Josef Hrabě

Born in 1816, the Czech contrabassist Josef Hrabě is most well-known today for his pedagogical legacy as the founder of the Prague school of double bass playing. After completing his studies at the Prague Conservatory (1831-37), where he studied with Václav Haus, he joined the Estates Theatre Orchestra. He would later return to the Prague Conservatory, in 1845, to take up a position as a professor of double bass. Hrabě is generally credited with ending the practice of using protective gloves whilst playing the instrument, dating from as early as the start of his professorship. As a virtuoso, he also performed extensively at home and abroad.

Amongst Hrabě’s famous students were Gustav Láska (1847-1928), Johann Joseph Abert (1832-1915), and František Simandl (1840-1912); the latter would go on to further his tutor’s work through method books such as his Neuste Methode des Contrabass-Spiels (1874). Hrabě’s own publications include, with translated titles, Introduction to Playing the Bass (1865, Emaneul Wetzler) and School for Double Bass (posthumously through Hoffman’s Publishing House, Prague). Although he died in 1870, his substantial compositional output included these study books, two hundred exercises, eighty-six etudes for double bass, as well as variations on Czech national songs.