Josef Srb-Debrnov (18 September 1836 â 1 September 1904) was a Czech music historian and writer.
He was born Josef Srb on 18 September 1836 in the village of Debrno in Bohemia, Austrian Empire (today part of Dolany nad Vltavou, Czech Republic). He studied history and Slavic philology at the Charles-Ferdinand University in Prague and worked as a teacher, tutor, and clerk in a savings bank.
He loved music from his childhood at school in Minice, when he began to sing. In addition to his day-to-day job, he devoted himself increasingly to music, until he gave up other professions and became fully involved in organizing musical life, including as a co-founder, long-time executive (1864âÂÂ1865 and 1876âÂÂ1891) and key organizer of the activities of the Prague singing association . He became a widely recognized music historian. He used the name Josef Debrnov or Josef Srb-Debrnov for his literary works. He contributed to music magazines in Bohemia and abroad, while also devoting himself to music criticism, compiled a handbook on instrumentation, wrote a History of Music in Bohemia and Moravia (1891), and created musical entries for Otto's Educational Dictionary. His extensive dictionary of Czech and foreign musical artists has survived in manuscript form.
He also turned his hand to composing, writing pieces for choirs, and for cello.
He was one of Bedà Âich Smetana's closest friends towards the end of the composer's life, and was also friends with Karel Bendl, AntonÃÂn Dvoà Âák and many others. His apartment in Jircháà Âe became the venue for the first performances of many works by contemporary composers, where he often performed as a cellist.
During his occasional visits to Prague, Bedà Âich Smetana lived at 12 V Jircháà ÂÃÂch Street (the so-called house at the Three Peonies) with Srb-Debrnov, with whom he stayed twenty-six times over the course of four years. He kept scores of almost all of his works in his apartment, and he also played his first string quartet From My Life, which was first performed there with AntonÃÂn Dvoà Âák as a violist.
During the fire at the National Theatre, he saved and then kept autographs of Smetana's operas. He also devoted himself to creating texts for musical works, both originals, especially choruses, and translations. For Smetana he translated the librettos of The Bartered Bride, The Kiss, The Two Widows; other translations included Dvoà Âák's Vanda, Bendl's Lejla, rendered into German. He died after a long illness in Prague on 1 September 1904 and was buried in the Vyà ¡ehrad Cemetery.