Josef Hrabě

Biography

Where Václav House established many of the first educational methods for the double bass at the Prague Conservatory, Josef Hrabě established a culture of developing bassists with a high level of playing ability at the school. Many of Hrabě’s students became the first generation of bass educators across conservatories in Central Europe, and these most notably include Josef Rambousek; who would become Serge Koussevitzky’s teacher, and František Simandl; who would become another Czech bassist in a line of Czech bass educators at the Vienna Conservatory. Some of Hrabě's other students, such as Johann Joseph Abert and Gustav Laska, also became respected composers and soloists.

Hrabě also had many other pupils who were well respected for either their teaching, playing, or composing abilities. For example, Josef Vraný was another professor of the Vienna Conservatory, who replaced Antonín Sláma when he passed away in 1865, and was succeeded immediately by Simandl in 1869. While the educational presence of Gustav Laska is limited, his range was wide, playing for many ensembles and composing numerous works for solo double bass. Other students of Hrabě’s that became influential educators would be Emmanuel Storch; the first bass professor at the Leipzig, Karel Trautsch the first bass professor at the National Conservatoire in Hungary, and Josef Rambousek at the Moscow Conservatory.

As a composer Hrabě wrote a collection of advanced level etudes, a method book, a concerto, and a collection on folksongs, most of which is now mostly unknown. One could assume that this method book expands the scope of House’s method book but sadly, it appears that his method book and compositions are no longer available, at least in the US. At the moment the only publications of Hrabě that exist are his 86 Etudes, which are available through the International Music Company (IMC), edited by both Simandl and Frederick Zimmermann, and an edition of additional etudes published alongside Emmanuel Storch's etudes which are compiled by Theodore A Findeisen, a student of both Simandl and Oswald Schwabe.