Composer of the Week: Leos Janacek

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Composer of the Week

Music: Classical

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An informative guide to composers' lives and their music.

An informative and accessible guide to composers' lives and their music.

Composer of the Week: Leos Janacek (1854-1928): The Russian connection

Dvořák, a mentor and a friend

The Russian connection

Leos Janacek (1854-1928)

BBC Radio 3 - Composer of the Week, Leos Janacek (1854-1928), The Russian connection

Donald Macleod explores Janáček's affectionate relationship with his daughter Olga.

Donald Macleod explores Janáček's affectionate relationship with his daughter Olga and the musical fruits of a shared love of Russian, including Taras Bulba and Pohádka.

Donald Macleod explores Janáček’s affectionate relationship with his daughter Olga and the musical fruits of a shared love of Russian, including Taras Bulba and Pohádka.

One of the most original voices of the twentieth century, Leoš Janáček was a composer, musical theorist, folklorist and teacher.  Born in 1854 in the Moravian village of Hukvaldy, which was then part of the Austrian Empire, in his youth German was the language of government, education and social influence.  Having returned from studies in Germany, Janáček made detailed studies of native folk song and spent years annotating the natural rhythms of the Czech language. He was to write all his works for stage in his native language. The range of his professional activities gave him a range of outlets to voice what quickly became a life-long commitment to Czech culture. 

Janáček was a contradictory man, who spent much of his life feeling at odds with his circumstances. Through five of his closest relationships, Donald Macleod builds a picture of how his inner tensions found expression in his music. The longest and most fractured of his associations was with his German-speaking wife Zdenka. After a shaky start, he grew very close to his daughter Olga, with whom he shared his love of Russian literature. His friendship with the literary collaborator Max Brod proved to be the turning point in his quest for professional standing, while his muse Kamila Stösslova became the joy and agony of his later, creatively enriched years.  As a young man Janáček turned to Antonín Dvořák. They shared an interest in folk music, and the older composer proved to be a loyal friend and mentor.

A temporary separation from his wife meant it wasn't until Olga was a toddler that Janáček first got to know his daughter. From that point on they became very close, with Olga taking an active interest in her father's music. 

Nejistota JW V/2
Tomas Kral, baritone
Martina Janková, soprano
Ivo Kahánek, piano

Hukvaldy Songs
Czech Philharmonic Choir of Brno
Petr Fiala, conductor 

Taras Bulba
The Prophecy and Death of Taras Bulba 
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra  
Rafael Kubelik, conductor 

Pohádka 
Steven Isserlis, cello
Olli Mustonen, piano 

Jenůfa – excerpt from Act 1
Petr Dvorský, tenor, Števa
Elisabeth Söderström, soprano, Jenůfa 
Eva Randová, mezzo-soprano, Kostelnička 
Wieslav Ochmann, baritone, Laca
Chorus of Vienna State Opera 
Vienna Philharmonic 
Charles Mackerras, conductor

Composer of the Week: Leos Janacek (1854-1928)

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Donald Macleod looks at how Leos Janacek's inner tensions found expression in his music.

Through five of Janáček's closest relationships, Donald Macleod builds a picture of how the Czech composer's inner tensions found expression in his music.

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