Janáček was a choirboy at Brno and studied at the Prague, Leipzig, and Vienna conservatories. In 1881 he founded a college of organists at Brno, which he directed until 1920. He directed the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra from 1881 to 1888 and in 1919 became professor of composition at the Prague Conservatory. Deeply interested in folk music, he collected folk songs with František Bartoš and between 1884 and 1888 published the journal Hudební Listy (Musical Pages). His first opera, Šárka (1887–88; produced 1925), was a Romantic work in the spirit of Wagner and Smetana. In his later operas he developed a distinctly Czech style intimately connected with the inflections of his native speech and, like his purely instrumental music, making use of the scales and melodic characteristics of Moravian folk music.
All lectures on Zoom
Series Dates:
Sunday, March 7 @ 4:00-5:15pm EST – Smetana and The Bartered Bride
Sunday, March 14 @ 4:00-5:15pm EST – Janáček & his operas
Sunday, March 21 @ 4:00-5:15pm EST – Dvorak and Martinu
Or
Monday, March 8 @ 2:30-3:45pm EST – Smetana and The Bartered Bride
Monday, March 15 @ 2:30-3:45pm EST – Janáček & his operas
Monday, March 22 @ 2:30-3:45pm EST – Dvorak and Martinu