Classical Music | Piano Music

Leoš Janáček

Piano Sonata 1.X.1905, From the Street  Play

Pia Bose Piano

Recorded on 03/31/2010, uploaded on 08/05/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Sonata I.X.1905 "From the Street"          Leoš Janáček

I.  The Presentiment; II. The Death

Until 1918, Moravia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Hapsburg Empire. German was the language of the ruling classes, while Czech was considered a peasant language. On October 1, 1905 the Austrians of Brno organized a demonstration objecting to a request from the Czechs for a university of their own. The Czechs retaliated. As factions clashed, the police and army intervened, and a young carpenter was bayoneted.

The poignant sonata "From the Street" was Leoš Janáček's memorial to this human tragedy. In his preface to the score, Janáček wrote "The white marble staircase/of the House of Artists in Brno... a simple worker Frantiček Pavlik / falls, stained with blood... / He came only to plead for a university... / And was killed by cruel murderers". Loosely a sonata-type design, the piece originally contained three parts. But on the day of the first performance-given by Ludmila Tučkova on January 21, 1906-Janaček in a fit of self-criticism tore-up and burned the last movement. The other two he threw into the river. They survived only because Tučkova had already copied them out: it was from her manuscript that the composer later authorized the work to be published in two halves: Presentiment and Death.     

Pia Bose