Ke genezi Janáčkova klavírního cyklu Po zarostlém chodníčku. (Czech)

The Piano Cycle On an Overgrown Path is the composer's most frequently performed instrumental piece. The eleven year period of its composition indicates the complicated genesis of the work. Janáček initially did not react to a call in the year 1897 to write simple compositions for harmonium for a volume of Slavic Melodies. He finally sent the publisher, however, seven 'moods' in the year 1900, from which five were published in all in print in the years 1901 and 1902, with only the title On an Overgrown Path. Jan Branberger approached Janáček in the year 1908 with a request for short instrumental compositions for an edition of B. Kočí. Janáček gradually expanded the cycle to ten compositions (two unpublished compositions from the year 1900 were not used) and provided them with poetic titles. They were finally released in the year 1911 with the Brno publisher A. Píša. Shortly before this release of the original cycle, Janáček released the first composition from the 'new' cycle On an Overgrown Path on 30 September 1911 in the literary supplement to the evening edition of Lidové noviny, this time without, however the poetic title. The printed draft was Ševčík's undated copy, which contained three numbered compositions in all, all of them without names. It is highly probable that the entire new cycle came about in the year 1911. The remaining two compositions in the new cycle were not, however, published during the lifetime of the composer. The final composition does not have its final phrasing and the composer wrote possible changes to it in pencil. The second edition of the first cycle came about in the year 1925 in the music section of Umělecká beseda from the original printed plates, with only minor changes. Janáček did not actively contribute to the publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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