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Štěpán Rak

Czech music educator, composer and guitarist

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionNov 10, 2024
Entity authorityQ2802197
Source-derived summary

Štěpán Rak (born 8 August 1945) is a Czech classical guitarist and composer of Ukrainian origin. He is well known for the technical innovations that he uses in his compositions.

Biography

Štěpán Rak was born as Štěpán Slivka in Prague to Cilja (Vasilina) Slivka (1924-1993). His mother escaped from Carpathian Ruthenia in 1941 after it was occupied by Hungary. She was imprisoned in USSR and joined Czechoslovak Army in 1944. Štěpán was adopted by Marie and Josef Rak in 1946 and his biological mother later returned to Ukraine.

Rak first studied at a Fine Arts High School in Prague and continued with guitar studies at the Prague Conservatory until 1970. Later he studied composition at the Prague Academy of Arts. In 1973, his orchestral composition Hiroshima won a second prize at a Czechoslovak competition for young composers. From 1975 to 1980 he taught guitar at the Jyväskylä Conservatory in Finland.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Štěpán Rak” as czech music educator, composer and guitarist. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Štěpán, Czech and music.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1945, 1924, 1993, 1941—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1945-08-08. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Štěpán, Czech and music providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Štěpán Rak”, the useful work is to connect “czech music educator, composer and guitarist” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 10, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q2802197. VIAF identifies the subject as 10270141. The Library of Congress control number is no90011174. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1945, 1924, 1993 and 1941.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Štěpán Rak”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Štěpán Rak primary sources, Štěpán Rak archive and Štěpán research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Štěpán Rak”?
  2. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Štěpán Rak” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.