Capriccio for piano left hand

Janáček's work for piano left hand and wind ensemble (1926), subtitled 'Vzdor' (Defiance), written for the Czech one-armed pianist Otakar Hollmann who lost his right arm in World War I. The title carries a double meaning: the defiance of physical limitation and Janáček's own characteristic defiance of convention. The work is technically demanding for the left hand alone, requiring the same breadth of expression across the full keyboard as a two-handed pianist would employ.

The Capriccio demands that the left hand completely own the keyboard without the right ever entering the listener's imagination as 'missing'. Choose fingering and redistribution of the accompaniment and melody that allows the line to sing naturally. Avoid practising the same passage in the right hand — the left must develop its own independence and authority.