František Jan Škroup (3 June 1801, Osice near Hradec Králové – 7 February 1862, Rotterdam; Czech pronunciation: [ˈfraɲcɪʃɛk ˈjan ˈʃkroup]) was a Czech composer and conductor. His brother Jan Nepomuk Škroup was also a successful composer and his father, Dominik Škroup, and other brother Ignác Škroup were lesser known composers.
At the age of eleven he moved to Prague where he supported himself as a choir boy and flautist. He continued his schooling at one of the most important Czech national revival movement centres, Hradec Králové, where he was a choirboy at the cathedral. While there he studied with the local choirmaster and composer Franz Volkert[1] (1767–1831). He later moved back to Prague to study at the university. He became a fairly successful opera and singspiel composer producing more than a dozen stage works. Among Škroup's part-time jobs was organist at the 'Temple of the Israelite Society for Regulated Worship,' known since the late nineteen-forties as the 'Spanish synagogue.' His last position was as the musical director of the German opera in Dutch Rotterdam. He died there and, as a person without means, was buried in a mass grave. He also produced an oratorio, a mass, and a few other sacred works. He is best remembered today as the author of the melody for the Czech national anthem 'Kde domov můj?'. Text source : Wikipedia (Hide extended text) ... (Read all)
