František Kmoch was born in the small village of Zásmuky, some ten miles to the south east of Kolín, on 1st August 1848. His father, Jakub Kmoch, was a tailor who also played clarinet in local folk ensembles, and František was the oldest of his five sons. At an early age Kmoch was learning the violin, and under a local teacher named Václav Placek, he soon showed great talent. At the age of 16 Kmoch entered the Kolín Grammar School where he continued to make progress on the violin and wrote his first basic compositions, none of which have survived. His general school work must also have been more than satisfactory because he was selected to attend the Prague Teachers’ College from 1868-69.

On leaving college Kmoch returned to the Kolín area and took up his first teaching appointment at Suchdol. After one year, he moved to the school at Cervený Pecek and, after a further two years, to Solopysk for one year. However, despite the fact that his teaching ability was never called into question, his increasing activities in local dance bands and his strong support for the Czech patriot Sokol movement aroused the disapproval of the Austrian educational authorities and Kmoch was suspended in 1873. Meanwhile his musical talents had been recognised by the local aristocrat Baron Theodor Karel Hrubý, a fervent Czech patriot, who invited Kmoch to join his private orchestra and provided him with financial support. As Kmoch had already founded his own band in Kolín in 1872, the suspension finally convinced him that the time was now right for him to move to Kolín and to concentrate all his efforts on making a living as a full-time musician.

The rest of František Kmoch’s career as a bandmaster, until his death in 1912, involved building up his wind band to become the leading amateur ensemble of its kind in Bohemia. In a small provincial town this was a considerable achievement since there were many political obstacles and social prejudices for him to overcome. Despite his appointment as Town Bandmaster, the remuneration was meagre and, he resisted far more generous offers of employment from other Bohemian towns, remaining loyal to his Kolín mission. In order to augment his income founded his own private music school and, as conductor of the Kolín Sokol Dance Orchestra, took every opportunity to meet the increasing demands for dance music. He also conducted the Kolín Symphony Orchestra, but his application for the post of choirmaster at the cathedral was rejected. Despite these setbacks, the renown of Kmoch’s band spread throughout Bohemia and Moravia with frequent tours to towns both large and small. The band also met with considerable success on foreign visits to Krakov (Poland 1884), Budapest (1885) and Nizhny Novgorod (Russia, 1896). The imperial capital Vienna followed in 1899, but despite some published references to the contrary, the Kmoch Band never visited America. (This omission was only rectified in 1993 when the František Kmoch Town Band Kolín, under their then conductor Josef Maršík, were invited to Chicago.) A further indication of the Kmoch Band’s worldwide prowess came with the series of 78rpm gramophone records made for international companies in the years 1904 to 1910. Transfers of these recordings can now be heard on a compact disc published by František Rychtarík (FR 0212-2).

In 1880 František Kmoch married Josefa Kahlsová, the daughter of a local metalworker. The oldest of their five daughters, Josefa, was a fine pianist, and Anna, their second-born, followed her father’s original profession as a teacher and was the last to die in 1972. The first family home was in Hus Street and in about 1890 they moved to Havlíček Street (now Kutná Hora Street), where Kmoch died on 30th April 1912. There is a commemorative plaque on this house but long-standing hopes to turn it into a Kmoch Museum have unfortunately not been realised. In 1913 the lower island in the River Elbe at Kolín was re-named Kmoch’s Island and an impressive monument to Kmoch erected at the idylic spot where he frequently conducted his band. In 1962 the first Kmoch Festival (Kmochův Kolín) was held and this is still held every year in June at various indoor and open air locations in Kolín.

The Compositions of František Kmoch

Although statements have been made that Kmoch wrote in the region of 500 or more works, present-day evidence would suggest that these are undoubtedly exaggerations of considerable magnitude. It may be possible that, if arrangements are included, the final total could approach nearer to that figure, but the compositions listed in the two main books on Kmoch are respectively: 236 (Kapusta 1974) and 212 (Chvalovský 1971). The latter cites 108 marches, 85 dance compositions (of which 6 are waltzes) and 19 other pieces. In Kmoch’s lifetime, the published works were issued by Mojmír Urbánek’s Prague publishing house, in editions for either wind band, piano, or so-called ‘universal orchestra’. Even in the above-quoted sources there are duplications (such as Naše Praha, Zlatá Praha and Naše zlatá Praha, which are presumably one and the same piece). On the other hand recently-recorded pieces have been discovered which do not appear in either list. So scope clearly exists for a thorough systematic review of all available source material, which should finally produce an authoritative works list.

During the LP era recordings proliferated of many of the 12 best-known march-songs of Kmoch (Andulko Šafárova; Muziky, Muziky!; Kolíne, Kolíne; Jarabácek; Ceská muzika; Pode mlejnem; etc.) and also and his most famous waltz Na stříbropěnném Labi (By the Silvery-Foaming Elbe). However, it was only well into the CD era before more than a handful of his lesser-known pieces became available. George Foeller and his FISAF Bunny Band have included many of Kmoch’s previously unrecorded marches on the Heritage of the March series. Ivan Fišer, with the František Kmoch Town Band Kolín, made a non-commercial un-numbered CD Kolíne, Kolíne with a number of interesting rarities. The Prague Castle Guard and Police Band have also made an excellent contribution to the extended repertory with their CD Vivat Kmoch
(Panton 81 1332-2).

Selected Literature

1. Československý hudební slovník (Czechoslovak Dictionary of Music). Praha: Státní hudební vydavatelství, 1963. Volume 1, pages 678-9 (IN CZECH)

2. Chvalovský, Karel K. František Kmoch: život ceského muzikanta a vlastence (František Kmoch: life of a Czech musician and patriot). Prague: Panton, 1971 (223 pages) (IN CZECH)

3. Kapusta, Jan. Dechové kapely, pochod a František Kmoch (Wind bands, the march and František Kmoch). Prague: Supraphon, 1974 (268 pages) (IN CZECH)

4. Chvalovský, Karel K. Sto let Mestské Hudby Františka Kmocha v Kolíne (100 years of the František Kmoch Town Band Kolín). Prague: Středoceské nakladatelství a knihkupectví, 1974 (105 pages) (IN CZECH)

5. Chvalovský, Karel K. František Kmoch: a survey of his life and compositions, trnaslated by John Bladon. Shrewsbury: KEBS, 2004. ISBN 0 9546983 0 4 (26 pages) (IN ENGLISH) [see publications]

6. Film: To byl český muzikant (He was a Czech musician). 1940 (black-and-white, IN CZECH). Musical arrangement: Miloš Smatek.