Book Description
Leos Janacek (1854-1928), who wrote such highly acclaimed operas as The Cunning Little Vixen, Jenufa, and Katya Kabanova, as well as choral, chamber, and orchestral pieces, was one of the most original, complex, and appealing artists of the twentieth century. Inspired by the rhythmical and melodic strains of Czech speech patterns and Moravian folk songs, Janacek used unconventional composition principles to create a new musical style that blends tremendous energy and lyricism, passion and tenderness. His music continues to enchant listeners, and his operas, in particular, address universal human emotions and moods that remain strikingly relevant for today's audiences.

While Janacek's works are performed frequently on stages around the world, little is known about the composer himself. In this biography, the first to appear in English in over two decades, Mirka Zemanova draws on previously unavailable Czech-language sources, memoirs, and letters, including Janacek's intimate correspondence with Kamila Stoesslova, his great love and sometimes reluctant muse. Zemanova depicts a shy, lonely, moody, and self-doubting man with a fiery temper and an intensely independent and proud spirit. She also reveals a man who glorified women in his operas but treated them cruelly in his own life.

The author tells the fascinating story of an isolated artist who was virtually unknown outside of his native Moravia until his early sixties, when the triumphant Prague premiere of Jenufa brought Janacek international fame. She sheds light on the creative surge in his final years, attributing his remarkable late flowering to the success in Prague, his fierce patriotic pride in the newly independent Czechoslovakia at the end of World War I, and, perhaps most of all, his passionate attachment to Kamila Stoesslova. From the time they met, when Janacek was sixty-three and she was twenty-five, to his death eleven years later, Kamila held the composer under her spell and inspired many of his late works. Zemanova also thoroughly chronicles Janacek's ardent courtship of and tempestuous marriage to Zdenka Schulz, his extramarital love affairs and infatuations, and the tragic deaths of his two children. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Enlightening
This work sheds all sorts of new light on what by now might be thought of as a well-known story. The author's intuitive familiarity with the Czech sources is most helpful to non-Czech readers and her musicological comments on the composer's works often enlightening. I enjoyed the rigorous discipline with which, as a Czech writer with total facility in English, she stuck to her purpose with crisp and specific phraseology, and resolutely focussed on the facts of the subject's life in a coherent sequence. Thus she puts his life in a context less reverential, bemused or tentative than much of what has hitherto been written for English readers.Essential reading for all students of Janacek.

A PERFECT CHRISTMAS PRESENT
I have recently given a copy of Mirka Zemanova's new biography of Janacek to my mother, who has a serious interest in classical music.She was delighted with the book.She felt the author was illuminating on the background (so important to have the history of Janacek's native Czechoslovakia explained!) and very perceptiveabout Janacek's influences as well as his style (especially since much of Janacek's music is rooted in the type of folk music which is not familiar to those outside Central and Eastern Europe).My mother was particularly impressed with the author's vivid description of Janacek's personality.What a delight to have a book whose author obviously has a deep sympathy for her subject, but does not clog her account of his life by conjectures!

A perfect Christmas present for any classical music lover.

A Solid Biography - but lacking in the excitement of the man
With the 150th anniversary of Janacek's birth approaching next year, maybe now is the time for a reinvigoration of a bibliography about this composer. Although many books have appeared in recent times about him, few stay in print for an extended amount of time. Forthcoming publications include John Tyrrell's biography of a composer he has written about more than any other academic (published by Faber in 2004) and this spring a new volume from Yale, called `Janacek and his World' edited by Michael Beckerman. Mirka Zemanova, a native-Czech, now living in London and regular contributor to many opera programmes, has pipped them to the post with the publication of her Janacek bibliography.

Many rightly raved about Mirka Zemanova's previous contribution to the Janacek bibliography, her edition of the composer's uncollected essays on musicology. The volume included many previously unseen, or at least untranslated pieces of writing by Janacek. Various reviews of performances in Brno for the local journals and newspapers were enlightening when considering the many influences on Janacek's own writing, the Brno premieres of Cavalleria Rusticana or Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades influencing Janacek's Jenufa, for example. Many passages have seeped their way into recent writing about the composer's life and works with the same regularity as quotes from John Tyrrell's many documentary translations, the letters to Kamila Stosslova particularly.

Zemanova has decided to eschew use of Tyrrell's great translations of the letters and various documents, and returned to the original sources, itself not a bad idea. For the English speaking Janacek fan though, perhaps more cross references to those masterly volumes wouldn't have been too bad a thing, and her dismissal of some of Tyrrell's work is misplaced. Zemanova has great command of her material at best, but occasionally she is rather prosaic on a life that was so lacking in humdrum. Her outlining of details of the Vienna premiere of Jenufa, rather than dwelling on the Prague premiere (itself very important, but perhaps a little too glorified in recent literature) is to be commended. Her scatty musical analysis is a disappointment. Although she outlines her concern with focussing less on the `works' and more on the `life', her style is not always up to the dramatics of Janacek's life. I would recommend a reading of the composer's wife's memoirs for some of the real drama.

It is a mixed book, fitting for such a mixed man, filled with facts that weren't available to previous biographers, but lacking in the grasp of some other regular contributors to Janacek literature. Hopefully, however, it will be the first of a stream of issues about this fascinating composer in the year leading up to the 150th anniversary of his birth, and the 100th anniversary of the premiere of his first great opera Jenufa.

A Solid Biography - but lacking in the excitement of the man
With the 150th anniversary of Janacek's birth approaching next year, maybe now is the time for a reinvigoration of a bibliography about this composer. Although many books have appeared in recent times about him, few stay in print for an extended amount of time. Forthcoming publications include John Tyrrell's biography of a composer he has written about more than any other academic (published by Faber in 2004) and this spring a new volume from Yale, called `Janacek and his World' edited by Michael Beckerman. Mirka Zemanova, a native-Czech, now living in London and regular contributor to many opera programmes, has pipped them to the post with the publication of her Janacek bibliography.

Many rightly raved about Mirka Zemanova's previous contribution to the Janacek bibliography, her edition of the composer's uncollected essays on musicology. The volume included many previously unseen, or at least untranslated pieces of writing by Janacek. Various reviews of performances in Brno for the local journals and newspapers were enlightening when considering the many influences on Janacek's own writing, the Brno premieres of Cavalleria Rusticana or Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades influencing Janacek's Jenufa, for example. Many passages have seeped their way into recent writing about the composer's life and works with the same regularity as quotes from John Tyrrell's many documentary translations, the letters to Kamila Stosslova particularly.

Zemanova has decided to eschew use of Tyrrell's great translations of the letters and various documents, and returned to the original sources, itself not a bad idea. For the English speaking Janacek fan though, perhaps more cross references to those masterly volumes wouldn't have been too bad a thing, and her dismissal of some of Tyrrell's work is misplaced. Zemanova has great command of her material at best, but occasionally she is rather prosaic on a life that was so lacking in humdrum. Her outlining of details of the Vienna premiere of Jenufa, rather than dwelling on the Prague premiere (itself very important, but perhaps a little too glorified in recent literature) is to be commended. Her scatty musical analysis is a disappointment. Although she outlines her concern with focussing less on the `works' and more on the `life', her style is not always up to the dramatics of Janacek's life. I would recommend a reading of the composer's wife's memoirs for some of the real drama.

It is a mixed book, fitting for such a mixed man, filled with facts that weren't available to previous biographers, but lacking in the grasp of some other regular contributors to Janacek literature. Hopefully, however, it will be the first of a stream of issues about this fascinating composer in the year leading up to the 150th anniversary of his birth, and the 100th anniversary of the premiere of his first great opera Jenufa. ... Read more

Book Description
Kát'a Kabanová is both the first Janácek opera to have been performed in Britain and the one which has received the most productions in Britain and the USA. In this book John Tyrrell brings together letters, early reviews and other documents (most of them translated from Czech for the first time) on the opera's composition and its early performances. A group of key interpretations of the opera ranges from one by the opera's German translator and Janácek's first biographer Max Brod to specially commissioned essays by Wilfrid Mellers and by David Pountney, producer of the highly successful Welsh National Opera/Scottish Opera Janácek cycle. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Czech Music, published by Thomson Gale on April 1, 2006. The length of the article is 606 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Leos Janacek.
Author: Jindrich Balek
Publication: Czech Music (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 2Page: 43(1)

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Book Description
LeosJanacek (1854--1928) is one of the few great opera composers of the twentieth century; his operas, orchestral, chamber, and vocal works are all part of the international repertory.This catalogue is by far the most comprehensive to appear in any language, with up-to-date and reliable information on all his works.Each entry provides detailed information on date of composition (and shows on what basis dating has been arrived at); source of text or programme; performing forces; duration; manuscripts and their locations; publication (a complete listing); performances and productions; dedication; literature.A special feature is the explanation of terms which may be unfamiliar to the western reader such as 'Glagolitic', 'Varyto', 'Lachian', and 'Indian Club Swinging'.This catalogue is also the first to include a complete, annotated list of the composer's varied and extensive writings. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Opera Canada, published by Opera Canada Publications on June 22, 2004. The length of the article is 1093 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: A guide to the operas of Leos Janacek.(DVDs)
Author: Neil Crory
Publication: Opera Canada (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2004
Publisher: Opera Canada Publications
Volume: 45Issue: 2Page: 48(2)

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Czech Music, published by Czech Music Information on April 1, 2005. The length of the article is 3788 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: A little distance can be beneficial: talking with John Tyrrell, and not just about his forthcoming monograph about Leos Janacek.(Interview)
Author: Jana Janulikova
Publication: Czech Music (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2005
Publisher: Czech Music Information
Issue: 2Page: 18(4)

Article Type: Interview

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from Notes, published by Music Library Association, Inc. on June 1, 1999. The length of the article is 1064 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Janacek's Works: A Catalogue of the Music and Writings of Leos Janacek.(Review)
Author: Jan Smaczny
Publication: Notes (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 1999
Publisher: Music Library Association, Inc.
Volume: 55Issue: 4Page: 926(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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