H0008

Series D, Volume 1-2

According to Janáček’s autobiographical notes published by Adolf Veselý, the year 1878 was an important one for the composer: ”On 12 June he took up the idea... of founding a secondary school – an organ school in Brno.” He was on a trip to Germany where he had been invited to visit the workshop of famous Öttingen organ maker P.G. Steinmeyer, who produced the instrument in the Cathedral of St. Vojtěch in Prague and the organ in the church in Old Brno in 1876. Besides visiting the workshop, Janáček took advantage of the trip to explore in nearby Munich ”the marble wonders of the Glyptotheque... and the wonders of color in the Pinakotheque”. He also visited his brother Bedřich (1846-1918), employed at that time in a factory making enameled kitchenware in Thale. In Öttingen on 4 August 1878 Janáček produced the draft of a composition for organ that he wrote on the first blank page of the score of a new work of his, the composition of which he had begun there, and which he entitled Idyll for String Instruments. For the title Janáček was apparently inspired by the relaxed feeling of being on vacation, and the especially romantic atmosphere of Lake Staremberg, which he also visited during his stay.