Julie Reisserová née Kühnlova (9 October 1888 – 25 February 1938) was a Czech composer and music publicist.
Biography Julie Reisserová was born in Prague. She studied piano with Adolf Mikeš and singing with Richard Figar. From 1919 until 1921 she studied composition in Prague with Josef Bohuslav Foerster. She continued her composition studies in Bern with Ernst Hohlfeld and with Albert Roussel (1924–1929) and Nadia Boulanger.
In 1921 she married Czech diplomat Jan Reisser (born 1891) and moved with him to Switzerland (1921–1929), Belgrade (1930–1933) and Copenhagen (1933–1936) while pursuing her career as a composer. Her work was performed in Bern, Paris, Geneva, Copenhagen and in Philadelphia.
Reisserová translated into Czech language Le testament de la tante Caroline (Aunt Caroline's Last Will), by operetta by composer Albert Roussel and librettist Nino (Michel Veber). The operetta premiered on 14 November 1936 in Olomouc and was also staged on 18 April 1937 in Prague.
She died in Prague in 1938, age 49.
Selected works Notable works include:, republished in:
Orchestral music Suite for Orchestra (), 1928–1931 Pastorale Maritimo for Orchestra (), 1933 Early Spring (), 1936
Solo piano Esquisses, 1935 Deux Allegros
Vocal music March (; orchestral songs), 1934 Sous la neige (, ; song cycle for voice and piano), 1936 Festive Day (; for women's choir), 1936, dedicated to Františka Plamínková
Reisserová also wrote In Margin Vitae, a book of her poems written in Czech, German, French and English (lost).
Recordings Esquisses nos. 1 et 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQHy4LElE4k (Yuliya Minina, piano).
References
Further reading Jean-Paul C. Montagnier, "Autour de la Pastorale maritimo de Julie Reisserová (1888–1938)", Revue belge de musicologie, 74 (2020), pp. 143–166. Jean-Paul C. Montagnier, "Julie Reisserová (1888–1938): A Czech Woman Composer of Importance", in It’s a Man’s World? Künstlerinnen in Europas Musik-Metropolen des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts. Edited by Kaï Hinrich Müller and Sabine Meine. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann GmbH, 2023, pp. 157–167. Jean-Paul C. Montagnier, Julie Reisserová (1888-1938): Czech Composer and Feminist. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025, ISBN 9781009517362. Julie Reisserová, Oeuvres pour orchestre. Orchestral Works, edited by Jean-Paul C. Montagnier. Berlin: Ries & Erler, 2022. Julie Reisserová, Březen. Version pour orchestre / Orchestral Version, edited by Jean-Paul C. Montagnier. Berlin: Ries & Erler, 2023. Julie Reisserová, Musique de chambre / Chamber Music, edited by Jean-Paul C. Montagnier. Berlin: Ries & Erler, 2023.
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