Moravian music

The folk musical tradition of Moravia, the eastern region of the Czech Republic where Janáček was born, lived, and worked throughout his life. Janáček spent decades collecting and transcribing Moravian folk songs and dances, and their influence permeates every aspect of his musical language: the short asymmetric phrases, the modal harmonies, the abrupt rhythmic shifts, the oscillating figures between two adjacent notes. Unlike Bartók or Kodály, Janáček did not quote folk tunes directly in his art music but absorbed their spirit so thoroughly that his own language became indistinguishable from it.

Recognising the folk roots of Janáček's piano style helps explain what might otherwise seem like quirks: the irregular phrase lengths (folk song does not fall into neat four-bar groups), the tendency to circle around a single pitch (a characteristic of Moravian melody), and the modal rather than functional harmonic progressions. These are not idiosyncrasies to be corrected but essential features of the style.