Královéhradecký kraj

Leoš Janáček was one of the classics of the Czech music. He was born on July 3, 1854 in a village of Hukvaldy, not far from a town of Příbor.

From 1874 to 1875 he studied organ playing. His teacher was František Zdeněk Skeherský. When Janáček was 21 years old, he passed a state exam in Prague from choir singing and playing piano and organ, achieving an excellent result. After an unsuccesful attempt to study in Petersburg he finished his studies in Conservatoire of Leipzig and Vienna (1879-1880). In 1881 Janáček returned to Brno, firstt of all being a director of organ school and an conductor of Beseda of Brno, and later, from 1919, being a professor of a consrvatoire in Brno and Prague. He was also a prolific journalist, musical critic and became an author of theoretical publications as well.

In his work he was influenced by Moravian folk art. He was returnig to his native land for all his life. Inspite of living in Brno, his home was the village of Hukvaldy where he bought a house. Leoš Janáček made several collecting journeys to Walachia. He used to live by his elder brother Karel Janáček, who was a teacher in a village of Krásno nad Bečvou.

For his lifelong work for the Czech music he was declared a honorary doctor of the Philosophical Faculty of the Masaryk University in Brno. In 1881 he married Zdeňka Schulzová (1865-1938). They had a son Vladimír and a daughter Olga. Leoš Janáček died on August 12, 1928 in a city of Ostrava.