Otakar was born in Rokytno, a village, part of the town of Nové Město na Moravě, where his father was an innkeeper; he later moved to Fryšava pod Žákovou horou. Otakar took his first musical lessons from educator and forester František Dušek, who taught him the violin for five years, and the piano for a year. His father doubted his son's talent and sent him to the Higher Industrial School in Brno, where Otakar failed in the second year. So he started to learn brewing in Nové Město na Moravě. After training, he became a brewer in the brewery in Maffersdorf near Liberec. In the brewery he started a band, with great success. During his work in the brewery, he enrolled in the first year of the Prague Conservatory. He studied Pipe organ and composition, where his teachers were Josef Klička and Karel Stecker. He continued to master the piano with Josef Jiránek, and in 1911 he passed the state exam in piano. Then, he taught piano privately, and harmony, and became a choirmaster of the "Škroup" choir. He married Libuši Ichová. In 1919 he became a teacher of theoretical subjects at the Conservatory. A year later in 1920, he was appointed a professor of theory at the Conservatory. One of his students was Stefania Turkewich. His composer's work is based on the music of Vítězslav Novák and Josef Suk. Studying the scores of these masters led him to the theoretical problems of harmony in 20th century music. He produced several theoretical writings in which he published significant theoretical discoveries, the textbooks Uplná nauka o harmonii na základĕ melodie a rytmu, Nauka o kontrapunktit, imitaci a fuge, and Všeobecná nauka o hudbé. For his theoretical and musical work he was elected a full member of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Art in 1928 and twice won the State Prize. He died in Prague on 21 January 1943. He was buried in the Fryšavský cemetery.
Compositions
ORCH.: 2 symphonic poems: Tillotama and King Menkera ; Radio Overture ; 3 CzechDances for Orch.. CHAMBER: 2 string quartets ; Cello Sonata ; Small Suite for Violin and Piano ; Hunting, festive greeting for Horns ; numerous piano pieces. VOCAL: Choruses; songs.
