Little is known about the composer and pianist Jaroslav Kofroň from the standard dictionaries of music. He is best known to horn players through his Sonatina for Horn and Piano, first published in 1952 and now an established part of the horn repertoire. His Concertino for Horn, composed around 1960 and presented here for the first time in print, is by contrast largely unknown – unjustly so!
Kofroň was born on 5 February 1921 in Vletice, south of Prague. He attended the teacher-training institute in Příbram, where he also played horn in the local philharmonic orchestra. He went on to study at the Prague Conservatory, taking horn with Emanuel Kaucký, music theory with Antonín Modr, and choral conducting with Bořivoj Aim. In 1948 he became a teacher at the Prague Conservatory himself, while continuing his own studies in composition with Jaroslav Řídký and in conducting with František Spilka.
During his studies he played in the orchestra of the Prague operetta theatre and in a Prague big band. From 1949 to 1950 he directed the Prague Teachers' Choir. From 1952 he was a member of the Chamber Music Association of the Prague Conservatory's professors, and from 1953 to 1954 he served as chorus master and conductor at Prague's Second Opera.
Among other works, Kofroň composed pieces for horn, songs, vaudeville and dance music, and choral arrangements. He also collected folk songs from the Central Slovakian region, amassing a collection of more than 300 songs, and authored several textbooks, including Učebnice harmonie [Harmony Textbook] (Prague: Supraphon, 1968) and Učebnice intonace a rytmu [Textbook of Intonation and Rhythm] (Prague: Supraphon, 1990).
Jaroslav Kofroň died of a heart attack on 22 July 1966 while on holiday in Bulgaria.
