Intimate Sketches (Intimní skici) is a collection of piano miniatures by Czech composer Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) published in 1994, sixty-six years after his death.[1]

The music

The thirteen pieces in the set, each only a minute or two long, were gathered from manuscripts and ephemeral publications, notably the People's News (Lidové noviny). Nos. 5, 6, 7, and 8 here are Nos. 3, 5, 12, and 13 respectively in the Album for Kamila Stösslová (Památník pro Kamilu Stösslovou).[2]

No. Catalogue[3] Date Czech title English title German title
1. JW VIII/31 published 1927 Malostranský palác (Andante) Malá Strana Palace (Andante) Kleinseiten-Palais (Andante)
2. JW VIII/29 composed c. 1920–1926[4] Bez názvu Untitled Ohne Titel
3. JW VIII/26 published 1923 Melodie (Con moto) Melodie (Con moto) Melodie (Con moto)
4. JW VIII/21 published 1911 Moderato Moderato Moderato
5. JV VIII/33/3 composed 1927 Jen slepý osud? Just blind fate? Nur blindes Schicksal?
6. JW VIII/33/5 composed 1928 Aby už se nemohlo jíti nikdy zpět So you can never return Damit man nie zurück könnte
7. JW VIII/33/12 composed 1928 Zlatý kroužek The golden ring Der goldene Ring
8. JW VIII/33/13 composed 1928 Čekám Tě! Waiting for you! Ich erwarte Dich!
9. JW IX/1[5] composed 1877 Rondo Rondo Rondo
10. JW VIII/9 composed c. 1887 Na památku In memoriam Zum Andenken
11. JW V/2/28[6] composed 1896 Své Olze My Olga Meiner Olga
12. JW V/14[7] published 1920 Ukolébavka Lullaby Wiegenlied
13. JW VIII/20 published 1909 Narodil se Kristus pán Christ the Lord is born Geboren ist Herr Jesu Christ

Recordings

Håkon Austbø plays eleven of the pieces on his Janáček: Piano Works (Complete) (Brilliant Classics, 2005). Thomas Adès plays six of them on his recording of The Diary of One Who Disappeared with Ian Bostridge (EMI, 2001). Sarah Lavaud has recorded 5 of the pieces on a CD published by Hortus. Lars David Kellner has recorded all pieces except the 'Rondo' (a juvenile work) on his 3-CD Janacek compilation (HOFA, 2013).

Intimate Sketches was followed by a second volume of twenty-six miniatures called Moravian Dances (Moravské tance).[8]

References

  1. ↑ Leoš Janáček, Klavírní miniatury, Sešit I: Intimní skici, edited by Jaromír Dlouhý and Reinhold Kubik (Brno: Editio Moravia / Mainz: Universal Edition, 1994).
  2. ↑ Leoš Janáček, Památník pro Kamilu Stösslovou, edited by Jarmila Procházková (Brno: Moravské zemské muzeum, 1994); Leoš Janáček, Album for Kamila Stösslová, edited by Jarmila Procházková, translated by John Tyrrell (Brno: Moravian Museum, 1996).
  3. ↑ Nigel Simeone, John Tyrrell, and Alena Němcová, Janáček's Works: A Catalogue of the Music and Writings of Leoš Janáček (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997).
  4. ↑ The undated manuscript of No. 2, Bez názvu, has ruled staves. Janáček drew his stave lines freehand early and late in his career, but used a ruler between 1910 and 1926. The metrical freedom of the piece suggests it was written towards the end of this period. See Simeone, Tyrrell, and Němcová, Janáček's Works, p. 274.
  5. ↑ No. 9, Rondo, is one of the Exercises in Form Janáček wrote at the Prague Organ School in 1877, JW VIII/5. It is also treated separately in the JW catalogue, where it is assigned to Part IX: Unfinished, rather than Part VIII: Keyboard. See Simeone, Tyrrell, and Němcová, Janáček's Works, pp. 244–245 and 279 ff.
  6. ↑ No. 11, Své Olze, is an early version (without words) of the folksong arrangement Nejistota (U Dunaja stála), or Uncertainty (She Stood by the Danube), which is No. 28 in Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs (Moravská lidová poezie v písních), JW V/2. See Simeone, Tyrrell, and Němcová, Janáček's Works, pp. 155–159.
  7. ↑ No. 12, Ukolébavka, is the piano part from the folksong arrangement for voice and piano of the same name, JW V/14. See Simeone, Tyrrell, and Němcová, Janáček's Works, pp. 173–174.
  8. ↑ Leoš Janáček, Klavírní miniatury, Sešit II: Moravské tance, edited by Jan Trojan (Brno: Editio Moravia / Mainz: Universal Edition, 1995).
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