The book investigates the spectrum of meaning inherent in six orchestral works by Leos Janácek. It codifies his compositional style, demonstrating its development from features of Moravian folk song. The analyses investigate the affective and programmatic association of the works, and employ semiologic code techniques to unveil extramusical meaning. This book investigates the spectrum of meaning inherent in six orchestral works by Leos Janácek. It codifies his compositional style, first through a thorough examination of its origins in folk music and speech-melody, then in discussions of the features of its melody and motivic techniques. His harmonic style and multiple organizations of tonality are examined in rich detail. The analysis section consists of the examination of each musical work's musical elements, its affective and programmatic associations, as well as four narrative codes through which the listener discovers further meaning in the work: the hermeneutic code (which governs enigmas), the semic code of musical motives, the proairetic (formal) code, and the referential code (which draws on analogous passages from other pieces of music). Contents: Leos Janácek - Czech music - Moravian folk music - Speech-melody - The Fiddler's Child - Taras Bulba - The Ballad of Blaník - Sinfonetta - The Danube Symphony - Violin Concerto - «Wanderings of a Soul» - Czech ethnomusicology - Quartal harmony - Whole-tone - Octatonisim - Roland Barthes - S/Z - Suspended tonality - Floating tonality - Affect - Narrative - Semiology. John K. Novak is a music theorist and performer whose research concerns Western music in the first quarter of the twentieth century. His principal interest is the Czech composer Leos Janácek. Novak teaches at Northern Illinois University. His other music interests include Czech song in the state of Texas.
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