Josef Suk was born in 1874. He was Dvořák’s prize pupil at the Prague Conservatory. But the relationship drew closer when Suk married the master’s oldest child, Otilie, on November 17, 1898, 25 years to the day after Antonín Dvořák’s marriage to Anna Čermák. Suk was a founding member of the Bohemian Quartet (later called the Czech Quartet), an ensemble that premiered several works by Dvořák as well as Janáček’s Quartet No. 2.
Suk composed a number of chamber works, including a Piano Trio, Piano Quartet, String Quartet and Piano Quintet. He composed two symphonies. The second, subtitled "Asrael," is a large work composed in response to the deaths of his father-in-law and wife.
Perhaps his best known work today is Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale 'St. Wenceslas', Op.35a, a stirring work of nationalism composed at the opening of World War I. Suk passed away in 1935.
His grandson was the virtuoso violinist Josef Suk.
This week's featured connections are Canadian notables: Josef is 29 degrees from Donald Sutherland, 30 degrees from Robert Carrall, 29 degrees from George Étienne Cartier, 31 degrees from Viola Desmond, 39 degrees from Dan George, 31 degrees from Wilfrid Laurier, 26 degrees from Charles Monck, 28 degrees from Norma Shearer, 35 degrees from David Suzuki, 33 degrees from Gilles Villeneuve, 31 degrees from Angus Walters and 29 degrees from Fay Wray on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.