Leos Janacek's Piano Works

Leos Janacek's Piano Works

This article relates to Our Evenings

Leoš Janáček (pronounced lay-osh YAH-NAAH-check) is widely considered the greatest Czech composer of the early twentieth century. Perhaps best known for his opera The Cunning Little Vixen, Janáček created not only several operas, but also symphonic works, chamber music, choral pieces, compositions for piano, and even one ballet. His piano cycle On an Overgrown Path contains 15 separate pieces in two volumes, the first of which, "Our Evenings," was the inspiration for Alan Hollinghurst's novel of the same name.

Janáček was born in Hukvaldy, Morovia (now a part of Czechoslovakia) in 1858, the ninth of fourteen children (only four of whom lived to adulthood). His father was a teacher, and the family lived in the town's dilapidated schoolhouse—the roof leaked, the doors wouldn't close because they were so rotten, and there was no heat. The boy's musical talent became evident early on; he was able to play many Beethoven sonatas before the age of 10 and was noted for his singing ability. His father obtained a scholarship for him in Brno (the capital of Morovia), and in 1865 the 11-year-old left home to begin his musical education.

After graduating in 1869, Janáček planned to become an educator like his father. He was offered a position as a choirmaster in Old Brno, however, and it's during this time that Janáček began composing. In addition to working several music-related jobs, he studied piano, organ, and composition at the Leipzig Conservatory (1879-1880) and then at the Vienna Conservatory in 1880. He returned to Brno in 1881 and founded the Organ School there (which ultimately became the Brno Conservatory); he remained the institution's director until 1920.

Janáček's early work reflected the influences of Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák, but in 1888 his style began to change. He developed an interest in Moravian folk music, incorporating the melodies and tonalities into his compositions. By his death in 1928, he was known as "one of the most important exponents of musical nationalism of the 20th century" because his works had become so closely identified with Slavic culture.

On an Overgrown Path was composed over more than a decade, from 1900 to 1911. The first seven pieces were written for harmonium (a keyboard instrument similar to a pipe organ), and five of those were published as Slavonic Melodies in 1901 and 1902. Janáček revised these five for the piano and added three more movements in 1908, with two more pieces joining the set in 1911. This first series of 10 works for piano was published in one volume in 1911 as On an Overgrown Path (sometimes translated as On the Overgrown Path). A second series of works was compiled later and not published until after the composer's death. It included two new works, the two works set aside in 1901 revised for the piano, and an ink sketch with pencil notations. These five pieces don't have titles, only tempo markings.

Janáček himself stated the work was autobiographical. The first five pieces are recollections of scenes from his childhood, such as evenings by the fireside ("Our Evenings") and children at play ("Come with Us!"). The second half of Series 1 is much more somber, reflecting on the death of his daughter Olga, with titles such as "Words Fail!," "Unutterable Anguish," and "In Tears." According to the website Interlude, "The concept for Janáček's work is not original to him—parallels can be made with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Schumann's Scenes from Childhood—but it's Janáček's change in the work from childhood memories to the tragedies of the grownup parent that make this a unique statement of the human condition."

In the years since its publication, On an Overgrown Path has been adapted multiple times, for everything from solo instruments (accordion, guitar, harp) to chamber orchestras. It continues to be part of the classical repertoire and is performed regularly, with the most definitive recording said to be a 2013 album by German pianist Lars David Kellner, who researched the work extensively and used Janáček's original manuscript. In popular culture, many of its movements were included in the soundtrack for the 1988 movie The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Photograph of Leoš Janáček, courtesy of The Kennedy Center

Filed under Music and the Arts

This "beyond the book article" relates to Our Evenings. It originally ran in November 2024 and has been updated for the August 2025 paperback edition. Go to magazine.