The unknown Leoš Janáček and the beginnings of the Baroque

The concert cycle Musica Florea Bohemia 2024 will commemorate the 170th anniversary of the birth of Leoš Janáček. From the age of 11, Janáček learned bass and counterpoint, which brought him into contact with baroque and renaissance compositional techniques. He especially embodied this in small liturgical choral compositions based on Latin texts. These works respected the Palestrina style, which was promoted and cultivated within the so-called Cecilian reform of church music. It is obvious that the liturgical compositions of the barely twenty-year-old Leoš Janáček were created as separate compositions beyond the scope of school duties and curricula. They are often based on the Gregorian chant and in several cases the organ is added to the singing voices, but they only have a supporting character. The accompaniment will be enriched with string instrumentation, and Janáček's compositions will be supplemented with "similar" compositions that come more from the beginnings of the Italian musical baroque, and which fit the young Janáček's music.