The Czech composer Leos Janacek was an incorrigible letter-writer, and this collection of "the most important documents relating to the genesis and early performances" of his nine operas is a veritable mine of information. Wrangles over staging details, impressions of first nights, painful moments of composer's block - the letters tumble over themselves in their haste to communicate, providing an access point for anyone who wishes to explore Janacek's unusual and provocative operas in any kind of depth. As a biographical study, however, the book sheds an exasperatingly oblique light on the composer's complex love life - for a full picture of the latter, the curious reader will need to consult the companion volumes devoted, respectively, to the life of Janacek's wife and to his letters to his "friend" Kamila Stosslova.
