Leos Janácek (1854-1928), a layman who was very closely connected to the Augustinian Order, was the most important Czech composer of the 20th century.
When the young Leoš Janácek (later a world famous musician composer) came to Brno from his native Hukvaldy in 1865, Kríkovský became one of his patrons.
Janácek took over the direction of the Old Brno Choir when Kríkovský moved to Olomouc.
Janácek was a teacher of music, as well, at the nearby Pedagogical School on Porící (today the Pedagogical Faculty of Masaryk University) and took over the direction of the newly founded Brno organ academy.
Leos Janácek (1854-1928) was very closely connected to the Augustinian Order and to its Old Brno Thurn Foundation throughout his life.
He entered the Augustinian Abbey at Brno as a scholar in 1865 and was able to get musical and academic education thanks to this Foundation.
Seven years after Janácek had been taken on as a scholar, Pavel Kríkovský moved to Olomouc and Janácek became director of the choir of the Foundation.
Upon his leaving the Thurn Foundation in 1925, Masaryk University awarded him an honorary doctorate as a beloved and gifted son of the Order.
When he died in 1928, members of the Order of Saint Augustine of Brno carried his coffin on his final journey from the Chapel (cappella) of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old Brno Cathedral to the place of burial.
Links
Leoš Janácek. The most important Czech composer of the 20th century.
The anniversary music festival: Janácek and Brno 2004.
It will commemorate two anniversaries linked with the life of Leos Janácek, great Moravian, Czech and, undoubtedly, also European and world composer. In 2004 we will celebrate the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of his birth as well as the hundredth anniversary of the first night of the composer's most famous opera, Jenufa, which took place on 21 January 1904 in Brno.
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