Three Moravian Dances

The Czech composer Leos Janácek was born in Hukvaldy in Moravia.
He studied and later worked at the monastry school in Brno.  He studied in organ in Prague where he became a friend of Dvorjak, and he studied composition at the Leipzig Music Conservatoire with Reinecke and others.
He helped found an organ school in Brno in 1882. His music is strongly influenced by the folk music of his country.  He wrote a considerable amount of chamber, orchestral and choral music. His best known opera is probably "The cunning Little Vixen". The Organ School in Brno now houses many of Janacek's papers and manuscripts.

The first of the three Moravian Dances, Ej, Danaj!, a mazurka (or polka) is an early work (written in 1892) showing the influence of Smetana. It is, in part, derived from a traditional lovers song "Zelene sem sela" (I sowed green plants). The second and third Dances (written in 1904) are Celadensky, a miller's, beggar's or clown's dance and Pilky, a dance associated with collecting firewood for the winter. Janacek described them as ".. full of flashing little notes, full of teasing songs, sometimes chattering, sometimes thoughtful".
These pieces were originally written for piano and arranged for wind trio by ourselves.