Leos Janacek: The Diary Of One Who Disappeared

Leos Janácek (1854-1928) composed the song cycle The Diary Of One Who Disappeared at a time when many people already considered him on a par with the other two masters of Czech national music, Smetana and Dvorák. The inspiration for the autobiographical Diary came from a few enigmatic lines of poetry in two editions of the Lidove noviny (People's Newspaper) published in May 1916.

Although this work is Janácek's most important original song cycle, his keen interest in the folk songs and dances of his Moravian homeland resulted in a plethora of arrangements, making this music accessible also for the classical concert hall. These include the Six folksongs sung by Eva Gabel (Sest národních písní jez zpívala Gabel Eva) and the Songs from Detva (Písne? detvanské). Quite unlike the songs of the Diary, which chie y make reference to the Moravian dialect, the arrangements evince the typically ethnic-sounding music that Janá ek re ned, so to speak, by adding a sophisticated piano part to adaptations of the existing melody lines, re ecting the tradition of the great song compositions of the 19th century.