Leos Janacek was born in Moravia, part of the Czech Republic. At the age of 10, he was placed at the Augustine monastery in Brno as a chorister. For two years (1872--74), he was a student at Brno Teachers Training College and at the Organ School in Prague, where he studied organ with Skuhersky. He later took lessons in composition with L. Grill at the Leipzig Conservatory. From 1879 to 1880, Janacek studied with Franz Krenn at the Vienna Conservatory. A year later, he returned to Brno, where he conducted the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Between 1919 and 1925, Janacek taught at the Conservatory of Brno. Many Czech composers of younger generations were his students.
Janacek began composing music early in his life in many genres, including choral works, orchestral music, chamber music, and piano music. However, it was not until the 1916 production of his opera Jeji Pastorkyna (Her Foster Daughter), known more widely as Jenufa, that his importance as a composer was realized in the music world. Many of Janacek's operas were based on important Russian literary works. Kat'a Kabanova (1921) and From the House of the Dead (1938) are two such operas. Janacek also believed in the artistic importance of folk songs. He collected a number of folk songs in his native Moravia.
Janacek is considered the most important modern Czech composer. In addition to Jenufa, his works include the symphonic poem Taras Bulba (1918) and the Glagolitic Mass (1926), a Latin text translated into Czech. During the last two decades of his life, Janacek was highly influenced by French impressionistic music.
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