Karel Husa

Karel Husa was born on August 7, 1921 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He attended the Prague Conservatory from 1941 until 1945 (where he studied with Jaraslav Ridky). After completing his studies there, he moved to Paris where he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and the Ecole Normale de Musique. In Paris he studied composition with Arthur Honegger, Nadia Boulanger and audited Milhaud's course on composition. He also studied conducting with Jean Fournet and André Cluytens.

In 1954 Husa accepted a position at Cornell University (invited by the American
musicologist Donald Grout). His tenure there lasted until he retired in 1992. In
1959 he became an American citizen. Throughout his career Husa has received a
number of awards and honors, including a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation and a Pulitzer Prize for his Third String Quartet. Also well known amoung his works is Music for Prague 1968 (inspired by the Soviet invasion of his homeland) and Apotheosis of this Earth. This work, according to Husa is to warn of, "Man's brutal possession and misuse of nature's beauty -- if continued at today's reckless speed -- can lead to catastrophe." Other important works of Husa include An American Te Deum, The Trojan Woman, and Concerto for Orchestra.

Husa has written three works for saxophone. Elegie et Rondeau was written for
Sigurd Rascher in 1960. Rascher met Husa at Ithaca College while there to play a
recital. After being introduced, Husa agreed to write a new work for Rascher. The
Elegie actually started out as a piece for solo piano, but Husa transformed it to a
saxophone and piano duet. The Elegie was premiered by Rascher on July 29, 1960 at the Eastman School of Music. The complete work was premiered again by Rascher at London's Wigmore Hall on December 12, 1960. Husa also orchestrated the work, with that first performance occurring at Cornell University, with Rascher on Saxophone, and Husa conducting. His Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Concert Band (1967) has become one of the staples of the band concerto repertoire. Husa's most recent work for saxophone is Postcard From Home (1997), written for John Sampen and Marilyn Schrude.