What do you think?
Rate this book
Janacek beyond the Borders
This contextual study of Janácek's operas reveals the composer's creative responses to a wide range of Czech and non-Czech traditions.
Leos Janácek is increasingly recognized as one of the major operatic masters of the early twentieth century. In Janácek beyond the Borders, Derek Katz presents an interpretive and critical study of Janácek's major operas that questions prevailing views of the composer's relationship to the Czech language and to Slavic culture and demonstrates that the operas are deeply indebted to various existing operatic traditions outside of the Czech-speaking realm. Katz discusses the implications for Janácek's operas of the composer's notorious "speech-melody" theories and of his fascination with Russia. He also points out revealing and persuasive parallels to certain major operas in non-Czech traditions -- French, Italian, and German -- that deserve notice and that demonstrate how the composer developed a practical operatic aesthetic through emulation and creative adaptation. In this fresh and novel approach, Katz goes beyond the normal evidentiary record (letters, sketches, and published writings) and allows Janácek's works to speak for themselves.
Derek Katz is Associate Professor of Music History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has written about Czech music for American and European academic journals and for the New York Times.
Leos Janácek is increasingly recognized as one of the major operatic masters of the early twentieth century. In Janácek beyond the Borders, Derek Katz presents an interpretive and critical study of Janácek's major operas that questions prevailing views of the composer's relationship to the Czech language and to Slavic culture and demonstrates that the operas are deeply indebted to various existing operatic traditions outside of the Czech-speaking realm. Katz discusses the implications for Janácek's operas of the composer's notorious "speech-melody" theories and of his fascination with Russia. He also points out revealing and persuasive parallels to certain major operas in non-Czech traditions -- French, Italian, and German -- that deserve notice and that demonstrate how the composer developed a practical operatic aesthetic through emulation and creative adaptation. In this fresh and novel approach, Katz goes beyond the normal evidentiary record (letters, sketches, and published writings) and allows Janácek's works to speak for themselves.
Derek Katz is Associate Professor of Music History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has written about Czech music for American and European academic journals and for the New York Times.
190 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 2009
1 person want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 30, 2020
I read this to supplement preliminary study of Janáček's Jenůfa. While no study of Janáček's operas could avoid mentioning his break-through work, the book is more interested in the operas of the 1920s. Essentially, however, the book is intended as a countermeasure to perceived deficiencies in the Janáček literature, both academic and public. As such, it serves as an interesting (if clearly biased) overview of said literature, and in that respect the book is interesting.
It fails somewhat, however, since Katz is not a skilled critic, despite his obvious enthusiasm for and knowledge of the operas of Janáček. I also have some reasonably significant methodological concerns, and some consistent misuses of musicological terminology are irritating ("topic" is particularly abused), as are some formatting and editing issues (that I feel, admittedly as an outsider to the process, that a competent (copy)editor should have caught).
[I skipped most of Chapter 3, and all but the first two and final sections of Ch. 4 - if I ever come to study either Osud or Brouček, then they might be, respectively, worth reading.]
It fails somewhat, however, since Katz is not a skilled critic, despite his obvious enthusiasm for and knowledge of the operas of Janáček. I also have some reasonably significant methodological concerns, and some consistent misuses of musicological terminology are irritating ("topic" is particularly abused), as are some formatting and editing issues (that I feel, admittedly as an outsider to the process, that a competent (copy)editor should have caught).
[I skipped most of Chapter 3, and all but the first two and final sections of Ch. 4 - if I ever come to study either Osud or Brouček, then they might be, respectively, worth reading.]
Displaying 1 of 1 review