The Janáček Compendium by Nigel Simeone

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Janáček Compendium by Nigel Simeone James Michael Floyd The Janáček Compendium. By Nigel Simeone. (Boydell Composer Compendium Series.) Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell, 2019. [xvi, 284 p. ISBN 9781783273379 (hardcover), $29.95; ISBN 9781787445086 (e-book), price varies.] Photographs, facsimiles, illustrations, works list, bibliography. "One of the greatest and most original composers of the early twentieth century," reads the back cover of this book, "Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) occupied a pre-eminent position in Moravian culture, not only as a composer but also as a folksong collector, journalist, educator and nationalist." The Janáček Compendium is the work of Nigel Simeone, musicologist and conductor formerly at Bangor University and Sheffield University in the UK, who presently might be described as an independent music professional. Simeone's interest in Czech music, specifically the works of Janáček, began at a young age. "My own discovery of Janáček," Simeone explains, "began when I was a teenager, not only with recordings but also with three live performances that made a lasting impression" (p. xv)—namely, Glagolitic Mass in 1970, The Cunning Little Vixen in 1972, and Kát'a Kabanová in 1973. "Once I got to university," he continues, "adolescent enthusiasm for Janáček developed into scholarly curiosity as well" (p. xv). Indeed, Simeone's previous publications—The First Editions of Leoš Janáček: A Bibliographical Catalogue with Reproductions of Title Pages (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1991), Janáček's Works: A Catalogue of the Music and Writings of Leoš Janáček (with John Tyrrell and Alena Němcová [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997]), as well as a collection of essays devoted to a conductor who advocated for the performance of Janáček's music in England and the United States (Nigel Simeone and John Tyrrell, eds., Charles Mackerras [Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell, 2015])—are carefully placed within the world of the published Janáček literature outlined in the introduction. "This Compendium," notes Jiří Zahrádka, curator of the Janáček Archive in Brno, Czech Republic, "represents a book that has been conspicuously absent from the Janáček literature" (back cover). The Janáček Compendium, well researched and relatively free of errors, is organized into four sections: biography, dictionary, list of works, and bibliography. The biography is introductory in nature and spans six pages, briefly discussing Janáček's music education, his interest in folk music, and some of his major compositions. The largest section is the dictionary. It comprises 238 pages with more than 275 subject entries. Entries include composers, conductors, musicologists, musicians, performing groups, writers, publishers, students, friends and family, and many other individuals important to Janáček's life and career. Also included are a few modern scholars "whose work has enriched our knowledge of Janáček and shed new light on his life and work" (p. xv). One of these is Tyrrell, with whom Simeone cowrote and coedited two books, and to whom the compendium is dedicated in memoriam. Tyrrell, a renowned musicologist, was awarded honorary doctorates for his work on Janáček by the Masaryk University (2002) and the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (2012), both located in Janáček's hometown of Brno. Before publication, as Simeone explains, Tyrrell was available to read "all of the entries in the Dictionary and his comments were, as always, illuminating and exceptionally helpful" (p. xv). Some of the dictionary's lengthier entries are for Janáček's musical works, including "all his major works and [End Page 415] many of the lesser ones" (p. xiv). For example, the author generously provides pertinent information about each of Janáček's operas as well as a detailed synopsis of each scene. Works that are not listed in the dictionary are often Janáček's early works composed before 1900. When revising the compendium, if space allows, perhaps compositions can be added to further the research on lesser-known works of the composer. The dictionary also includes entries for aspects of Janáček's life and career, examples of which include "Conducting, Janáček's," "Correspondence," "Editions, Critical and Scholarly," "Facsimiles," "Folksong Editions," "London Visit," and "Unfinished Works." The entries, along with the introductory biography, reveal many facets...