Jan Hanuš (composer)

Jan Hanuš (May 2, 1915 – July 30, 2004) was a prolific Czech composer of the 20th century. Almost every category of composition is represented among his works, many of which are overtly political, expressing anti-Nazi, anti-Fascist and anti-Communist sentiments. Biography Hanuš studied composition independently with Otakar Jeremiáš while attending school at the Prague Conservatory, where he graduated in 1940. He subsequently studied at a business school, and then worked both as editor and editor-in-chief of several major publishing houses, including F. A. Urbánek & Sons, and Panton (Müller 2001). As an editor he played an important role in overseeing the editions of the collected works of Antonín Dvořák and Zdeněk Fibich, both of whom he later emulated in his works , as well as the complete works of Leoš Janáček (Müller 2001). Hanuš’s early works were principally aimed at the passionate, the philosophic, and the patriotic, as exhibited in his opera The Flames. The first post-war decade witnessed lyricism near to national tradition, but since the late fifties a new tendency of dramaticism in his works arose and a musically expressive innovation, reaching as far as the combination of