Jan Hřímalý (,římalý also Ivan Voitsekhovich Grzhimali; 13 April 1844 – ) was an influential Czech violinist and teacher, who was associated with the Moscow Conservatory for 46 years in 1869–1915.

He was born in Pilsen, Bohemia (then part of the Austrian Empire), the second son of the organist and composer Vojtěch Hřímalý (1809–1880), and a member of a notable Czech musical family. He was taught by his older brother Vojtěch Hřímalý jr., and by Moritz Mildner. Hřímalý studied violin at the Prague Conservatory (1855–1861), and went on to become leader of the Amsterdam Orchestra (1862–1868). In 1869 he was appointed violin teacher at the Moscow Conservatory. He succeeded Ferdinand Laub as professor of violin studies 1874–1915. He was leader of the Russian Musical Society Orchestra in Moscow from 1874 until 1906.

Jan Hřímalý

He was acquainted with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who held him in high regard. He co-premiered Tchaikovsky's String Quartets Nos. 2 (1874) and 3 (1876). In March 1882, he appeared in the first performance (private) of Tchaikovsky's Piano Trio in A minor and may have also appeared in the public premiere in October, although this is not certain.

Jan Hřímalý

He made a very early recording on wax cylinders of the Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor by Anton Arensky, with the composer at the piano and the cellist Anatoliy Brandukov. This recording was made shortly after its composition and is almost certainly its first recording, although it is not complete.

Jan Hřímalý

He was considered an outstanding teacher. His students included Iosif Kotek, Reinhold Glière, who dedicated his Octet for Strings, Op. 5, to his teacher; Paul Juon; Vladimir Bakaleinikov; Arcady Dubensky; Stanisław Barcewicz, Pyotr Stolyarsky (the teacher of David Oistrakh, Nathan Milstein, and many others); Nikolai Roslavets; Konstantin Saradzhev; Alexander Petschnikoff, Mikhail Press, Alexander Schmuller; and possibly Mitrofan Vasiliev, the first violin teacher of Jean Sibelius.

He published a number of technical exercises and studies, some of which were valued by Jascha Heifetz, and he died in Moscow in 1915.

All his siblings were musically talented. Together with his brothers, Vojtěch (1842–1908), Jan Bartulomeus Čestmír (1844–1915), and Bohuslav Ferdinand Wenzl (1848–1894), they started the first string quartet in Bohemia. His sisters, Maria Regina (1839–1924) and Anna Jana (1840–1897) were renowned singers in Salzburg, Austria.

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1844 births

1915 deaths

Burials at Vvedenskoye Cemetery

19th-century Czech people

19th-century classical violinists

Male classical violinists

Czech classical violinists

Classical violinists from the Russian Empire

Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the Russian Empire

Prague Conservatory alumni

Academic staff of Moscow Conservatory

Musicians from Plzeň

Czech music educators

Violin pedagogues

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

People from the Russian Empire of Czech descent

19th-century Czech male musicians