Hüttel, Josef
Hüttel, Josef
Hüttel, Josef, Czech conductor and composer; b. Mëlnik, July 18, 1893; d. Plzen, July 6, 1951. He studied with cerny (piano), Stëpân Suchy (violin), and Novak (composition) at the Prague Cons. (1908–12). After further instruction with Taneyev (composition) in Moscow (1912–13), he was active as a choirmaster there; then conducted opera in Voronezh (1918–20). In 1921 he went to Egypt, where he was conductor of the Alexandria Phil. (1929–34) and head of European music for Cairo Radio (1934–44). In 1946 he returned to Czechoslovakia and was an ed. and archivist for the Czech Radio music dept. (until 1950).Among his compositions were a Sin-fonietta (1923), Images égyptiennes for Orch. (1928), Amon Raa, symphonic poem (1931), Sym. (1935; won the Smetana jubilee prize), String Quartet (1927), Divertissement grotesque for Wind Quintet and Piano (1929; won the Coolidge prize), and Ragtime for Violin and Piano (1929).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire