The work
In 1904, the 50-year-old Leoš Janáček enjoyed his first triumph on home ground with , a tragic opera of rustic life, the musical score of which closely followed the speech-rhythms of his native Moravia. This set the pattern for almost everything that followed. It was premiered to great acclaim in Janáček’s native city of Brno, but because of his longstanding dispute with Karel Kovařovic, director of Prague’s opera house, wasn’t heard in the capital until 1916. Productions inin a bastardised German translation, took place in 1918, the year which saw the birth of Czechoslovakia and Janáček’s belated appearance on the international stage.
