Leo Janek Stubborn vulnerable irascible compassionate Moravian Worked

Leoš Janáček Stubborn, vulnerable, irascible, compassionate Moravian Worked in isolation; his work owes little to his composers from the past or his contemporaries Travelled very little (Leipzig, Vienna, short journeys to Russia and a ten day trip to London) Lived and worked in Moravia

Leoš Janáček Worked out his problems of composition without influence of contemporary trends Prague viewed him with arrogance, mild disinterest. He was respected merely as a folklorist 1916, at the age of 62, premiere of his opera Jenůfa written in 1904, kitschified by Karel Kovařovic

Leoš Janáček Platonic relationship with a much younger woman – Kamila Stoesslová This creative impulse created a torrent of music: operas Káťa Kabanová, The Cunning Little Vixen, The Makropulos Case, The House from the Dead, then Sinfonietta, and the Glagolithic Mass

Leoš Janáček The two operas Jenůfa and Káťa Kabanová performed abroad In Britain, Sir Charles Mackerras, pupil of conductor Václav Talich in Czechoslovakia, brought Káťa Kabanová to Sadler´s Wells in 1951.

Leoš Janáček Indicate the financial advantages for the customer Compare quality and price with those of the competition

Czechs and their Historical Experience ● important mediaeval kingdom under Charles IV (14 th century) ● Czech invented protestantism in early 15 th century (Jan Hus) ● The Hussite Revolution (wars in the first half of the 15 th century, then a compromise) ● A century of religious tolerance (16 th century)

Czechs and their Historical Experience ● Defeat at the White Mountain (1620) – protestant nation absorbed by Catholic Habsburg, Austrian Empire – until 1918! ● The Czech National Revival – cultural emancipation – 19 th century (movement towards democracy: 1866 – 1914) ● The independent Czechoslovak Republic – 1918 – 1938

Czechs and their Historical Experience • ● Nazi occupation: 1939 – 1945 • ● democratic interregnum 1945 – 1948 • ● the communist era: 1948 – 1989: • ● postcommunism • ● 2004: entry into the European Union

Leoš Janáček – early life • Born in the North Moravian town of Hukvaldy in 1854 (570 inhabitants), one of 14 children • His grandfather and father, both called Jiří, were teachers. Poverty, cramped conditions • At the age of 11 sent to school to Brno, provincial capital of Moravia to become a chorister in the Augustinian monastery

Leoš Janáček - Brno • The monastery dominated by choirmaster Pavel Křížkovský, who had been taught by Janáček´s father as an illegitimate son • Křížkovský studied folk music with Moravian collector František Sušil • Day at monastery began at 5 am. Also classes in philosophy, logic and the classics

Leoš Janáček - Brno • At the age of 15, in 1869, he enrolled for the three-year teacher-training course at Brno Imperial and Royal Teacher Training Institute • Then, two years of obligatory unpaid teaching practice • 1872, Janáček became deputy choirmaster at the Augustinian monastery. Talented organist

Leoš Janáček – Brno • 1873 – he became conductor of the Svatopluk Choral Society • Fiercely independent, refused payment • Early compositions for the male chorus

Janáček – Prague • 1874 – he was granted a year´s leave to study at the Organ School in Prague • Hard work, freezing room, poverty • Became acquainted with Smetana´s music and befriended Dvořák • Zdeněk Nejedlý (1878 -1962) ill will against Janáček and Dvořák – promoted Smetana

Leoš Janáček • On return to Brno, he became provisional teacher at the Institute, conducted the Beseda and Svatopluk choirs, composed melodramas • 1879 went to Leipzig to study, found the quality of teaching bad • Went also to Vienna, but his sonata was rejected from a competition as “too academic”, furious he returned to Brno

Leoš Janáček • On 13 th July 1881 he married 15 -year-old Zdenka Schulzová, daughter of German head of the Institute; although he was a Czech nationalist. He was 27. • The marriage wasn´t successful. He was quite often brutal to his wife.

Leoš Janáček • 1882 he created an Organ School in Brno • Very fast moving mind – students found it difficult sometimes to follow him. • 1912 – Complete book of Harmony – often bewildering complexity • From 1884 – founded and edited Musical Letters

Leoš Janáček • 1887 – 1888 an early opera Šárka. After criticism from Dvořák, he re-wrote it, but didn´t have copyright permission for the libretto by Julius Zeyer • 1886 – friendship with collector of Moravian music František Bartoš • Janáček assisted him in collection and analysis

Leoš Janáček • Analysis of folk music, intonation of people´s speech • Moravian music “non-European” - not like western instrumental music. Rhapsodic, free melodic flow. Archaic keys • 1889 Janáček wrote an introduction for Bartoš´s Folk Songs of Moravia; published other folk material

Leoš Janáček • Wrote folk opera Beginning of a Romance; discarded romanticism of Šárka • Organised Moravian folk art exhibition in Prague • (1895) • Collected speech melodies (nápěvky) • His activities confirmed his reputation as a folklorist – NOT as a composer

Janáček – The Emergence of a New Style • Departure from folk idiom in his compositions • Death of his 21 year old daughter Olga – typhoid contracted in St Petersburg during a visit • Cantata Amarus, the priest who dies when he doesn´t fill the oil in the altar lamp – amongst the beauty of the natural world

Janáček - Jenůfa • It took Janáček nine years to compose it. Completed it on 18 th March 1903, a few weeks aftre the death of his daughter. • Theme: love, jealousy • Influence of Karolina Světlá´s The Village Novel (1869) young man Antoš between mother, Catholicism, wife and protestant young lover

Jenůfa • Janáček set a prose text. By Gabriela Preissová • Jenůfa becomes pregnant with Števa, a baby is born, her mother murders it, Jenůfa reconciles herself with her original lover Laca • Pagan imagery of forces of nature, influence of church • Premiered in Brno on 21 January 1904, a huge success, but Prague critics ignored it

Boycott in Prague • Karel Kovařovic, Chief Conductor of the National Theatre opera in Prague, refused to stage Jenůfa - “not good enough”. (Janáček had offended him with a negative review of his work. )

Janáček • Minor opera Fate – very good music, but a weak narrative • Male choirs of political poems by Petr Bezruč • Triumph of Jenůfa in Prague in 1916, Dr. František Veselý and his wife badgered Kovačovic; he agreed to “improve” Jenůfa • Kovařovic enriched Janáček´s sound – against his will. Premiere 26 th May 1916, astounding success, Janáček nearly 62.

Janáček Success of Jenůfa was a tonic to Janáček´s creative spirit Fifth opera The Excursions of Mr. Brouček, based on two satirical novels by Svatopluk Čech; problems: nine librettists. Problems, received with embarrassment when premiered in April 1920.

Janáček From 1919, he was composing his opera Káťa Kabanová, based on the play by Ostrovsky The Storm - Janáček powerfully motivated by passion - 63 year old composer fell in love with Kamila Stoesslová (25) - For 11 years, he wrote her daily letters - Even visited her in Písek, South Bohemia

Janáček - Platonic relationship - Káťa Kabanová – story of a woman unloved and unloving in marriage, who succumbs to her passion for another man - Janáček: love for all things Russian; travel to St Petersburg, Moscow; Slavophile

Janáček Further operas: The Cunning Little Vixen Macropulos Case From the House of the Dead

Janáček Wrote operas about women: wishful thinking about Káťa´s infidelity during her husband´s absence