on material written by another participant precedingly. This was carried out in 2020–2021, the three composers sending each other their continuations back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean (hence the title). Later, in 2022, the entirety of the work was revised and molded together by Schiffauer Medraj, filling gaps, rearranging, and adding more coherent transitions as suit a more natural flow of the music.

Unknown Dates

Title	Notes
But I, I...	Czech/original: Ale já přece.... This is a dark grotesque opera.
Just like Tree Trunks	Czech/original: Jako kmeny stromů. Written for a symphonic orchestra.
Jotunheimen, Sonata II for Solo Cello	–
Moravian Boy on a Crossing in Sydney	Czech/original: Kluk z Moravy na přechodu v Sydney. Written for solo piano.
About Love with Us	Czech/original: O lásce u nás. Written for voice and piano.
A Fairytale about Love, Fantasy in three Parts	Czech/original: Pohádka o lásce, fantazie ve třech částech. This piece appeared in a CD released in 2011 named "Czech and Moravian Oboe Music". This composition was once performed on 11 January 2013 by Czech oboist Marlen Vavriková in the Madsen Recital and was assisted by BYU faculty pianist Jeffrey Shumway.
Seven Variations for Piano	Czech/original: Sedm variací pro klavír.
The Happy Prince	Czech/original: Št'astný princ. Written for two female voices, recitation, violin and guitar. Music for Oscar Wilde's tale "Happy Prince" from his book The Happy Prince and Other Tales
Monologue from Mrštík brothers' play for solo voice Maryša	This piece was premiered on 13 November 2019 in the Gallery, Academy of Performing Arts.
Brenpartija, Scenes from Slag Heap	Czech/original: Brenpartija, aneb Scény ze struskové haldy. This opera was premiered on 26 May 2009 in the Lower Vítkovice. Later, it was premiered on 30 October 2009 in the Komorní Scéna Aréna (Aréna Chamber Theatre).

External links

• Schiffauer, Edvard | musicbase.cz
• Dílo :: Edvard Schiffauer