Zdeněk Liška (16 March 1922 – 13 August 1983) was a Czech composer who produced a large number of film scores across a prolific career that started in the 1950s. He was revelatory in his contribution to the development of electronic music. His music in this field is noticeable and dramatic, based on a unique musical feeling achieved through using quite unusual instrumental combinations and various electronic and electroacoustic techniques.
Biography
Zdeněk Liška was born on 16 March 1922 in Smečno near Kladno in central Bohemia. His father and grandfather were amateur municipal musicians. As a child he learned to play the accordion and the violin; while in high school, he composed his first song.
He studied composition and conducting at Prague Conservatory under Rudolf Karel, Otakar Šín, Metod Doležil, and Karel Janeček. He graduated from the Conservatory in 1944. After a brief stint as a conductor of an amateur orchestra in Slaný and as a teacher at a Humpolec music school, he joined the Zlín Film Studios in 1945.
Works
Liška worked notably with animator Jan Švankmajer, scoring several of his earlier short films: Punch and Judy (1966), Et Cetera (1966), Historia Naturae (Suita) (1967), The Flat (1968), Don Juan (1969), The Ossuary (1970), Jabberwocky (1971), and Leonardo's Diary (1972), and later The Castle of Otranto (1979). Liška's music for Švankmajer's Historia Naturae (Suita), The Flat, and The Ossuary was also featured in the 1984 short film by American animators the Brothers Quay entitled The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer.
He also created a great number of iconic scores for important live-action films of the Czech New Wave including The Shop on Main Street, Marketa Lazarová, The Valley of the Bees, Fruit of Paradise, The Cremator and Ikarie XB-1.
Liska was the most sought after film composer in Czechoslovakia in the 1950s and 1960s. He scored eight films a year plus numerous shorts, during the 1960s.
In addition to his feature-film work, Liška wrote music for the travel documentary films of Hanzelka and Zikmund, for Laterna Magika, for twelve of Karel Zeman's Mr. Prokouk films, and for various popular science short films. The main theme he wrote for the heavily propagandist television series Thirty Cases of Major Zeman is still widely remembered in the Czech Republic, where it is often played by rock bands.
In the mid-twentieth century, he was among the most well-known Czech film composers and the foremost Czech composer of fantasy film scores. He was noted for his skill with musical characterizations and humor in music, as well as his creative use of electronic music techniques. He lived in the era of film symphonies but he loved experimenting too with popular rock music and electronic instruments. His score for Death Is Called Engelchen won a prize in a competition for the best Czechoslovak feature-length film score of 1963.
Selected filmography YearFilm1950 Pára nad hrncem1952 Poklad Ptačího ostrova1953 Z Argentiny do Mexika Afrika I, II1956 Míček Flíček1957 Tam na konečné Nové světy - selection of archive music1958 Vynález zkázy Muž mnoha tváří1959 Probuzení1960 Higher Principle The White Dove Laterna magika II.1961 The Fabulous Baron Munchausen The Devil's Trap Labyrint srdce Spadla s měsíce1962 Půlnoční mše1963 Cesta hlubokým lesem Tři zlaté vlasy děda Vševěda Ikarie XB-1 Death Is Called Engelchen1964 Čintamani a podvodník Obžalovaný Jak dělat podobiznu ptáka1965 The Shop on Main Street Sběrné surovosti1966 Poklad byzantského kupce Lidé z maringotek Anděl blažené smrti1967 Údolí včel Zmluva s diablom Útěk Marketa Lazarová1968 The Cremator Maratón Spravedlnost pro Selvina (TV) The Sinful People of Prague (TV series)1969 Adelheid Birds, Orphans and Fools Touha zvaná Anada Ovoce stromů rajských jíme1970 Partie krásného dragouna Medená veža1971 Smrt černého krále Pěnička a Paraplíčko Orlie pierko1972 Vlak do stanice Nebe The Stolen Battle1973 The Legend of the Silver Fir Hriech Kataríny Padychovej1974 Kto odchádza v daždi Poslední ples na rožnovské plovárně Jáchyme, hoď ho do stroje!1975 Tak láska začíná Nevěsta s nejkrásnějšíma očima1976 Smoke on the Potato Fields Smrt mouchy Odysseus a hvězdy1977 Volání rodu Na Veliké řece Osada Havranů Shadows of a Hot Summer Příběh lásky a cti Hodina pravdy1978 Silnější než strach Čekání na déšť Setkání v červenci1979 A poběžím až na kraj světa Smrť šitá na mieru1980 Signum laudis1981 Kam zmizel kurýr
References
External links
Filmography at the České filmové nebe Zdeněk Liška at the last.fm webpages Zdeněk Liška at the dmtls Merzbau Facebook group for fans of Liška