The Musical Realism of Leoš Janáček : From Speech Melodies to a Theory of Composition
The present study discusses the Czech composer Leoš Janáček (1854 1928) as a music theorist. The general aim of the study is to examine the composer's aesthetics and compositional style in the light of his theoretical writings. These writings consist of versatile articles and autographs (including also drafts for lectures) on the theory of music (harmony, rhythm, theory of composition), folk music, acoustics, psychology, linguistics, and the so-called speech melodies. The study also considers the connection between the composer's musical theories and his compositional development. For this purpose an overview of the problems of style and identity is made in the first part of the dissertation, which discusses the transformation and metamorphoses of style in the different developmental phases of the composer. The second part of the dissertation introduces the sources that influenced Janáček's theoretical thought, involving both music theory and aesthetics and philosophy of the late 19th century, especially in the Czech Lands. Janáček's writings have been interpreted especially in the context of the intellectual climate in the Czech Lands of the late nineteenth century. Understanding Janáček's highly individual theoretical terminology requires an analysis of its most influental sources, to which the philosophical psychology and aesthetic formalism of Johann Friedrich Herbart and subsequently, Czech Josef Durdík, belong. This tradition was continued by the experimental research of Hermann von Helmholtz and Wilhelm Wundt in psychology. Janáček's views on harmony and rhythm were largely based on this scientific research, from which he also gained new impetus for his theory of speech melodies. The focus of Part III is on the direct analysis, explanation and interpretation of the composer's individual theoretical writings of different musical realms, such as his theory of speech melodies, his theory of harmony and rhythm, and his theory of so-called complicating composition. As Part III is the cornerstone of the study it is also its largest part. It discusses many, thus far, unknown areas and writings in Janáček's theoretical output, e.g., the theory of rhythmic organization (sčasování) and his lectures on the theory of composition at the turn of 1910s and 1920s. The aim of this final part of the study is to interconnect the composer's different theoretical interests and to consider their influence on his actual creative work. Thus the overall methodological approach is a transdisciplinary reading of the composer's texts. So far the discussion of Janáček's realism (or naturalism) has been largely focused on his theory of speech melodies, operas, and musical style in general. Janáček's other theories, which in this text can be called subtheories, complement the question of realism, particularly in his aesthetics and in his theory of composition. For example, his theory of rhythmic organization, of complex reactions and complicating composition are closely related to his ideas of motives and architectonics of musical form. My research therefore attempts to examine these areas in the profile of Janáček the theorist and composer from an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary point of view.
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