H0002

Series C, Volume 3

... The volume of women’s choruses by Leoš Janáček contains works from his creative period in the early part of 1916. This was a very productive and important time for Janáček. At that time the composer’s years of work on first part of his opera-bilogy Výlety páně Broučkovy (Excursion of Mr Brouček) was coming to a head; he also finished the first version of Taras Bulba, and a year earlier had composed the cantata Věčné evangelium (The Eternal Gospel). Although the time of the First World War was quite a difficult one for Janáček, above all for financial reasons, the new year of 1916 brought a real break for his artistic recognition: after more than ten years the presentation of his opera Její pastorkyňa (Jenůfa) at the National Theater in Prague seemed to become a possibility. The war year of 1916 was the one time in his career that he would devote himself to writing for women’s choir. In January 1916 he composed the chorus Vlčí stopa (Wolf-tracks) based on the poetry of Jaroslav Vrchlický (17. 2. 1853 Louny–9. 9. 1912 Domažlice); at the beginning of February the chorus cycle Hradčanské písničky (Songs of Hradčany) based on texts of poems from a collection of the same name by František Serafínský Procházka (15. 7. 1861 Náměšť na Hané–28. 1. 1939 Prague), and in the same month the chorus Kašpar Rucký (Caspar Rutsky) – again from Procházka’s collection...