Skroup, Frantisek - Liebes Thal, warum so stille! op.15 for Voice, Horn (or Cello) and Piano

František Jan Škroup, also referred to in the literature as Franz Škroup and Franz Johann Skraup, was born on 3 June 1801 in Osice near Hradec Králové. The son of the cantor Dominik Škroup (who composed a horn concerto in B-flat major), he received his musical training from his father. At the age of eight he made his first public appearance as a flautist. After attending grammar school in Königgrätz (Hradec Králové), he studied law in Prague from 1819, financing his studies by giving music lessons and working as a composer and singer at the Prague Estates Theatre. From 1823 he was employed there as a répétiteur. Škroup became increasingly involved in amateur theatre and in 1823, together with other patriots, founded the first Bohemian opera association, which staged Czech-language operas in Prague for the first time. On 23 December 1823 the Estates Theatre performed the popular opera The Swiss Family by the Austrian composer Josef Weigl, translated into Czech by the philosophy student and poet Šimon Karel Macháček. Performed by amateur actors, the opera inspired Škroup to compose the first Czech opera, Dráteník (The Tinker); its successful premiere took place at the Estates Theatre on 2 February 1826. Encouraged by this success, Škroup wrote the music for the operas Oldřich a Božena and Libušin sňatek, though these were less well received by the public. In 1827 he was appointed second Kapellmeister of the Estates Theatre, and ten years later took over as principal Kapellmeister, a post he held for a further twenty years. He achieved lasting fame with the music for Josef Kajetán Tyl's comedy Fidlovačka aneb Žádný hněv a žádná rvačka.

At its premiere on 21 December 1834, the blind beggar Mareš's song "Kde domov můj?" was heard for the first time — later chosen as the Czech national anthem. František Škroup was an outstanding conductor. He staged numerous classical operas and composed overtures as well as incidental music for plays and comedies. From 1836 to 1845 he also served as Regens Chori at the synagogue. After thirty years in the post, he was dismissed and pensioned off by the theatre management in 1857, as his own works had become less successful. There were also disputes with the then director, Stöger. Unable to find further employment in Prague, he first founded a singing school, but in 1860, driven by financial hardship, accepted the position of Kapellmeister at the German Opera in Rotterdam. He died there two years later, on 7 February 1862, and was buried in the city's Protestant cemetery.