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Zdeněk Liška
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Zdeněk Liška was a Czech composer who was born in 1922 in Smečno near Kladno, in central Bohemia. His father and grandfather were amateur musicians. As a child he learned accordion and violin, and in secondary school he wrote his first song. He studied composition and conducting at the Prague Conservatory and graduated in 1944. In 1945 he joined the Zlín Film Studios. There began a career in film music that would last until his death in 1983.
Music and breakthrough
In the 1950s and 1960s Liška was the most sought-after film composer in Czechoslovakia. In the 1960s he wrote the music for about eight films a year, plus countless short films. He wrote the music for many titles of the Czechoslovak New Wave, including The Shop on Main Street, Marketa Lazarová, The Valley of the Bees, The Cremator and Ikarie XB-1. He also collaborated often with the animator Jan Švankmajer, including on Punch and Judy, The Flat and Jabberwocky, and wrote for Karel Zeman, Laterna Magika and travel documentaries. His main theme for the television series Thirty Cases of Major Zeman is still played by rock bands in the Czech Republic.
Influence
Liška was a pioneer of electronic music in film. He used unusual combinations of instruments and electronic and electro-acoustic techniques, and also experimented with pop music and rock, at a time when the film symphony was still the norm. He was known for his character sketches in music and for his humour. In this way he gave Czech film of the 1960s its own recognisable sound.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1967The Shop on Main Street (soundtrack)
- 1996Marketa Lazarová Soundtrack (soundtrack)
- 1996Údolí Včel (soundtrack)
- 2011Malá Mořská Víla (The Little Mermaid) (soundtrack)
- 2013The Cremator (Spalovač Mrtvol) (soundtrack)
- 2019Ikarie XB-1 (soundtrack)
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- The Dream Factory: Film Reel 3NL Reader
Mentioned in other articles
- Eastern European New Waves Genre
In Czechoslovakia, Zdeněk Liška wrote idiosyncratic scores, such as for Marketa Lazarová (1967), with choirs and archaic, almost medieval sounds.