Oskar Nedbal | Valse des Papillons

Nedbal (1874-1930)

Oskar Nedbal in Tabor in South Bohemia as the son of a German-speaking Czech. He received a diverse musical education at the Prague Conservatory and was a student of Antonín Dvořák. In 1891, Oskar Nedbal co-founded the "Bohemian String Quartet," of which he was a violist and organizer until 1906. From 1896 to 1906, Nedbal was also the chief conductor of the Bohemian Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague. In 1906, he moved to Vienna. In Vienna, Nedbal founded the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra, which he led from 1906 to 1919.

He made a remarkable career in Vienna as a conductor and composer. Nedbal's most famous work is probably the operetta "Polenblut," which ran for over 3000 performances in Vienna from 1913 to 1926. Nedbal also composed two ballets ("The Lazy Hans" and "Grandmother's Fairy Tale Treasures"), chamber and orchestral music, as well as songs.

After the founding of Czechoslovakia, he returned to his homeland and worked primarily in the Slovak capital, Bratislava. In the 1920s, Nedbal served as an opera director in Pressburg (now Bratislava) and eventually in Zagreb. On December 24, 1930, Oskar Nedbal died by suicide. He threw himself from the ballet hall of the theater in Zagreb due to his seemingly hopeless financial situation.