Composer Spotlight: Vítězslava Kaprálová

Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915-1940)

b. Brno, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic) / 1915

d. Montpellier, France / 1940

“I won’t be satisfied with composing better than any idiot in Prague…I want to outdo all three B’s: Bach, Beethoven and Brahms…” – Vítězslava Kaprálová in a letter to her parents

Vítězslava Kaprálová is one of the great “what ifs” of classical music history. Though she is not a household name, the quality and quantity of music she produced in her short lifetime are extraordinary.

Kaprálová died at just 25 years old, but her talent and ambition suggest she could have become one of the major musical voices of the 20th century.

Born in 1915 in Brno, Czechoslovakia, Kaprálová studied composition and conducting at the Brno Conservatory, becoming the first woman to graduate in the institution’s history. She later continued her studies at the Prague Conservatory and became involved with the Přítomnost Society, a group dedicated to contemporary music during the interwar years.

After completing her master’s studies in Prague, Kaprálová moved to Paris on a scholarship from the French government to study at L’École Normale de Musique, placing her at the heart of Europe’s most vibrant musical scene. Paris offered advanced training, artistic independence, and international exposure, shaping a compositional style that evolved from Romantic and folk-inspired roots toward sharper, neo-classical ideas.

Her reputation soon extended beyond France. In 1938, Kaprálová traveled to London for the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) Festival, where she conducted the BBC Orchestra in a performance of her own Military Sinfonietta*—a rare and significant achievement for a young woman composer and conductor.

The final years of Kaprálová’s life unfolded amid the growing turmoil of the Second World War. Remaining in Paris after the outbreak of war in 1939, she continued to compose despite increasingly difficult conditions. Her health deteriorated, and after evacuating to Montpellier, she died in June 1940, likely from typhoid fever.

Although largely forgotten in the decades that followed, Kaprálová’s music has re-emerged through renewed efforts to highlight women in music. The Toronto-based Kaprálová Society, founded in 1998, has played a key role in this revival through research, education, and special projects. A new documentary, Kaprálová, by Czech filmmaker Petr Záruba debuted in 2025.

Hear Vítězslava Kaprálová’s Suite en miniature at Echoes of Italy on Thursday, February 26 at 7:00 pm at Knox United Church, alongside works by Alessandro Scarlatti and Felix Mendelssohn.

*Kaprálová herself described the work as not a “battle cry”, but rather a musical expression of “the psychological need to defend that which is most sacred to the nation.”

Book Tickets

Russell Kunz (he/him) is the Education and Community Coordinator for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Born and raised in Winnipeg, he studied music and education at the University of Manitoba and is proud to be part of the WSO team.