Tolstoy's story summarizes the sad experience of a girl who, after a forced marriage to the one she does not love, seeks refuge in the arms of an evil lover, which will lead her to death. Janacek "musicalized" this story, with the intention of paying homage to the ladies who, during their lives, never found their true beloved.
Leos Janacek
Born in Hukvaldy, Moravia, into a very modest family, Leos Janacek was a child prodigy who had to work hard to develop his talents. It is said that during his piano and organ studies in Prague in the 1970s, when he did not have his own piano, he decided to practice on a keyboard drawn on his desk. Despite all this, in 1875 he finished his studies brilliantly and with the best grades. The following year, he began to earn his living in Brno as a music teacher and choir conductor.
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| Leos Janacek (1854 - 1928) |
Leos Janacek is an author hard to classify, because although musically formed in the nineteenth century his music appears as more typical of the twentieth century, perhaps because its evolution was slow until the time he came to consolidate a style of his own. The author of eight operas, Jenufa, from 1904, stands out among them, and among his orchestral compositions, the symphonic poem Taras Bulba, from 1918, deserves special mention.
String Quartet No. 1 - "Kreutzer Sonata"
At the end of his creative period, Janacek tackled chamber music by delivering two exceptional creations: the two string quartets, the first of them from 1923 (the second, from 1928) and which is presented here in a rendition by the Czech chamber ensemble Kubin Quartet, during a live performance in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in 2013. The work lasts around 16 minutes.
Movements:
00 Adagio - Con moto
04:00 Con moto
07:56 Con moto - Vivace - Andante
11:38 Con moto - Andante
