Composer Geraldine Mucha (1917-2012)

Music Lane

It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes.

Posted by Chris from Lafayette (A) on March 1, 2017 at 16:12:57

This past Monday, I happened to appear before the Mayor and City Council members of the city of Lafayette (CA) as a result of a city proclamation recognizing a local chamber group here in Lafayette. The group was asked to play a short piece in connection with this recognition, but, as it turned out, only the violist from the group, Pamela Freund-Striplin, was able to appear at the time of the city council meeting, and she didn't want to play unaccompanied. So she asked me to accompany her in a piece, "For Erika", by a composer I'd never previously heard of, Geraldine Mucha. Mucha was born in Scotland, studied at the Royal Academy of Music, and lived most of her life in Prague. Pam told me that our performance on Monday was the US premiere of the work!

It's a short, easy, and absolutely beautiful little piece, and I feel very fortunate to have participated in making this music better known. Geraldine Mucha was very modest about her own compositions, and, since her death, her son is now trying to get some wider ranging recognition for the music. According to Pam, Mucha would frequently dash off a composition for various musicians she knew in Prague. The musicians treasured these little gems, but no further publicity resulted.

I'm including a uTube link to a performance in Prague of the very piece we played. There's also a Wikipedia article about Mucha. This music really opened my ears to the fact that, perhaps, some very touching, worthwhile but unknown music still awaits discovery! As one of the uTube posters says, "This is pretty awesome!".

BTW, you may know the name, Mucha, because of Geraldine's father in law, the Art Nouveau painter, Alphonse Mucha - some of the albums on the Supraphon label feature his work. Here's a sample:

Czech performance of Mucha's (Open in New Window)

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Topic - Composer Geraldine Mucha (1917-2012) - Chris from Lafayette 16:12:57 03/01/17 (14)

I see she's got a Piano Concerto too. The secondary theme of the 1st mov't is very ear-catching. nt - jdaniel@jps.net 19:38:02 03/01/17 (1)

RE: I see she's got a Piano Concerto too. The secondary theme of the 1st mov't is very ear-catching. nt - Ivan303 20:45:59 03/01/17 (0)

Thanks, great post. - rbolaw 17:15:08 03/01/17 (2)

Not to worry - more babe musician posts are on the way! [nt] ;-) - Chris from Lafayette 10:26:43 03/02/17 (1)

No prob -- but keep giving us a little wheat with all that chaff! ;-) nt - rbolaw 17:10:40 03/02/17 (0)

A story about the artist Mucha - TGR 17:01:39 03/01/17 (6)

Thanks for the reminiscence! - Chris from Lafayette 10:20:51 03/02/17 (3)

Thanks for the link - TGR 14:16:11 03/02/17 (2)

I especially love Rick's slightly disapproving reference to Mucha's "slinky models" [nt] ;-) - Chris from Lafayette 16:38:08 03/02/17 (1)

We watched it last night - TGR 08:36:31 03/04/17 (0)

RE: A story about the artist Mucha - fstein 07:18:50 03/02/17 (1)

Good one, but - TGR 08:10:29 03/02/17 (0)

I know Pam and her husband Tony, - oldmkvi 16:51:54 03/01/17 (1)

Yup - Matt (their son) too! [nt] - Chris from Lafayette 10:21:55 03/02/17 (0)

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