Czech Composer Leos Janacek

Conductor, Teacher, Successor to Smetana, Famous for Jenufa

© Tel Asiado

Sep 18, 2007
Leos Janacek, Czech Composer, Karadar
Leo Janácek's biography - his life and works. He was recognized and became famous after the performance of his opera 'Jenufa' in Prague.

Leos Janácek was a Czech composer, conductor, teacher and musical administrator. His successes came very late. A late-bloomer, he became famous after his opera Jenufa was performed in Prague; he was past 50 years old. His operas Osud and Mr. Broucek's Excursion to the Moon were also written that time; his best known Sinfonietta for orchestra, dedicated to the Czech Armed Forces, was written when he was over 70 years old.

Brief Biography of Leos Janácek

Born on July 3, 1854 in Hukvaldy, Moravia (now Czech Republic), Janácek was the ninth of fourteen children. His father was a village schoolmaster. He attended a monastery school in Brno and at 14 entered the Imperial and Royal Teachers' Training Institute on a state scholarship, where he stayed for three years.

Janácek studied at the Leipzig Conservatory where he developed interest in composition under the strict supervision of Leo Grill. He also studied in Vienna. He returned to Brno and became engaged to one of his pupils, 15-year old Zdenka Schulzova whom he married. At the same time, he also founded an organ school. In 1919, he became director of the Conservatoire at Brno and professor at the Prague Conservatoire the following year.

Janácek Works (excepting operas)

  • Folk songs arrangements
  • Suite for strings
  • Symphonic poem
  • Violin sonata
  • Ballet
  • Orchestral Rhapsody for Orchestra Taras Bulba, 1918
  • Orchestral Sinfonietta, 1926
  • Choral Msa Glagolskja (Glagolitic Mass), 1926
  • String Quartet No.2, ‘Intimate Letters’

The later compositions, in particular, Katya Kabanova based on the play Goza (The Storm), 1921, and String Quartet No.2, ‘Intimate Letters’, were inspired by his unrequited love for Kamila Stosslova, 38 years his junior.

Janácek's music is highly influenced by Moravian folk music. He worked in different musical styles: from established romantic techniques to dissonant combinations, and influences: from western European music to Czech and Moravian folk songs.

Janácek's reputation outside Czechoslovakia and German-speaking countries was first made as an instrumental composer. He has since been regarded not only as a Czech composer worthy to be ranked with Bedrich Smetana and Antonin Dvorak, but also as one of the most original and influential opera composers of the 20th-century.

Leo Jánacek's Operas

  • Jenufa, began 1896 and staged in Brno in 1904
  • Osud (Fate) 1904
  • Mr. Broucek's Excursion to the Moon, satirical opera, 1920
  • Katya Kabanova based on the play Goza (The Storm), 1921,
  • The Cunning Little Vixen (Prihody lisky bystriusky), 1923
  • The Makropoulos Affair, 1926
  • From the House of the Dead, 1927

Recommended Work

Sinfonietta

Sources:

Classical Music Instant Reference (2000)

Classical Music by John Stanley, Mitchell Beasley (1994)

The Hamlyn Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, edited by A. Isaacs and E. Martin (1990)


The copyright of the article Czech Composer Leos Janacek in Classical Composers is owned by Tel Asiado. Permission to republish Czech Composer Leos Janacek in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.


Leos Janacek, Czech Composer, Karadar
       


Post this Article to facebook Add this Article to del.icio.us! Digg this Article furl this Article Add this Article to Reddit Add this Article to Technorati Add this Article to Newsvine Add this Article to Windows Live Add this Article to Yahoo Add this Article to StumbleUpon Add this Article to BlinkLists Add this Article to Spurl Add this Article to Google Add this Article to Ask Add this Article to Squidoo