janacek_ensamble

Leoš Janáček – Youth
Josef Bohuslav Foerster: Wind Quintet

In August 1923 Janáček was present at an enthralling performance by the excellent French ensemble Société moderne des instruments à vent at the International Festival of Contemporary Music in Salzburg. It is, therefore, no surprise that when the ensemble came to Brno on April 10 1924, the composer made sure he was in attendance. The concert on April 10 1924 was organised by the Brno Conservatory and included Roussel’s Divertimento, Mozart and Rimsky-Korsakov’s piano quintets and Foerster’s Wind Quintet. Not long afterwards Janáček began work on his own wind sextet. It is, therefore, possible that his composition could have been inspired by Foerster’s Wind Quintet from 1909. This is an exceedingly upbeat piece. It dates to the period when Foerster moved to Vienna with his wife, the famous soprano Berta Lauterová. During their stay in Vienna the composer created several of what are perhaps his most important works, such as Symphony No. 4 “Easter Eve”. The imaginatively conceived four-movement Wind Quintet is an example of Foerster’s incredible skills in instrumentation as well as his essential lyricism. Leoš Janáček did not write his wind quintet until 1924, when he was seventy years old. It was a year when he looked back on both his professional and private life, often reflecting on his youth and childhood – hence the title Youth. We can only surmise which part is dedicated to his childhood experiences, but in one instance the composer does directly inform us. Material from the third movement comes from Janáček’s composition The March of the Blue Birds. This musical vignette is related to the composer’s childhood at the Staré Brno Monastery foundation. It was there that the 12-year-old Leoš witnessed an incursion by Prussian soldiers into Staré Brno: “During the holidays of 1866 the Staré Brno Monastery Square was filled with grey and red Prussian soldiers. The high piccolos caterwauled above the roll of the tin drums. Fierce music. To this day it still throbs in my ears.” Although the composition had originally been written for students of the Prague Conservatory, the premiere was given at the Brno Conservatory on October 21 1924 by musicians from the Brno Opera. Today Youth is one of the most frequently played chamber pieces for wind instruments.

9eef025f4f41b39575906dd61a990ae3

Concert with an introductory talk by leading musicologists (Prof. Miloš Štědroň, Prof. John Tyrrell, PhDr. Jiří Zahrádka, Ph.D.)

The two string quartets by Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) represent some of the greatest music of the 20th century, and of all time. They were written by a composer who was already experienced and mature, recognized both at home and abroad, and both quartets share the theme of love. The String Quartet no. 2 “Intimate Letters”, the last of Janáček’s completed works, is the musical parallel to the love letters which the composer had been writing since 1917 to the object of his desire, Kamila Stösslová from Písek, who was 37 years his junior. Janáček completed this ardent and stormy confession, originally for the viola d’amore, on 19 February 1928 as Love Letters – however, a day later he changed the title to Intimate Letters because he did not want to advertise his feelings to the public quite so openly. The first letter describes “the first fateful meeting” with Kamila, the second is the “music of confession”, the third expresses Janáček’s “sweetest longing” and the fourth – with the composer’s unflagging energy – its defiant fulfilment.
The work was written over only 22 days, during which he also sent letters to Kamila describing his ebullient work. “You know that sometimes feeling itself can be so powerful and strong that the music hides and flees beneath it. Great love – poor composition. Whereas what I would like is: Great love – glorious composition.” And that was what he created.
The work took on its definitive character in May and June 1928 during rehearsals with the Moravian Quartet, who had also brought to life Janáček’s first quartet. Although the composer did not live to hear the premiere of his work by the Moravian Quartet on 11 September 1928 in Brno, he did hear its final form after two months of rehearsals and he was extremely pleased with it.
The performance by the renowned Graffe Quartet will be complemented by fascinating insights from leading musicologists: Prof. Miloš Štědron, Prof. John Tyrrell and Dr. Jiří Zahrádka.