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Research on the Composer
The first significant reflection on Janáček's work came in 1910 from the pen of his student Jan Kunc. After 1918, Vladimír Helfert began to study the composer more significantly, and in 1939 he published the first volume of Janáček's monograph. However, the desolation of war and the author's death ended the project. The first completed monograph was published in 1924 by Max Brod, and in the same year Janáček's autobiography was also published. After the composer's death, Adolf Vašek, Leoš Firkušný and Ludvík Kundera were engaged in studying Janáček's life. After the war, Bohumír Štědroň, Theodora Straková, Jan Racek, Jaroslav Vogel, Jaroslav Procházka and František Pala focused on this topic. Of the next generations, note should be made of Jiří Vysloužil, Svatava Přibáňová, Miloš Štědroň, Alena Němcová, Jarmila Procházková, Jiří Zahrádka and others. The most important foreign researcher and author of the most important extensive monograph is John Tyrrell, followed by Nigel Simeone, Mark Audus, Michael Beckerman, Paul Wingfield and many others.
Bibliography (selection)
BROD, Max. Leoš Janáček. Život a dílo. Prague 1924, German edition - Wien, 1925.
ERISMANN, Guy. Janáček ou la passion de la vérité. Paris, 1980.
HELFERT, Vladimír. Leoš Janáček. Obraz životního a uměleckého boje. Brno, 1939.
HOLLANDER, Hans. Leoš Janáček. Leben und Werk. Zürich, 1964.
HONOLKA, Kurt. Leoš Janáček. Sein Leben, sein Werk, sein Zeit. Stuttgart und Zürich, 1982
PŘIBÁŇOVÁ, Svatava (ed.). Hádanka života: dopisy Leoše Janáčka Kamile Stösslové. Brno, 1990.
PŘIBÁŇOVÁ, Svatava. Leoš Janáček. Prague, 1984.
PŘIBÁŇOVÁ, Svatava. Svět Janáčkových oper. Brno, 1998.
RACEK, Jan. Leoš Janáček. Mensch und Künstler. Leipzig, 1962, Czech edition Prague, 1963.
SIMEONE, Nigel - TYRRELL, John - NĚMCOVÁ, Alena. Janáček's Works. A Catalogue of the Music and Writings of Leoš Janáček. Oxford, 1997.
SIMEONE, Nigel. The Janáček Compendium. The Boydell Press, 2019.
ŠTĚDROŇ, Bohumír. Leoš Janáček. K jeho lidskému a uměleckému profilu. Brno, 1966.
ŠTĚDROŇ, Bohumír. Leoš Janáček. Vzpomínky, dokumenty, korespondence a studie. Prague, 1986.
ŠTĚDROŇ, Miloš. Leoš Janáček a hudba 20. století. Paralely, sondy, dokumenty. Brno, 1998.
TYRRELL, John. Janáček. Years of a Life (sv. 1: The Lonely Blackbird, London, 2006, sv. 2: Tsar of the Forests). London, 2007.
TYRRELL, John. Janáček's Operas. A Documentary Account. London, 1992.
TYRRELL, John. Leoš Janáček, svazek I: Osiřelý kos (1854-1914). Brno, 2018.
TYRRELL, John. Leoš Janáček, svazek II: Car lesů (1914-1928). Brno, 2021.
VESELÝ, Adolf (ed.). Leoš Janáček. Pohled do života i díla. Prague, 1924.
VOGEL, Jaroslav. Leoš Janáček. Leben und Werk. Kassel, 1958, Czech edition - Prague, 1963.
VYSLOUŽIL, Jiří (ed.). Leoš Janáček: O lidové písni a lidové hudbě. Prague, 1955.
ZAHRÁDKA, Jiří a kolektiv (ed.). Korespondence Leoše Janáčka [online], Brno, 2016.
ZAHRÁDKA, Jiří - PŘIBÁŇOVÁ, Svatava. Leoš Janáček ve fotografiích. Brno, 2008.
ZAHRÁDKA, Jiří. Divadlo nesmí býti lidu komedií. Leoš Janáček a Národní divadlo v Brně. Theatre must not be a comedy for the people. Leoš Janáček and the National Thetre in Brno. Brno, 2012, 2018.
ZAHRÁDKA, Jiří. "Pravdu, první věci pravdu, ne krásu. Příběh Janáčkovy Její pastorkyně." "Truth, the first things is truth, not beauty. The story of Janáček's Jenůfa". Brno, 2021.
Since 1978, the Complete Critical Edition of the Works of Leoš Janáček has been published by Supraphon and Bärenreiter. Critical editions are also published by Universal Edition and Henle Verlag. Critical editions always also contain a detailed chapter on the origin and first performance of the work.
A detailed list of literature is available in the Czech Music Dictionary of Persons and Institutions.