Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs

This afternoon song recital in the unique environment of the Villa Tugendhat will provide an exceptional experience in the form of a complete performance of all 53 songs of Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs by Leoš Janáček, delivered by the excellent soprano Simona Houda-Šaturová, with piano accompaniment by Martin Kasík.

A complete performance of this cycle is a totally exceptional event. With its 53 songs, Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs by Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) is the composer´s largest cycle. He worked on it for nine years between 1892 and 1901, a period linked to his work on the opera Her Stepdaughter. Janáček was intensively involved in folk music and the collection of songs from around 1888 onwards. The peak of this activity was in the 1890s, when he closely connected this interest with his compositional work. However, Janáček remained fascinated by folk songs throughout his life. He also spent many years adapting folk songs to be sung with a piano accompaniment. This involved a certain degree of experimentation, due to which these songs form a very distinctive part of the composer´s work. In 1892, the publisher Šolc issued the second edition of the Bouquet of Moravian National Songs produced by František Bartoš and Lev Janáček. On this occasion, the publisher approached Janáček to request the creation of piano accompaniments for the songs. The composer did so for fifteen of them, and Šolc published them in the first book in 1893. The second book wasn’t published until 1902, with the remaining 38 pieces. All of the songs were eventually published together under the title Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs in 1908. They were performed for the first time - but only four of them - in Brno in 1904. The cycle probably wasn’t performed in its entirety during the composer´s lifetime.

Jiří Zahrádka