His younger brother Karel Ondříček (b. 1865) for a while lead the orchestra of the National Theatre, Prague, and was to go on to have a successful musical career in the USA.
František Ondříček was born in Prague, the son of the violinist and conductor Jan Ondříček. He studied at the Prague Conservatory under Antonín Bennewitz, and was then supported by Henryk Wieniawski through two years studying at the Paris Conservatoire with Lambert Massart. He shared a first prize with Achille Rivarde.
He was the soloist in the first performance of Dvořák's Violin Concerto, Op. 53 in Prague on 14 October 1883, and performed it again in Vienna on 2 December. In the late 1880s he settled in Vienna, where he taught. He also published a technical treatise on violin technique in 1909.
As well as being a highly regarded violinist, Ondříček was also a composer, his works including a set of Bohemian Dances Op. 3 for violin and piano composed in 1883, a Bohemian Rhapsody Op. 21 for violin and piano from 1906, and a String Quartet Op. 22 from 1907. He also left cadenzas for several violin concertos, including those of Mozart and Brahms.
Selected works
Chamber music
String Quartet in A♭ major, Op. 22 (1905-1907)
Romance in A major for cello and piano, Op. 2
Violin and piano
Ballade in A♭ major, Op. 1 (1877)
Danses bohèmes (Bohemian Dances), Op. 3 (1883, published 1891)
Fantasie on Motifs from the Opera "The Bartered Bride" by Bedřich Smetana, Op. 9 (1888)
Barcarole in G major, Op. 10 (1890)
Romance in D major, Op. 12 (1891)
A la Canzona, Morceau de Concert, Op. 13 (1894)
Vzpomínání (Sorrowful Rêverie), Op. 14 (published 1895); transcription of No. 6 from Antonín Dvořák's Poetické nálady, Op. 85
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