Janáček composed the Elegie na smrt dcery Olgy (Elegy on the death of my daughter Olga) in 1903, setting verses written by his daughter Olga's friend, Marfa Nikolajeva Veverica, after Olga's death.
Composition History
The work Vlčí stopa (The wolf's trail) was commissioned in 1916 for the women's voices of a Moravian choir during World War I, as most men were conscripted.
Composition History
Janáček's Six Moravian Choruses are transcriptions of Antonín Dvořák's Moravian Duets, which Janáček arranged for chorus in 1877 and 1884.
Composition History
Janáček's Říkadla (Nursery Rhymes) was inspired by children's drawings in a newspaper and its music came to him while he was composing his opera The Makropoulos Case.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Janáček considered his stage works to be his most important and sought recognition as an operatic composer, even developing a unique type of speech-song.
Compositional Technique
The instrumentarium for Janáček's Říkadla (Nursery Rhymes) is highly original, featuring an ocarina, two flutes, two clarinets, a toy drum, a double bass, and a piano.
Composer Biography
Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) grew up in the Moravian kantor tradition, with his father and grandfather being musicians, and his early years heavily influenced by choral music.
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