This is the first full-length study of Leos Janacek to be published in English. It is a sympathetic account of the composer's life, his background, periods of study in Brno, Leipzig, Vienna and Prague, his contribution to the cultural life of Czechoslovakia, and his struggle for recognition. Janacek lived at a time when Czechoslovakia was achieving independent status, a period when national feeling ran high and when national consciousness was being...

Kát'a Kabanová is both the first Janáček opera to have been performed in Britain and the one which has received the most productions in Britain and the USA. In this book the author 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...

Responding to the ever-increasing popularity and international performances of operas by the Czech composer Leoš Janácek, this collection, meet the needs of English-speaking singers, conductors, coaches, and stage directors and conveniently provides idiomatic and word-for-word translations, including translations of stage and musical directions. In addition, the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is used to indicate Czech pronunciation, following...