''Zápisník zmizelého'', or ''(The) Diary of One Who Disappeared'', is a half-hour
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
*Czech, ...
-language quasi-operatic
song cycle
A song cycle (german: Liederkreis or Liederzyklus) is a group, or cycle (music), cycle, of individually complete Art song, songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a unit.Susan Youens, ''Grove online''
The songs are either for solo voice ...
for
tenor
A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...
,
alto
The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...
, three other women's voices and
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
completed in 1919 by
Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janáček (, baptised Leo Eugen Janáček; 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic musics, including Eastern European fol ...
. Of its 22 sections, 18 are for tenor and piano alone; midway through, three sections involve the women, and these are followed by a commenting one for piano solo: an ''intermezzo erotico''. The song cycle was premiered at the
Reduta Theatre
The Reduta Theatre is a theatre in Brno, Czech Republic. It was built on the city's oldest square, Zelný trh) and began its life in Renaissance times as the Taverna (Tavern) Theatre. In 1767, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart performed with his sister ...
in
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
in 1921.
Background
On May 14, 1916, the ''
Lidové noviny
''Lidové noviny'' (''People's News'', or ''The People's Newspaper'', ) is a daily newspaper published in Prague, the Czech Republic. It is the oldest Czech daily still in print, and a newspaper of record.
Janáček created a song cycle in twenty-two brief sections with scenic demands. He worked on it in August 1917 and June 1919, completing it then. Modifications were made in December 1920. The composer created the work simultaneously with other compositions. Janáček was inspired by his own friend and late love
Kamila Stösslová
Kamila Stösslová (née Neumannová; 1891–1935) was a Czech woman. The composer Leoš Janáček, upon meeting her in 1917 in the Moravian resort town of Luhačovice, fell deeply in love with her, despite the fact that both of them were married ...
. He expressed his inclinations in letters to her, telling her about the character Zefka (Žofka): "And the black gipsy girl in my ''Diary of One Who Disappeared'' — she was you. That's why there's so much emotional fire in the work. So much fire that if we both caught on, we'd be turned into ashes. … And all through the work I thought of you! You were my Žofka. Žofka with a child in her arms, and he runs after her!"Score, p. 12
Premiere
The song cycle received its first performance in the small Reduta Theatre in the Moravian capital Brno on 18 April 1921 under the title ''Diary of One Who Disappeared and Was Never Heard of Again''. This title would later be shortened by Janáček. The tenor part was performed by Karel Zavřel, the alto by Ludmila Kvapilová-Kudláčková, and the pianist was Janáček student
Břetislav Bakala
Břetislav Bakala (February 12, 1897 in Fryšták – April 1, 1958 in Brno) was a Czech conductor, pianist, and composer. His career was centred on Brno and he was particularly associated with the music of Leoš Janáček.
Life and career
Ba ...
, also a conductor.
Structure
The atmosphere of the work is mysterious; it conveys emotional strength as well as psychological depth. The main female part was at first written for soprano and then lowered by the composer for alto.Score, p. 12 The piano part bears some
Impressionistic
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
In 1943 the work was orchestrated by Ota Zítek and Václav Sedláček for a staged performance in
Plzeň
Plzeň (; German and English: Pilsen, in German ) is a city in the Czech Republic. About west of Prague in western Bohemia, it is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 169,000 inhabita ...
. A recording of this orchestration was made in 1987 by
Philip Langridge
Philip Gordon Langridge (16 December 1939 – 5 March 2010)Millington (7 March 2010) was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio.
Early life
Langridge was born in Hawkhurst, Kent, educ ...
,
Brigitte Balleys
Brigitte Balleys (born 18 June 1959) is a Swiss mezzo-soprano in opera and concert.
Biography
Born in the canton of Vaud, Brigitte Balleys studied at Sion,
then at the Conservatory of Bern where she graduated from the singing class of Jakob Stä ...
and the
Berlin Philharmonic
The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
History
The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...
under
Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...
: DG 427 313–2. Otherwise there are these:
# Arrangement suitable for: tenor, alto, three female voices and piano
#* arrangement for: an instrumental ensemble
#* arrangement by: Geert van Keulen
#* performed by: Soloists, Schönberg Ensemble, co Reinbert de Leeuw
# Arrangement suitable for: tenor, alto, three female voices and piano
#* arrangement for: a chamber opera
#* arrangement by: Claude Berset
#* performed by: Soloists, pno Mireille Bellenot
# Arrangement suitable for: tenor, alto, three female voices and piano
#* arrangement for: guitar
#* arrangement by: Steve Howe
#* performed by: Excerpts, gui Steve Howe
Manuscript of Section XIII, the Piano Solo
In 2012 the German pianist recorded the first version of the piano solo (XIII), based on the composer's manuscript: LC 05699 CD.
Footnotes
References
* Leoš Janáček: ''Zápisník zmizelého. Partitura e parti.'' Brno: Editio Janáček, 2004. H 0009. ISMN M-706527-01-7