A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Fibich, Zdenko

by J. A. Fuller-Maitland

FIBICH, Zdenko, born Dec. 21, 1850, at Seborschitz, near Tschaslau in Bohemia, received his musical education at Prague from 1865 onwards, at the Leipzig Conservatorium, and from Vincenz Lachner. In 1876 he was appointed second conductor at the National Theatre at Prague, and in 1878 director of the choir at the Russian church. Riemann's Lexicon, from which the above is taken, gives the names of the following compositions:—Symphonic poems, 'Othello,' 'Zaboj und Slavoj,' 'Toman und die Nymphe,' two symphonies, several overtures, two string quartets, a ballad for chorus ('Die Windsbraut'), a three-act opera ('Blanik,' given at Prague Nov. 26, 1881), besides songs, pianoforte pieces, etc. The only work of his that has yet been heard in England is an exceedingly beautiful and original quartet in E minor for pianoforte and strings (op. 11), given by Mr. Charles Hallé on June 8, 1883, and repeated several times since.

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