Kühnův dětský sbor - Prague Philharmonic Children's Choir

Permanent heritage of Jan Kühn

Prof. Jan Kühn (1891 – 1958), legendary choir master will be permanently known as the founder of Kühn’s Children Choir whose contributions meant a breakthrough to the interpretation and choir leadership both for the children as well as adult singing.

He was born in at Galician Boguchvala and was brought up in České Budějovice. At first his sonorous bass gave him a chance to sing bass roles on the stages of Czech and Moravian opera houses. Choir master’s vocation was waiting for him elsewhere. Perhaps sensing that this is a chance not to be missed, he was attracted by a new media of the radio broadcasting in 1931.

He realized that the reproduction of a cappella music for the radio microphones requires a professionally prepared choral bodies and he has founded in 1932 so called Children’s Choir of the Prague Broadcasting Station (the first title of Kühn’s Children Choir) and three years later also the adult choir, which in the course of history became known as the Czech Singer’s Choir (and Prague Philharmonic Choir since 1969).

He led both bodies to the awe of numerous audiences (for example he has brought home three first prices from the choral Olympics in Paris in 1956) for more than a quarter of century. In 1945 he has attained the Czech Singer’s Choir independence of the on the Prague Radio and five years later managed to incorporate both the adult and children choirs to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.

With both choirs he cultivated a truly demanding a cappella repertoire, performed opera roles, inspired the contemporary composers to the hitherto unknown compositions for the children choir with characterization accompaniment or to the creation of choral-scenic undertakings, all of this in cooperation with conductors such as Václav Talich, Rafael Kubelík, Erich Kleiber, Hermann Scherchen, Hermann Abendroth, Franz Konwitschny, Constantin Silvestri, Georg Georgescu and numerous others, and he has brought the exquisite experience to the numerous audiences even in the most demanding vocal-orchestral compositions.

Studying choral parts under the leadership of Jan Kühn meant to pass through a truly demanding work, so all the more exalting were the following moments when the technically mastered compositions entered the phase when the choir became absorbed into the depths of the music content and when the rehearsals were filled by the choir master artistic understanding. The mastering of the choir role was such that there were almost never any disagreements on the part of the main conductor and if any misunderstanding of the choral concept later appeared during the final rehearsals, the intervention by Kühn with the main conductor has always quickly led to the mutual understanding.

He has brought the child singers up so to that their voices grew up smoothly and naturally, although otherwise his demands as for the interpretation were identical as for the most advanced musicians, only adapted to the present development stage of their voices and understanding. The other immense and rightly recognized contribution of Jan Kühn to the children’s choral singing was the well-thought concept of the building of wide choral membership base. He very well understood how quickly the children grew up and that was why he started to accept them to the choir already since the youngest pre-school age.

Already at this stage he started to work with them and the education continued at higher and higher departments on which the concerting children’s choir was based. Even this was not the ultimate stage, as the Kühn Children’s Choir, as the real school of choral music, formed a reservoire of the future singers for the Czech Singers’ Choir and other professional adult choirs. Kühn has died young at the age of only 66, in the middle of the preparations for a foreign tour to the Vienna festival.