The Diary of One Who Disappeared

The Diary of One Who Disappeared

The Diary of One Who Disappeared (Czech: Zápisník zmizelého) is a song cycle for tenor, alto, three female voices and piano, written by Czech composer Leoš Janáček.

Contents

Background

On May 14th, 1916, were in the Lidové noviny newspapers published verses titled "From a Pen of the Self-taught Writer". This "diary in poems" depicts a story of a village boy who had fallen in love with the young gipsy girl Zefka (Žofka), and who had decided to leave his family and village with her. The verses made a deep impression on Leoš Janáček (cooperator of Lidové noviny in that time), and he decided to rework the poems into the song cycle. He created a work in twenty-two parts, accompanied also with scenic demands. The cycle was composed during August 1917 and June 1919, the last modifications Janáček finished in December 1920. The composer created the work simultaneously with other compositions.

The composition was based on the story of Janáček's friend and late love Kamila Stösslová. Janáček expressed his inclination in the letters to Stösslová, and he mentioned even the inspiration for the character of the gipsy girl Zefka: "...And the black gipsy girl in my Diary of One Who Disappeared - that was you. That´s why there´s so much emotional fire in the work. So much fire that if we both caught on, we´d be turn into ashes. ...And all through the work I thought of you! You were my Žofka. Žofka with a child in her arms, and he runs after her!..."[1].

The Diary was premiered at the Reduta Theatre in Brno on 18 April 1921 under the title The Diary of One Who Disappeared and Never Heard of Again, the end of the title was later crossed out. The tenor part was performed by Karel Zavřel, alto by Ludmila Kvapilová-Kudláčková, and piano part played Janáček's student, pianist and conductor Břetislav Bakala.

Libretto

The author of the text was anonymous and remained unknown till the end of 20th century. The true identity of the author of the Diary was revealed by Dr. Jan Mikeska in 1998, some eighty years after the verses were published. The originator of the poems was Wallachian writer Ozef Kalda.[2]

Structure

The cycle consists of twenty-two parts:

  • 1. Andante
  • 2. Con moto
  • 3. Andante
  • 4. Andante
  • 5. Adagio
  • 6. Allegro
  • 7. Con moto
  • 8. Andante
  • 9.
  • 10. Un poco più mosso
  • 11. Con moto
  • 12.
  • 13. Andante
  • 14. Adagio
  • 15. Allegro
  • 16. Adagio
  • 17. Recit.
  • 18. L´istesso tempo
  • 19. Andante
  • 20. Con moto
  • 21. Meno mosso
  • 22. Andante

The atmosphere of the work is mysterious, it contains emotional strength as well as psychological depth. The piano part bears some impressionist features. The soprano and tenor parts were rewritten and lowered by the composer.[1] Approximate duration is 37 minutes.

See also: List of compositions by Leoš Janáček

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Score, p. 12
  2. ^ Score, p. 10

References

  • Leoš Janáček: Zápisník zmizelého. Partitura e parti. Brno: Editio Janáček, 2004. H 0009. ISMN M-706527-01-7

External links


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