Customer Reviews (1)

Ewans' Passion For Janacek Shows
Michael Ewans' informative "Janacek's Tragic Operas" is a valuable resource for both the experienced Janacek lover or the beginner.Ewans delves deeply into all of Janacek's mature operas, which are highlyacclaimed and growing in audience popularity.With many musical quotationsand texts from the opera, Ewans' book is a fine reference.But even morecompelling is that the obvious passion for Janacek that Ewans has ispresent in every sentence, and his intelligent, occasionally provocativecriticism is a pleasure to read.Every Janacek lover should have this bookon their shelf. ... Read more

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Leos Janácek is increasingly recognized as one of the major operatic masters of the early twentieth century. In Janácek beyond the Borders, Derek Katz presents an interpretive and critical study of Janácek's major operas that questions prevailing views of the composer's relationship to the Czech language and to Slavic culture and demonstrates that the operas are deeply indebted to various existing operatic traditions outside of the Czech-speaking realm. Katz discusses the implications for Janácek's operas of the composer's notorious "speech-melody" theories and of his fascination with Russia. He also points out revealing and persuasive parallels to certain major operas in non-Czech traditions-French, Italian, and German-that deserve notice and that demonstrate how the composer developed a practical operatic aesthetic through emulation and creative adaptation. In this fresh and novel approach, Katz goes beyond the normal evidentiary record (letters, sketches, and published writings) and allows Janácek's works to speak for themselves. ... Read more

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This is the fullest catalogue in any language of the works of the great Czech composer Leos Janacek. The entry for each work includes detailed information on date of composition, source of texts, performing forces, duration, manuscript locations, publication, performances and production, dedication, and literature. The catalogue also includes a complete annotated edition of the composer's writings. ... Read more

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Janacek the master
This is wonderful compilation of Janacek works and an essential in my library. It provides the opportunity to more vividly and knowingly listen to his works.The writings attached to entries are especially meaningful. A must for those who can afford it.One question is why so high a price? Oxford press publication or not. I would give it a five-star rating if the price were more reasonable. ... Read more

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In the Mist Brand: Alfred Publishing Model Number: 00-K09947 ... Read more

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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

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Excellent biography
An inspiring biography - one of those that make you want to learn more about the man and his music. Zemanova's restraint in her portrayal of Janacek-the manis admirable - she could have easily over-dramatized the circumstances of Janacek's troubled life. She also offers just the right amount of analysis so that she provides an insight into Janacek's music without losing attention of her lay readers. Zemanova's research draws on a variety of original sources, and she presents them accurately yet tastefully, leaving the readers to make their own conclusion about one of the most remarkable composers of the last century.

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

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Chapters: People From Brno, Kurt Gödel, Gregor Mendel, Ernst Mach, Adolf Loos, Milan Kundera, Leoš Janáček, Bohumil Hrabal, Jana Novotná, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Lucie Šafářová, Lukáš Rosol, Ondřej Sekora, Fredy Perlman, Churches of Brno, Peter Sís, Pavel Haas, Karel Abrahám, Eugen Von Böhm-Bawerk, Hc Kometa Brno, Brno Exhibition Centre, Zdeněk Ščasný, Mahen Theatre, Starobrno Brewery, Volejbal Brno, Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, 1. Fc Brno, Masaryk University, Ernst Weiss, Dina Babbitt, Michal Březina, Baron Franz Von Pillersdorf, Veveří Castle, Brno-Tuřany Airport, Vinzenz Eduard Milde, Villa Tugendhat, Josef Bulva, František Graus, Vítězslava Kaprálová, Jiří Hudec, David Vincour, Heinrich Wawra Von Fernsee, Ondřej Hotárek, Rc Bystrc, Roman Catholic Diocese of Brno, Georg Joseph Kamel, Osvald Chlubna, Ferdinand Ritter Von Hebra, Brno University of Technology, Jan Polák, Jaroslav Jiřík, Špilberk Castle, Jan Graubner, Jan Stejskal, Nella Simaová, Maria Restituta, Maria Jeritza, Emanuel Von Friedrichsthal, List of People From Brno, Israel Bruna, Radúz Činčera, George Placzek, Helena Dvořáková, Jan Trefulka, Zdeněk Blatný, Brno City, Libuše Šafránková, Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein, Zdenka Podkapová, Nikola Višňová, Leopold Janauschek, Luboš Kalouda, Josef Berg, Hana Černá, Wilhelm Elsner, David Kostelecký, Zdeněk Svoboda, Rc Dragon Brno, Libor Došek, Viktor Kaplan, Hans Müller-Einigen, Fred Iltis, Leo Marian Vodička, Tereza Kerndlová, Dagmar Havlová, Ada Kuchařová, Jan Kotěra, Emil Redlich, Zdeněk Neubauer, Hugo Haas, Brno Hlavní Nádraží, Treaty of Brno, Palace Moravia, Michal Hašek, Emil Zinner, Igor Ardašev, Michal Kolomazník, Julius Brach, Max Maretzek, František Halas, Richard Von Schaukal, Hellmuth Karasek, Bohuslav Fuchs, Robert Kron, Heinrich Wilhelm Schott, René Wagner, Tomáš Julínek, International Performers Competition Brno, Ondřej Liška, Milan Uhde, Brno-Bohunice, Tomáš Mica, Petr Čoupek, Karel Lang, Jana Galiková, Jaroslav Borák, Leopold Adametz, ... ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Czech Music, published by Czech Music Information on July 1, 2008. The length of the article is 571 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Leos Janacek: From the House of the Dead.(Audiovisual review)
Author: Petr Veber
Publication: Czech Music (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2008
Publisher: Czech Music Information
Issue: 3Page: 44(1)

Article Type: Audiovisual review

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