Issuu

brno city guide

In the Footsteps of Leoš Janáček

O OK

KÁ

LUŽÁ

KO UN IC OV A

AN ET

12 LIDICKÁ

GORKÉHO

KO UN

IC O VA

ŘÍ

KÁ

MORAVSKÉ NÁMĚSTÍ ŽEROTÍNOVO NÁMĚSTÍ

SK Á

PEKAŘSKÁ

NÍ

5 4

DOMINIKÁNSKÉ 3 NÁMĚSTÍ ZELNÝ TRH

MENDLOVO NÁMĚSTÍ

NIČ

NÁMĚSTÍ SVOBODY

HRAD ŠPILBERK

SOL

6 ČE

KÁ

ČES

JOŠTOV

tram.2

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

1 The Augustinian Abbey of St Thomas in Old Brno 2 Mendlovo náměstí (Mendel Square)

ÁNKY

3 Zelný trh (Vegetable Market) 4 Stopka’s Pilsner Pub 5 Chlumecký Palace – Lidové noviny newspaper 6 Barvič a Novotný bookshop 7 U Polenků Restaurant 8 Hotel Slavia 9 Besední dům (Beseda House) 10 Czech National Theatre in Brno on Veveří street 11 Vesna 12 Chleborádova Villa – The Organ School 13 The Leoš Janáček Memorial 14 Stadion Hall 15 Lužánky Park 16 Mahenovo divadlo (Mahen Theatre)

JANÁČKOVO DIVADLO

17 The Slavonic Teachers’ Training Institute 18 Brno Central Cemetery

RO OS VE LTO

16 MALINOVSKÉHO NÁMĚSTÍ

Á ÍN

AŽ

0,25

0,5 km

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

1 The Augustinian Abbey of St Thomas in Old Brno mendlovo náměstí

In 1865, aged eleven years' old, Janáček left his home village of Hukvaldy for Brno. Thanks to the fact that his father, Jiří Janáček, knew the composer Pavel Křížkovský, he was accepted to a foundation at the Augustinian monastery of St Thomas in Old Brno, which was an important intellectual centre in Moravia in the 19th century. Important figures worked here such as the

the augustinian abbey of st thomas in old brno

composer Pavel Křížkovský, the founder of genetics Johann

Gregor Mendel, the philosopher, poet and journalist František Matouš Klácel, the literary academic Tomáš Bratránek, and in particular, the enlightened abbot Cyril Napp. The "Bluebirds", as the choral scholars from Old Brno were called at the time because of their light-blue uniforms, were musically gifted boys from poor families who were given a thorough musical education linked with providing music at masses and at the monastery, as well as occasional concerts and operas in Brno. From 1871 Janáček replaced Pavel Křížkovský as the director of the organ loft at the monastery basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. When he was seventy the composer wrote The March of the Bluebirds for the wind sextet Youth in memory of his childhood years spent at the monastery.

A view of the basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on today's Mendlovo náměstí (1896)

The Bluebirds! All across Brno that's what they called us lads from the Thurn-Vallesessin foundation - due to the light-blue, white-trimmed uniforms. Abandoned and merely watched over, when we were homesick, we'd stand by the barred windows, birds flew over from the prelate's garden to peck at the crumbs we gave them, small blue birds just like us, only freer than our kind. Leoš Janáček: A View of the Life and Works (1924)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

the augustinian abbey of st thomas in old brno

1 /

2 / 1 / The Augustinian Abbey and the basilica of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary on Mendlovo náměstí, a historical postcard 2 / Leoš Janáček noted on 12. 4. 1923: The bells of the Queen's Monastery. Everything shook. 3 / Classroom of the foundation at the Augustinian Abbey 4 / Corridor of the foundation in the Augustinian Abbey

3 /

4 /

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

the augustinian abbey of st thomas in old brno

1 /

1 / Johann Gregor Mendel (1822–1884) 2 / Pavel Křížkovský (1820–1885) 3 / The Augustinian Abbey on today's Mendlovo náměstí 4 / Autograph of the title page of the wind sextet Youth (1924) 5 /Autograph of the third movement

of the wind sextet Youth with The March of the Bluebirds (1924)

2 /

3 /

4 /

augustinian abbey

5 /

50 m

mendlovo náměstí

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

2 Mendlovo náměstí (Mendel Square) mendlovo náměstí

A large part of Janáček's life is associated with Old Brno, where he lived until he was 56. He spent his childhood at the local Augustinian Monastery, he attended the Old Brno primary school and secondary school, he worked as a teacher, he led the choir in the basilica, he got married, and both of his children were born here and died here. His first home was on Měšťanská (today's Křížová) street, where his mother also lived for a short while. In 1882 he moved with his wife, Zdenka, and his daughter, Olga, to a house on Klášterní (today's Mendlovo) náměstí, and lived there until 1910. The old tenement house which stood in the middle of the square no longer exists, having been torn down in the middle of the 20th century. In this house Janáček witnessed both happy family moments and tragedies. His son Vladimír (1888–1890)

mendlovo náměstí

was born here and died here at the age of two, and his beloved

daughter, Olga (1882–1903), also died here at the age of twentyone. Despite experiencing so much misfortune, Janáček also composed many works here, for example, the operas Šárka, The Beginning of a Romance, Jenůfa and Fate, the cantata Amarus, the male choruses based on Bezruč's poems, and the piano cycle On the Overgrown Path.

The building on Mendlovo náměstí where the Janáčeks lived in 1882–1910 (first on the left)

The flat was beautiful and large. The master had found it himself […] But even on Klášterní náměstí we didn't have today's modern conveniences and equipment. […] On each floor there was only a communal tap on the corridor for all of the tenants […] from this single tap I fetched all the water to the kitchen for cooking, cleaning, washing and bathing, and then I took the dirty water out in tubs and threw it away. […] There was no electric light at that time in Brno and there was no gas in our building. So we only had petrol lamps. It wasn't very convenient, but it seemed like great progress to us after candles. […] The home was very conveniently located for the master. Across the street was the monastery, where he was the choirmaster, and it was just a few steps to the Teaching Institute on the banks of the Svratka. At the Janáčeks according to the housekeeper Marie Stejskalová (1959)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

mendlovo náměstí

1 /

2 /

3 /

4 /

1 / The town hall in Old Brno which also housed the secondary school which Leoš Janáček attended from the age of 12 (1866–1869) 2 / Olga Janáčková (1882–1903), the daughter of Leoš and Zdenka Janáček, in 1892 3 / Vladimír Janáček (1888–1890), the son of Leoš and Zdenka Janáček, in 1890 4 / A postcard from Leoš Janáček to Kamila Urválková from 24. 3. 1903 with an arrow pointing to the window where the Janáčeks lived. On the other side of the postcard: "This is the square where we live. The church and the monastery were founded by Queen Eliška Přemyslovna." 5 / Mendlovo náměstí today

5 /

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

mendlovo náměstí

1 /

brno city guide

1 / Leoš Janáček with fiancée Zdenka Schulzová before their wedding in June 1881 2 / Autographed draft of the male chorus Halfar the Schoolmaster (1906)

2 /

mendlovo náměstí

1 200 m

zelný trh

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

3 Zelný trh (Vegetable Market) zelný trh

Zelný trh has several connections to the life of Leoš Janáček. In the lower part of the square is located the Reduta Theatre, one of the oldest theatres of stone in Central Europe, where a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave a concert in 1767. One hundred years later a young Janáček performed in operas here together with the other "bluebirds" from the Old Brno monastery. In later years Janáček enjoyed coming to the bustling market on Zelný trh and nearby Dominikánský trh, where he noted the speech of the marketeers from Brno and the surrounding area. He recorded these snippets of dialogue together with a score, which he called speech melodies, from various situations over many years and considered them to be the "windows to the human soul". On Zelný trh he enjoyed studying the shouts of the female marketeers from Líšeň with the typical melody of their Líšeň dialect. Since 1904 the upper part of the square has been the site of Josef Lídl's firm - a producer and seller of musical instruments. As zelný trh

the director of the Organ School Janáček ordered his school's

instruments here and Josef Lídl was also connected to the Organ School through his position as treasurer of the Association for the Promotion of Church Music in Moravia, which was one of the school's founders.

Zelný trh in 1906

Speech melodies are an expression of the organism's entire state and all the spiritual phases which emerge from it. They show us if a person is either stupid or sensible, sleepy or drowsy, tired or lively. They show us a child or an old man; morning and evening, lightness and darkness; heatwave or frost; loneliness or society. The art in dramatic compositions is to insert speech melodies which, as if by magic, immediately reveal a human being at a certain stage in life. Leoš Janáček: This Year and Last Year (Hlídka XXII, 1905)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

1 /

zelný trh

2 /

3 /

4 /

1 / The Reduta Theatre on Zelný trh 2 / Speech melody: At the market on 19. 10. 1925 Leoš Janáček noted: A marketeer sits by a fruit stall. A beanpole who's been going around on crutches since the war, he still limps, his face is pale with a black moustache. "I'm supposed to smile with this bloody awful weather?" He snapped back at the lamp lighter, who must have asked him why he looked so glum. 3 /Speech melody: Leoš Janáček noted on 23. 1. 1926: It's freezing. An old woman is carrying a pair of slippers. A servant in front of the hotel asks her: "Where are they off to? For sale?" 4 / A caricature of Leoš Janáček recording speech melodies 5 / Leoš Janáček in 1914 6 / Speech melody: At the market on 4. 11. 1919 Leoš Janáček noted: "Two crowns a sausage!" Thus called out a young man holding several hot sausages on a piece of wood. Clear weather, cold, the market covered in snow. (Speech melody

5 /

notated in unknown handwriting with Janáček's correction)

6 /

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

1 / Musical instruments producer and seller, Josef Lídl’s company, on Zelný trh. Reproduced from Josef Lídl Brno's company catalogue 2 / Production of Josef Lídl's musical instruments on Zelný trh. Reproduced from Josef Lídl Brno's company catalogue 3 / Bill from the Josef Lídl firm from 1903 4 / Josef Lídl sends a bill for a piano ordered by the Organ School (2. 7. 1913)

zelný trh

1 /

2 /

3 /

4 /

zelný trh

450 m

stopka’s pilsner pub

(česká 5)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

4 Stopka’s Pilsner Pub

česká

Prior to 1918, Česká street was called Rudolfsgasse and with its many cafés and pubs served as a promenade for Brno's Czech inhabitants. From those which Janáček frequented, today we can visit the Stopka‘s Pilsner Pub, which used to be a favourite place for Czech social and cultural life. What was originally Jonák's Pilsner Pub was taken over in 1910 by the landlord Jaroslav Stopka. The Art Nouveau frescoes on the facade of the building were designed by the painter Ladislav Novák, who also designed the front cover to the piano score for Janáček's opera The Excursions of Mr Brouček. The pub used to house a painting by Antonín Kalvoda [?] called "At Stopka's Pub", which depicted local society including Leoš Janáček, the conductor Břetislav Bakala and the writers Jiří Mahen and Alois Mrštík. stopka’s pilsner pub

The same building on Rudolfská (Česká) street 5 was also the

headquarters of the Moravian Chamber of Lawyers, one of whose members was František Pauk, Leoš Janáček's representative in the dispute with the Cooperative of the National Theatre in Prague over the performance of the opera Fate at the Vinohrady Theatre.

Česká street, view from náměstí Svobody, on the left Jonák's Pilsner Pub, Jaroslav Stopka

You have given me such a wonderful surprise that I do not know how to thank you. It's as though Brouček has come alive in front of my very eyes, his landlady – I just have her like Kedruta in the 15th century – so fitting! Etherea with the flower hat – and Málinka – with a money box! It's a masterly piece of work that you've achieved. And not just the title page – I think that it would make a wonderful theatre poster! In the meantime I thank you with all my heart. In one page you have captured the tone which I searched for in 300-400 pages of a piano score. From a letter from Leoš Janáček to the painter Ladislav Novák (23. 5. 1919)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

stopka’s pilsner pub

1 /

brno city guide

2 /

1 / The facade of the Stopka‘s Pub with frescoes by Ladislav Novák (1920) 2 / Stopka‘s Pub interior 3 / Speech melody: On Česká street 11. 12. 1923 Leoš Janáček

3 /

noted: A girl stopped and asked me, "Excuse me, what is the time?" Me, "Quarter past four." The girl, "Thank you." 4 / Speech melody: On Česká street 24. 7. 1928 Leoš Janáček noted: "I haven't got it bad!" said a 16-year-old well-dressed girl with a sardonic smile. She was walking with a lady and a small girl. 4 /

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

1 /

1 / Speech melody: On Česká street 8. 9. 1926 Leoš Janáček noted: Dr Bulín when meeting me: "Very good morning to you, maestro! At your service." He interrupted his discussion with stopka’s pilsner pub

some other man, as if he wanted to shake my hand. About 10 am. 2 / A newspaper photograph of Antonín Kalvoda's [?] 2 /

painting which used to hang in the Stopka’s Pub 3 / Front cover of the piano score for the opera The Excursions

of Mr Brouček by the artist Ladislav Novák

3 /

stopka’s pilsner pub

(česká 5)

20 m

palác chlumeckých

–

(česká 6)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

5 Chlumecký Palace – Lidové noviny newspaper česká

The Lidové noviny newspaper was established in Brno by the journalist and future first Czechoslovak minister of trade, Adolf Stránský. For the very first edition Leoš Janáček contributed his feuilleton Music of Truth, which was published on 16 December 1893. He continued to write for Lidové noviny, with a few breaks, until his death. In total he published 58 feuilletons, several studies,

chlumecký palace

–

lidové noviny newspaper

excerpts from his compositions, as well as several interviews with

him. In 1907 the staff of Lidové noviny and its printers moved to a corner building on Česká street no. 6. Janáček took his literary contributions there, often accompanied by musical examples. Janáček also found Lidové noviny to be a useful source of inspiration, the most famous being the serial about the vixen Bystrouška (Sharp Ears), which was written by the editor Rudolf Těsnohlídek, as well as a series of children's poems with illustrations by Josef Lada and Ondřej Sekora, which inspired Janáček to write his Nursery Rhymes. The palace building was also witness to tragedy when on 12 January 1928 the editor and Janáček's friend, Rudolf Těsnohlídek, committed suicide in the offices of Lidové noviny. It is also worth noting that Janáček's Organ School was located on the first floor of the adjacent corner house (Česká 8) from

Janáček's cutting of The Cunning Little Vixen from Lidové noviny. The serial came out in instalments in 1920 and was written by the editor Rudolf Těsnohlídek based on drawings by Stanislav Lolek

1896–1907 before it moved to its permanent location at the corner of Smetanova and Kounicova Street. The master subscribed to a lot of journals: Národní listy, Národní politika, music journals, and they sent us Novoje Vremja from Russia. But we all liked Lidové noviny best. Perhaps it was because it was published in Brno, because the master knew all of the editorial staff and often visited Česká six. He liked everybody there and they liked him too. They printed what he wrote; recollections from childhood, from his student days, from Hukvaldy, from his trips, how he collected folk songs and how he captured the voices of people and animals. And they printed his music notes just as he had hurriedly scribbled them down somewhere. Time and time again he'd come home from the Lidové noviny offices and say: "Once again they've asked me to write something for them to put in print. Me, when they pay so little!" But he would write it. These days there's a whole book of them. At the Janáčeks according to the housekeeper Marie Stejskalová (1959)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

1 /Česká street, in the forefront on the right is the building which housed the offices of the Lidové noviny and the popular Brichta café 2 / Nursery Rhymes from the Children's Corner of Lidové noviny 3 / Rudolf Těsnohlídek (1882–1928) 4 / Janáček's feuilleton Spring came out as a supplement with the Lidové noviny on 6. 4. 1912 5 / Manuscript of Janáček's feuilleton What I profess, which was published in Lidové noviny on 13. 2. 1927

chlumecký palace

–

lidové noviny newspaper

1 /

2 /

3 /

4 /

5 /

chlumecký palace

–

(česká 6)

30 m

barvič a novotný bookshop

(česká 13)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

6 Barvič and Novotný bookshop

česká

At the time of its establishment, Barvič bookshop was the only Czech business of its kind in Brno. From 1883 this shop which sold books, music, art supplies, paper and educational aids was sited on Česká street no. 4. As a supporter of all Czech endeavours in a predominantly German Brno, Janáček ordered his books and music here. In 1897 Josef Barvič took on Josef Novotný as his business partner and the shop moved to Česká 13, where it is still located today. In addition to their own shop, there was also a publishing firm, an art gallery and a music salon which Janáček also attended. Another thing Janáček and Barvič had in common was their interest in Russian culture - both were

knihkupectví barvič a novotný

members of the Brno Russian Circle which organised lectures

and readings from Russian literature. It is also worth mentioning Janáček's relationship with another Czech bookseller, Arnošt Píša, who established Brno's second Czech bookshop, and soon afterwards the first antiquarian bookshop in Brno, located on Česká 28 from 1913. Janáček published several of his theoretical as well as music volumes through Píša's publishing firm. The antiquarian bookshop closed in 1992 when the building at the corner of Česká and Joštova was demolished and a new bank was built in its place.

The front of Barvič and Novotný bookshop

My esteemed gentleman! We would like to sincerely reiterate those wonderful sentiments which were expressed to you in today's Lidové noviny: May you retain your health, Maestro, and keep working for a long time with your will unbowed and with that bravery which you have shown in the face of unappreciative Moravian circumstances. From a letter from Josef Barvič to Leoš Janáček (3. 6. 1914)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

knihkupectví barvič a novotný

1 /

3 /

brno city guide

2 /

4 /

1 / The bookseller Josef Barvič (1853–1924) 2 / The bookseller Josef Novotný (1881–1952) 3 / Josef Barvič and his wife congratulate Janáček on his 60th birthday 4 / Leoš Janáček in the company of friends and artists in 1905, top left Josef Barvič 5 / A bill from Barvič bookshop (1908) 5 /

barvič a novotný bookshop

(česká 13)

130 m

u polenků

(česká 29)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

7 U Polenků Restaurant

česká

At the top of Česká street is a restaurant which was previously known as "U Polenků". Its origins reach back to the 19th century. Originally it was the Českobudějovická Pub, and then in the 1890s it became The Golden Prague hostelry. This was a meeting place for Czech actors from the nearby theatre on Veveří, students and journalists. When the hostelry was taken over by Adolf Polenka, its popularity grew even more and members of the Land Parliament met here as well as people from the arts. Janáček often visited the restaurant to celebrate his successes with his friends, for example, after the premiere of his opera The Cunning Little Vixen in the autumn of 1924, and after he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Masaryk University at the

u polenků restaurant

start of 1925.

The upper section of Česká street, looking towards náměstí Svobody, on the right is the restaurant U Polenků

Dear Zdenka! I've arrived. I'm having lunch at U Polenků. Are you having something nice to eat today? I'll be glad when we're all back home in peace! From a letter from Leoš Janáček to his wife Zdenka (25. 8. 1909)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

u polenků restaurant

1 /

2 /

brno city guide

3 /

1 / Speech melody: Leoš Janáček noted at U Polenků on 3. 2. 1925: Dr Arne Novák: "Now I have the whole day to myself – to Mělník – Yes – Yes." From a group conversation. 2 / Speech melody: Leoš Janáček noted at U Polenků on 3. 2. 1925: Dr Ant. Beer: "I'm going to have to make up for it all year." From a group conversation. 3 / Greetings from U Polenků, historical postcard

u p o l e n k ů r e s tau r a n t

(česká 29)

150 m

hotel slavia

(solniční 17)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

8 Hotel Slavia

solniční

The Art Nouveau Hotel Slavia was opened in 1899 by the patriot Karel Moravec, and this Czech enterprise quickly became the celebrated centre of Czech cultural life. In the National Café on the first floor, visitors had access to a great number of Czech publications, important Czech figures met here, as well as the members of various Czech societies, for example, National Unity, the Society of Czech Travelling Salesmen and the Skiers' Association (whose chairman was the writer Jiří Mahen). Leoš Janáček also visited the Hotel Slavia for the meetings of the Russian Circle, of which he was co-founder and an enthusiastic member. Other active society members included Janáček's

hotel slavia

daughter, Olga, and the bookseller Josef Barvič.

Hotel Slavia in 1931

Dear Friend! Some Russian – a magician approached me yesterday and pleaded for a recommendation. He's doing badly. Please be so kind as to write a recommendation saying that he has performed for the Russian Circle and the whole group was greatly entertained. For the signature of the recommendation just write "The Russian Circle in Brno". From a letter from Leoš Janáček to Vladimír Zach, director of the postal service in Brno who was on the committee of the Russian Circle (no date)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

1 /

1 / Leoš Janáček with members of the Russian Circle around 1910 2 / Hotel Slavia before 1918, hotel slavia

historical postcard 3 / Leoš Janáček in front of the Hotel Slavia during a visit by the orchestra of the Prague National Theatre on 22. 6. 1917 (from the left, Leoš Janáček, Karel Kovařovic,

František Svěntý, Jan Buchtele, Jan Kunc, František Mareš)

2 /

3 /

hotel slavia

(solniční 17)

50 m

besední dům

(komenského

nám.

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

9 Besední dům (Beseda House)

komenského náměstí

The Neo-Renaissance building of the Besední dům was built from 1870 to 1873, based on a design by the architect Theophil von Hansen. The opening of the building was a watershed for Brno's Czech population as within the centre of the city there was now a social and cultural centre, the construction of which demonstrated the Czechs' growing self-confidence. Many Czech societies were resident here, the most famous of which included the Czech Readers' Circle and the Brno Beseda. The choirmaster of the Beseda in the 1870s and 1880s was also Leoš Janáček, who appeared at the society concerts as a pianist though principally as a conductor of large concert productions (such as Mozart's Requiem, Beethoven's Missa solemnis and Dvořák's Stabat Mater).

besední dům

(beseda

house)

Janáček's daughter, Olga, also took part in the societies' meetings

and musical evenings. Many of Janáček's works had their premiere in the Besední dům, particularly his chamber works, such as the wind sextet Youth, Nursery Rhymes and Concertino. In 1905 Janáček was to witness a tragic event when a young worker, František Pavlík, was killed by policemen during a demonstration calling for a Czech university. This led Janáček to compose the piano composition 1. X. 1905 "From the Street". Today the Besední dům is the home of the Brno Philharmonic.

Besední dům around the year 1900, historical postcard

The jubilee concert by the Philharmonic Society of the Brno Beseda on the 10th of January 1886 at the large hall of the Besedni dům brought together an immeasurable number of the Czech intelligentsia of Brno and its surrounds. The concert programme was chosen with rare musical tact, climaxing with Dvořák's sublime Hymnus, which dates back to the earlier period of the maestro's writing, and the classical symphony in D minor, which is shining evidence of sun-filled heights. [...] As for the performance of all of these three compositions, the conductor and the players deserve unreserved praise. From a review by Karel Kovařovic of a concert by the Philharmonic of the Brno Beseda conducted by Leoš Janáček (Hudební listy, 15. 1. 1886)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

besední dům

(beseda

house)

1 /

2 /

3 /

4 /

1 / Tableau of the Philharmonic Society of the Beseda Brno designed for the Czechoslovak Exhibition of Contemporary Culture in Brno in 1928 2 / Programme for a concert by the Czech Philharmonic at the Besední dům on 8. 5. 1897, conducted by Antonín Dvořák 3 / Programme for a concert organised by the Moravian Composers' Club on 16. 2. 1926 at the Besední dům 4 / Leoš Janáček in 1880

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

besední dům

1 /

2 /

brno city guide

3 /

1 / Demonstration for the establishment of a Czech university in Brno 1. 10. 1905 2 / Speech melody: Leoš Janáček noted on 28. 2. 1923 at the Besední dům: Dr Engliš gave a eulogy for the martyr Dr Rašín. I recorded just that name Rašín throughout the melancholy speech: Rašín – Rašínova – what was Rašín like – Rašín was a born politician. 3 / Janáček's motto concept for the first edition of the piano composition 1. X. 1905 "From the Street": "The white marble of the staircase of the Besední dům in Brno. Here falls Fr. Pavlík, a simple worker, covered in blood. He came only because he was enthusiastic about

4 /

higher education and he was killed by brutal murderers." 4 / A postcard commemorating the death of a worker killed at a demonstration for the establishment of a Czech university in Brno

besední dům

(komen.

nám.

300 m

c z e c h n at . t h e at r e o n v e v e ř í

(žerotínovo

nám.

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

10 Czech National Theatre in Brno on Veveří street žerotínovo náměstí

This no longer extant building, which housed the first permanent Czech theatre stage, was sited on the corner of Ratvitovo (today's Žerotínovo) náměstí and Veveří street, where the hostelry "U Marovských" was situated. The Cooperative of the Czech National Theatre in Brno purchased the building in 1883 and the original dance hall was adapted for use as a provisional theatre. The gala opening in November 1884 was an important moment for Brno's Czech population. Opera, operetta and plays in Czech czech national theatre in brno on veveří

were performed in the theatre, and great emphasis was placed

on Czech artists. Janáček regularly attended the performances by the Brno National Theatre, he wrote reviews and he was even a member of the committee of the Cooperative which organised this theatre. In 1894 he conducted the premiere of his opera The Beginning of a Romance here, but the modest theatre made its mark on history on 21 January 1904, when it presented the first performance of Jenůfa. During World War II, the building was damaged and despite repairs and being used for a while, the effects of the bombing took their toll. In 1952, a part of the building was torn down and the rest was used for rehearsal space. In December 1973, the building was completely demolished and replaced

The building of the "U Marovských" hostelry with dance hall on the corner of Veveří street and Žerotínovo náměstí, adapted for the Czech National Theatre in Brno

by what is now called the Bílý dům (White House). The theatre, originally intended as a temporary solution, served the needs of the Brno National Theatre for all of 68 seasons. A new theatre was not built in Brno until 1965, when the Janáčkovo divadlo (Janáček Theatre) was completed, which is now the home of the Janáček Opera and the National Theatre Brno Ballet. The moment that we have waited so long for has finally arrived: the National Theatre has opened to the Art! This signifies a new era for Brno and for the whole of Moravia. In order to make it as significant as possible for our nation we have decided to publish the weekly "Hudební listy", which throughout the theatre season will review succinctly and without bias both opera and drama, something which for various reasons the daily newspapers are unable to accomplish. From the manifesto on the front page of the first edition of the journal Hudební listy (Music Sheets), which Janáček established and edited (13. 12. 1884)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

czech national theatre in brno on veveří

1 /

2 /

3 /

4 /

1 / The Czech National Theatre in Brno at the corner of Veveří street (view towards Žerotínovo náměstí) 2 / The corner of Veveří street and Žerotínovo náměstí today 3 / Programme for the premiere of Janáček's opera The Beginning of a Romance (10. 2. 1894) 4 / Members of the ensemble of the National Theatre in Brno in 1913 5 / The auditorium of the Czech National Theatre

5 /

at the corner of Veveří street 6 / The foyer of the Czech National Theatre at the corner of Veveří street in 1934

6 /

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

czech national theatre in brno on veveří

1 /

2 /

3 /

4 /

5 /

1 / Leoš Janáček in the year of the premiere of the opera Jenůfa (1904) 2 / Leopoldina Svobodová, the first Kostelnička, in the opera Jenůfa 3 / Poster for the world premiere of the opera Jenůfa (21. 1. 1904) 4 / tableau of those performing in Janáček's opera The Beginning of a Romance 5 / Cyril Metoděj Hrazdira, first conductor of the opera Jenůfa 6 / Janáček's draft of the opera Jenůfa 6 /

c z e c h n at . t h e at r e o n v e v e ř í

(žerotínovo

nám.

250 m

vesna

(jaselská 9)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

11 Vesna

jaselská

7–9

Vesna was a women’s educational association that had been originally established in 1870 as a singing club. Not long after it was founded, it started to focus on educating girls and women in Czech and providing lessons in Czech, history, teaching, pedagogy, and practical handiwork. František Mareš was its long-time director and a capable organiser. The association built its first school on Údolní street and later expanded it to include a building on the adjacent Jaselská street, with decorative interiors designed by the architect Dušan Jurkovič. Vesna soon became a major educational institution, cooperating with various representatives of cultural life - painters, writers, and musicians, including Leoš Janáček, who was a contributory member of the association until 1877, and who gave a number of lectures there, while some of his works were performed at the association's concerts. Janáček’s daughter Olga attended the institution and

vesna

his wife Zdenka helped to organise some of its activities.

The Vesna building in 1909

Most distinguished gentleman! On the 21st of this month [1889] the "Vesna" women's association performed Lachian Dances as well as Little Queens in Brno. I collected them in the area where I was brought up and set them to music. Thanks to their vigour and charm they were a complete success. This was also written in the reviews. From a letter by Leoš Janáček to the director of the Prague National Theatre, František Adolf Šubert (February 1889)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

1 /

1 / Interior of the Vesna boarding rooms, photograph from the Jubilee Commemoration of Vesna in Brno (1911) 2 / František Mareš (1862–1941), teacher and headmaster at the Vesna Association Women's Educational Institute 3 / A letter of thanks from the Vesna association to Leoš Janáček for his lectures 4 / Programme for Vesna's

vesna

annual musical evening (1899)

5 / Concert programme, Vesna auditorium (1899)

brno city guide

2 /

3 /

4 /

5 /

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

1 /

2 /

1 / Female pupils of the Vesna schools 2 / A Vesna cooking and economics class 3 / A classroom in the Vesna department of industrial classes 3 /

4 / A classroom in the Vesna department of industrial classes 5 / Olga Janáčková's certificate from Vesna's higher girls' and industrial school (1899) 6 / Olga Janáčková, daughter

vesna

of Zdenka and Leoš Janáček, in 1899 7 / The diploma of merit which was awarded to Leoš Janáček by the Vesna association

4 /

5 /

6 /

7 /

vesna

(jaselská 9)

630 m

the organ school

( s m e ta n o va 14 )

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

12 Chleborádova Villa – The Organ School smetanova

The Neo-Renaissance Chleborád building, or "Greek Villa", has been situated on the corner of Smetanova (formerly Haberlerova) and Kounicova (formerly Giskrova) street since 1891. It was designed by the architect Antonín Tebich for the important Czech lawyer and politician František Ladislav Chleborád. In 1906 the Association for the Promotion of Church Music in Moravia, the founder of the Organ School, purchased the villa and by doing so finally established a permanent site for the school. From the first days of its

chleborádova villa

–

the organ school

establishment, Janáček was the school’s headmaster and one of its

teachers, and in 1919 it was transformed into a private conservatory and then the State Conservatory. The Organ School not only taught organ playing, but also the piano, violin, singing, composition and theoretical subjects. The school produced many prominent musicians and composers, such as Oskar Chlubna, Vilém Petrželka, Václav Kaprál, Břetislav Bakala and Jan Kunc. From 1920, Janáček's "Master Class", which was run by the Prague Conservatory, was also sited in the villa alongside the Brno Conservatory, and which produced composers such as Pavel Haas. Today the Moravian Museum's Department of the History of Music is located in the building, part of which also contains the Janáček archive.

The Organ School at the corner of Smetanova and Kounicova street

Janáček looked after us like a father at school. He knew each one of us and he knew about our circumstances. If someone was ill, he would come to our flat to find out how we were, which was not always particularly pleasant, especially if we were not feeling that bad and he did not find us at home. The following day would then be a stormy one at school and many of us were thrown out of the class. Usually, however, that wouldn't last long as Janáček's temper soon quietened. From an article by the composer Jaroslav Kvapil "Leoš Janáček, director of the Organ School" (Hudební rozhledy)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

2 /

chleborádova villa

–

the organ school

1 /

3 /

brno city guide

4 /

1 / The Organ School in Brno, historical postcard 2 / Classroom in the Organ School 3 / Classroom in the Organ School 4 / Leoš Janáček with graduates and teachers of the organ course 1905–1906 5 / Front page of the Organ School curriculum (1896)

5 /

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

1 /

1 / Janáček's note in the Organ School class register 29. 10. 1918: "Holiday on the day the Czechoslovak state was proclaimed." 2 / Invitations to public concerts by the Organ School

chleborádova villa

–

the organ school

in 1908/1909 and 1909/1910

2 /

the organ school

( s m e ta n o va 14 )

10 m

the leoš janáček mem.

( s m e ta n o va 14 )

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

13 The Leoš Janáček Memorial

smetanova

When the Organ School started its courses in its new home at the Chleborád Villa in 1907, Janáček, as the director, found his home in Old Brno was quite far from the school. He walked on foot and did not travel using the electric trams because they were German. Therefore, the school founder, the Association for the Promotion of Church Music in Moravia, decided to build a small house for the director in the school garden in place of the wooden stables. The house was designed and built by Alois Horák. Janáček, along with his wife, Zdenka, and their housekeeper, Marie Stejskalová, moved there in 1910, and Janáček spent the last eighteen years of his life here. This new home, which was comfortable for its time,

the leoš janáček memorial

was where Janáček wrote all of his major works – the operas The

Excursions of Mr Brouček, Káťa Kabanová, The Cunning Little Vixen, The Makropulos Affair and From the House of the Dead, the orchestral compositions Taras Bulba and Sinfonietta, and the cantata Glagolitic Mass. Today it is the site of the Leoš Janáček Memorial, complete with his study as it was, including Janáček's piano, which the maestro received as a wedding present and was where he composed nearly all of his works.

Leoš Janáček with his wife Zdenka in the garden of the director's house of the Organ School (1927)

We moved on Saturday the 2nd of July. We were ready early; we had already measured everything and decided where things would go. And after Mařa and I had spent some time putting things in order after the workmen had left, then our "little house", as we started to call it, started to become quite charming. At that time the garden was full of fruit trees. In the area overlooking Giskrova (Kounicova) street, my husband had 14 boxwoods planted, as was to his taste. [...] Our dog Čert (Devil) lorded over us from the veranda. Memoirs: Zdenka Janáčková – My Life (1998)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

the leoš janáček memorial

1 /

brno city guide

1 / The interior of Janáček's house 2 / Birdsong melody: Leoš Janáček noted on 10. 6. 1923 on Smetanova street: The female janitor calls out to her son, Petr, whose father is taking him to the nursery: "– and be good there – !“ The janitor is originally from Újezd u Sokolnic. 3 / Speech melody: Leoš Janáček noted on 25. 2. 1926: In my garden, the trimmed chestnuts, the limes as bare as broomsticks, the frozen

2 /

lawn, the path filled with water – and a blackbird calls with its pretty melody from the wall.

3 /

the leoš janáček memorial

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

1 /

brno city guide

1 / Leoš Janáček in his garden with his dog Čert (around 1910) 2 / Leoš Janáček in front of the director's house in the garden of the Organ School (around 1924) 3 / Giskrova (today's Kounicova) street from the Hotel Continental view. In the middle is the no longer extant villa of the famous physicist George Placzek, behind it is the Organ School

2 /

3 /

the leoš janáček mem.

( s m e ta n o va 14 )

220 m

s ta d i o n h a l l

(kounicova 20)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

14 Stadion Hall

kounicova

A summer stadium was built on Kounicova street in 1922 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Sokol gymnastics association. One year later a pavilion was constructed nearby with a large hall which functioned as a multifunctional space principally for the Brno trade fairs, though from the start it was also used for concerts. Shortly after it was opened, Wilhelm Sauer's grand organ from 1885 was installed here, which had originally been housed in the concert hall of Prague's Rudolfinum. It was here that the premiere of Janáček's Glagolitic Mass was given on 5 December 1927. When it was decided to build the trade fair in Pisárky, the exhibition pavilion was given to the Sokol, which decided to build a new gym nearby with meeting room facilities. Therefore, soon after the premiere of the Glagolitic Mass the original hall was completely surrounded by new buildings, though at the start of the 21st century the interior stadion hall

of the hall had hardly changed, including the original organ.

The exhibition pavilion, today's Stadion Hall, later enclosed with newer buildings. View from the Kounicova–Sokolská crossroads (1924)

The old Slavonic mass? Well, you know what they wrote about me - the old believer. But that just angered me and I said to them, "So young man, first of all I'm not an old man and a believer - not yet, not yet. When I'm convinced. [...] Here I wanted to capture faith in the certainty of a nation, not based on religion, but on a strong morality which takes God as its witness. From an interview with Leoš Janáček (Literární svět I, 8. 3. 1928)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

1 /

2 /

1 / The exhibition pavilion, today's Stadion Hall, view

stadion hall

from the playfield (1927) 2 / Brno Beseda and the orchestra of the National Theatre in Brno with the conductor Jaroslav Kvapil in the Stadion Hall in 1928 3 / Leoš Janáček in his

house in Brno (1926)

brno city guide

3â€‰/

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

1 / Speech melody: Leoš Janáček noted on 11. 8. 1924: A group of visitors to the trade fair on Kounicova street at midday. Probably strangers to Brno. One of the lads who wasn't afraid of getting lost said, "We've got mouths, don't we?" 2 / Speech melody: Leoš Janáček noted at the Stadion on 5. 11. 1925: A child of 5–6 arguing with this mother, "Don't sat that, Mum!" And squirmed. 1 / 3 / Postcard addressed to Ludvík Kundera, who after the premiere of the Glagolitic Mass had written a review with the statement "Janáček the old man, the strong believer". Janáček wrote back to him, "None of this old man or believer, young man! Regards, Drph Leoš Janáček, Prague 28/II 1928." 4 / Concert programme for 5. 12. 1927, which included the world premiere of the Glagolitic Mass 5 / Leoš Janáček at the Luhačovice 2 /

spas, where he worked on the Glagolitic Mass (1926) 6 / Janáček's manuscript

stadion hall

for the Glagolitic Mass

3 /

4 /

5 /

6 /

s ta d i o n h a l l

(kounicova 20)

600 m

lužánky park

(lidická 50)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

15 Lužánky Park

lidická

Lužánky Park was opened at the end of the 18th century and is one of the oldest public parks in Central Europe. In 1855 the architect Ludwig Förster designed a Neo-Renaissance restaurant in the centre of the park known as the Casino. Many different social events were held here including lectures, exhibitions, concerts and balls. As a child, Janáček performed in public concerts here from 1866 to 1869. At the age of sixty-five, when he moved to the house in the garden of the Organ School on Smetanova street, the composer would go to the park for a walk nearly every day and noted many speech melodies, particularly birdsong. In 1908 there was a plan to build the Czech National

lužánky park

Theatre on the corner of Lužánky Park.

The pavilion in Lužánky Park in the 19th century. Today a Centre of leisure time Lužánky

I remember a ridiculous scene with the Maestro when we were walking in Lužánky Park one day after a midday rehearsal, discussing The Cunning Little Vixen. A small problem had arisen during the rehearsal - how to present the scene when the vixen drives the badger out of his den so that she can live there herself. Janáček accompanied the words "here's a gift from a lady" with a gesture revealing to all the noonday passers-by how he envisaged the scene. For this scene the vixen changed into a dog-fox so that it might be more graphic. Memoirs of the director Ota Zítek

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

1 /

lužánky park

2 /

3 /

brno city guide

1 / Speech melody: Leoš Janáček noted on 9. 6. 1924: At Lužánky Park a soldier asks "What's the time?" He adds "Has anyone got watch?" (in a dialect) When none of the passers-by answer him I say to him, "Well, I can tell you if you want." The soldier smiled at me. 2 / Birdsong melody: Leoš Janáček noted on 9. 5. 1921: From the birdsong in Lužánky Park. The beautiful flute voice of a bird could be heard. 3 / Poster for a concert by the Organ School at the Lužánky pavilion (1912) 4 / Leoš Janáček walking in Lužánky Park (1928) 5 / A caricature of Leoš Janáček by Ondřej Sekora published in Lidové noviny

4 /

5 /

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

1 /

1 / Emil Králík's design for a theatre building at the corner of Lužánky Park from 1908 2 / Poster for a concert by the Organ School at the Lužánky pavilion (1912) 3 / Leoš Janáček in Lužánky Park with his pupils Břetislav Bakala, František Rybka

lužánky park

and Mirko Hanák (1925)

2 /

3 /

lužánky park

1 200 m

mahen. divadlo

(malin.

nám.

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

16 Mahenovo divadlo (Mahen Theatre) malinovského nám .

Originally the German theatre, it was built from 1881–1882 according to a project by the Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, and was the first in Europe to be equipped with Edison's electrical lighting. In 1919 the building of the Municipal Theatre (also known later as On the Balustrades and the Janáček Theatre) was taken over by the Brno Czech National Theatre, which until then had been housed in the adapted space of a restaurant at the corner of Veveří street, and its first performance there was Janáček's Jenůfa. In the

mahenovo divadlo

(mahen

theatre)

1920s, the world premieres of Janáček's operas Káťa Kabanová

(1921), The Cunning Little Vixen (1924), Šárka (1925) and The Makropulos Affair (1926) were performed here, and two years after the composer's death, his last opera From the House of the Dead (1930) was given here. Most of the performances were conducted by the then opera director and conductor, František Neumann, with the young director Ota Zítek, and Janáček was enthusiastic about the quality of the performances of his new works. In addition to his opera works, Janáček's orchestral music was also performed at the theatre, including the premiere of the rhapsody Taras Bulba. A final farewell was given to Leoš Janáček in the foyer of the Municipal Theatre on the 15th of

The Municipal (today's Mahen) Theatre, historical postcard

August 1928. There were other famous world premieres at this building, including the premiere of Bohuslav Martinů's The Miracles of Mary in 1935 and the first performance of Sergei Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet in 1938. Today the Mahen Theatre is the home of the drama ensemble of the National Theatre Brno, while the Janáček Opera and the Ballet of the National Theatre Brno have been housed in the newer building of the Janáček Theatre since 1965. When the Municipal Theatre was handed over to the Cooperative of the National Theatre after the First World War, I was resolute that the new era should begin with an opera by Maestro Janáček. The new stall of our operatic art had to have Janáček's artistic character as its flag and watchword. Five years have passed since then and I can happily say that this flag has led us on the right path and I am certain that it will take us further towards our goal. From an article by the conductor and director of the Opera of the National Theatre Brno, František Neumann, "Leoš Janáček and Our Theatre" (Divadelní šepty Národního divadla v Brně V, 1924/1925)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

mahenovo divadlo

(mahen

theatre)

1 /

2 /

brno city guide

3 /

1 / Auditorium of the Municipal (today's Mahen) Theatre, historical postcard 4 / 2 / The Janáček Theatre was opened in 1965, in front of the entrance was a high fountain. In 2014 a new park arrangement was built in front of the entrance with water features and an illuminated fountain in the shape of a theatre curtain. 3 / Caricatures of Janáček and characters from the opera The Makropulos Affair by Ondřej Sekora published in Lidové noviny on 30. 12. 1926

5 /

4 / The conductor and director of the Opera of the National Theatre in Brno František Neumann around 1920 5 / Photograph from the premiere production of the opera The Cunning Little Vixen (1924) 6 / Photograph from the premiere production of the opera The Cunning Little Vixen (1924)

6 /

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

1 / Hana Pírková in the title role of the first performance of the opera Šárka (1925) 2 / Speech melody: Leoš Janáček noted on 16. 4. 1922: At the National Theatre, seven o'clock in the morning, a man says to a woman, "I need to talk to him - I mean he's a total scatterbrain." 3 / Theatre poster for the world premiere of the opera Káťa Kabanová (23. 11. 1921) 4 / Theatre poster for the premiere of the opera The Makropulos Affair (18. 12. 1926) 5 / Poster for the first gala performance of the Czech National Theatre at the Municipal (today's Mahen) Theatre 23. 8. 1919

mahenovo divadlo

(mahen

theatre)

1 /

2 /

3 /

4 /

5 /

mahen . d ivadlo

( m a li n .

nám.

tram.2

(poříčí

stop)

s lova n . ú s tav

( p o ř íč í 5)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

17 The Slavonic Teachers’ Training Institute poříčí

The Teachers’ Training Institute was situated in the building which today houses the Faculty of Architecture of the Brno University of Technology. Janáček began studying at the institute in 1869 when it was still situated within the Minorite Monastery (Minoritská 1). From 1876 he then taught and headed the school's musical production for some thirty years. In 1878 the Teachers' Institute moved to Poříčí 5 in Old Brno, where it remained until the Second World War. To mark this occasion Janáček composed the slavonic teachers’ training institute

and conducted the Festive chorus for laying the foundation stone

of the Teachers' Institute in Brno. It was here that he also met his future wife, Zdenka, the daughter of the director of the Teachers' Institute, Emilian Schulz. The director and his family lived in the rear section of the school and the young Janáček went there to teach Zdenka piano. Their mutual affection led to them being married in 1881 and a year later Olga was born. Today the area is the home of the Faculty of Architecture of the Brno University of Technology and comprises two buildings one dating back to 1876 and an extension from 1963. The building contains a memorial plaque with a bronze bust of Leoš Janáček by Zdeněk Tomáš Makovský.

A view across the river Svratka towards the Teachers’ Institute, start of the 20th century

I knew him as a teacher of singing and music at the Teachers' Institute in Brno. Back then he hadn't been "drunk with glory", but he was evidently an exceptional phenomenon within the teaching staff. All of his pupils felt that way. [...] Even if our teacher was then remarkably untalkative, meticulous and strict in every regard, we still welcomed him with unusual respect whenever he came into the music auditorium. From an article by the composer Josef Černík "Memories of Leoš Janáček" (Lidové noviny, 12. 8. 1933)

the slavonic teachers’ training institute

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

1 /

2 /

brno city guide

3 /

4 /

1 / Tableau of the alumni of the Teachers’ Institute in Brno (1882) 2 / The Teacher's Institute, today's Faculty of Architecture of the Brno University of Technology 3 / Zdenka Janáčková, née Schulzová (1865–1938), in 1880 4 / Photograph of Leoš Janáček from the tableau of alumni of the Teachers’ Institute (1882) 5 / Copy of the title page of the Festive chorus for laying the foundation stone of the Teachers' Institute in Brno (1878) 5 /

slovan . ústav

tram.2

(ústřední

hřbitov stop)

b r no c e n tr a l c e me t e ry

( j i hl av s k á 1)

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

18 Brno Central Cemetery jihlavská

Leoš Janáček died suddenly from pneumonia at the Klein sanatorium in Ostrava on 12 August 1928, and his funeral was held three days later in Brno. The coffin was first of all displayed at the Municipal (today's Mahen) Theatre, and then the funeral procession led to the Central Cemetery. At first Janáček was buried in a different place and it was not until 17 August 1928 that his body was moved to grave number 64 in the so-called honorary circle. On his gravestone, which was designed by Eduard Milén, are carved verses from Janáček's male chorus The Wandering Madman. Janáček's family — his wife Zdenka, and his children Olga and Vladimír — are also buried in the Central

brno central cemetery

Cemetery.

Leoš Janáček's grave

It was the head. Beautiful, hard, confident, persistent. It was stubborn! That was what enabled Janáček to wait. That was why he had such an amazing sense for rests. What was Brno like forty years ago when "Jenůfa" was born? But the spirit was raised up above the desert and the spirit won. What better example can there be for today's impatient people? From an article by the conductor Václav Talich "Around Jenůfa" (Eva, year 13, no. 6, 1941)

100

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno central cemetery

1 /

2 /

brno city guide

101

3 /

1 / Leoš Janáček's funeral on 15. 8. 1928. Coffin in a hearse pulled by four horses 2 / Leoš Janáček's funeral on 15. 8. 1928. The funeral procession in front of the Municipal (today's Mahen) Theatre 3 / Leoš Janáček's funeral on 15. 8. 1928. The funeral guests gathered at Brno's Central Cemetery. In the centre, the conductor František Neumann in conversation with the widow Zdenka Janáčková

102

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

Bílovice nad Svitavou

palackého

231,

bílovice nad svitavou

This village surrounded by beautiful forests lies a few kilometres from Brno in the valley of the river Svitava. It was a favourite destination for many artists - for example, the poet Stanislav Kostka Neumann lived here, and many important people visited him here including the Čapek brothers, František Gellner, Zdenka Braunerová and Jiří Mahen. The novelist and journalist Rudolf Těsnohlídek often travelled to Bílovice and eventually settled here. On 22 December 1919 he found an abandoned seventeen-month old baby in the nearby forests, which became the basis for the Czech Christmas trees of the Republic and the charity collections for abandoned children. Těsnohlídek also set his stories about the cunning vixen Bystrouška in and around bílovice nad svitavou

Bílovice, which were published in the Lidové noviny newspaper in 1920. Janáček also enjoyed taking trips to this area, particularly while he was composing The Cunning Little Vixen, and he even observed a family of foxes here. Today in Bílovice we can find vixen Bystrouška's lodge, the place of Pásek's pub, and a well bearing the composer's name.

103

Bílovice nad Svitavou, historical postcard

No-one wanted to write it, he even left it on my table and one afternoon I took it to Bílovice. On the way back on the train was a railway official, like a cavalier from Ekeby, living in a castle in Bílovice. He took my drawings, started to laugh and wouldn't stop until I promised him that I'd write something to go with them... And so I started writing. It was a beautiful early spring in 1920. From the memoirs of Rudolf Těsnohlídek, who was given the task by the Lidové noviny editorial board of writing text to accompany Stanislav Lolek's drawings, which resulted in the stories about the vixen Bystrouška, set in a Bílovice gamekeeper's lodge and the surrounding forests

10 km

104

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

The Benedictine Abbey in Rajhrad

klášter

rajhrad

Janáček had been in contact with the Rajhrad Abbey since he was a young man as the Papal Printing House of the Rajhrad Benedictines printed his early works. Later, he travelled to Rajhrad with his pupils from the Organ School to perform at the celebratory masses in the Abbey Cathedral of St Peter and Paul. In 1914 he took his students on a trip to the Rajhrad Abbey to perform Eduard Tregler's Mass for three voices in F major with organ accompaniment. Leoš Janáček played the organ, Bohumil Holub conducted the performance, and the soloists were JUDr the benedictine abbey in rajhrad

Jaroslav Lecian and Rudolf Janč. On the same day, there was also an organ concert at which the most mature students of the school performed. In return the Benedictines provided the students of the Organ School with generous refreshments.

105

Benedictine Monastery, Rajhrad

We had a successful performance of Liszt's Mass for male chorus in Rajhrad, the residence of Abbot Šup, the patron of our school. Afterwards there was a good lunch at a nearby restaurant, where everyone enjoyed themselves. On this occasion, we were apart from Janáček accompanied by Tregler, who conducted, and Holub, who played the organ, as well as by Professor Malý on violin. While the first three were guests of the monastery, Malý stayed with us and paid for a whole quarter of Pilsner. That certainly contributed to the good atmosphere and there was singing and playing as only the youth can do. In the afternoon, however, the abbot had asked us to give an organ concert. Despite the afternoon intermezzo everything turned out well, there were more hearty refreshments, and in the evening we left Rajhrad with a beaming Janáček. From the memoirs of Emil Burejsa, a student of the Organ School (Region of Ostravsko on the thirtieth anniversary of LJ's death, Ostrava 1958)

15 km

106

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

Hukvaldy

hukvaldy

Janáček was born in the school in Hukvaldy on 3 July 1854. Although he left his home town at the age of 12 to live in Brno, from the 1890s he was a regular guest in Hukvaldy. In 1921 he bought a house there from the widow of his brother František, and from then on he would come for several weeks each year. Later he also bought a forest called Babí hůra. Until the end of his life, Hukvaldy was one of the composer's favourite places, where he would go to mainly for rest and relaxation. However, his visit to Hukvaldy in the summer of 1928 was to prove fatal. He was spending the summer with his friend, Kamila Stösslová, and her son Otto, when he caught a cold and shortly afterwards, on 12 August, died of pneumonia at the Klein sanatorium in Ostrava. Today, Janáček's home is a memorial which charts Janáček's relationship with his home town of Hukvaldy, while in the school where the composer was born there are various exhibitions with

hukvaldy

a Janáček theme. At the start of the summer holidays there is also a regular Janáček's Hukvaldy festival.

107

Hukvaldy, historical postcard

Born on 3 July in a school room with one window looking out to a church and the other to a brewery. The Hukvaldy school; a large room with old, chipped benches. One class on the left for the young ones, the second on the right for the older ones. Two blackboards, my dad and an assistant taught at the same time. How did they avoid getting in each other's way? A large stove in the corner, a bed next to it where the assistant spent the night. I also lay there when I was ill, when I scalded myself at the fireplace. A chicken has an enclosed life, and I did too as a child. Leoš Janáček: A View of the Life and Work (1924)

180 km

108

in the footsteps of leoš janáček

brno city guide

Luhačovice

lázeňské náměstí

Janáček probably first visited Luhačovice in 1886, but he did not become a regular guest until 1903. With only a few exceptions he spent part of the summer holidays here every year until his death in 1928. The Luhačovice Slavonic Spas, designed by the architect Dušan Jurkovič, was a meeting place for important Czech figures. Here, for example, Janáček hobnobbed with Marie Calma Veselá, František Veselý, Alphonse Mucha, Otakar Ostrčil and others. He also met here Kamila Urválková, who inspired the composer to write the opera Fate, with the first act set in the Luhačovice spas. However, his most important meeting was in 1917, when Janáček met his love and muse Kamila Stösslová. Although Janáček usually spent his time in the spas relaxing, he composed the Glagolitic Mass in the local Augustinian House in

luhačovice

1926.

109

Leoš Janáček and Kamila Stösslová walking in Luhačovice (1927)

Dear Zdenka! I've walked through the forests, searched for the elusive sun, drunk a bucket of water, lain in the black mud, sweated myself till I'm weak; eaten it all - the money's all spent. Time to go home! I arrive on Sunday afternoon (I leave here at 11am). So let the caretaker come over. They promise the track will be open from Tuesday. Definitely by Sunday. The Friday mail that is for the Organ School, hold on to it in Brno. I'll tell the station post office about it. Still nothing about the conservatory - some news that is! With regards, Leoš Luhačovice, 21 July 1919 120 km