Janáček and his “Idyll”

New Year greetings from Strings Together! 

We are looking forward to the start of our new term on 14th January. One of the pieces which we will be playing is by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček (1854-1928). Janáček followed in a line of Czech nationalist composers which included Smetana and Dvořák. However, whereas they were born in Bohemia, Janáček was from the more easterly province of Moravia. 

Composed in 1878 when he was only 24, the Idyll for Strings (of which we will be playing movements 5 and 6), was only Janáček’s second large scale instrumental work. When it received its premier in Brno in the December of that year, Dvořák, who had been such an influence on the young composer, was in the audience. With their common roots in Czech and Moravian folk music, this early work by Janáček belongs in the 19th century world of Dvořák and Smetana; however, his style was to change over the following years. It was the production of his opera ‘Jenůfa’ in Vienna in 1918 which brought him international fame. Other works followed such as his String Quartet No. 2 “Intimate Letters”. It is for these works that he is best known, thus causing him to be often thought of as a 20th century composer. 

The 5th movement of the Idyll is a ‘Dumka’, which is a type of Slavonic folk ballad, in which elegiac and faster tempi alternate. Dvořák had used this in several of his compositions, including his famous Piano Trio Op.90 which has acquired the nickname “The Dumky Trio”.  The 6th movement is a ‘Scherzo’ which takes its form from an earlier age, with its contrasting Trio middle section and lively outer sections. This movement is full of tunes which imitate one another and the influence of Dvořák’s first set of Slavonic Dances can be clearly detected.