Janacek was one of the great originals in the history of music. His ideas often came from the sounds of street and countryside; to him, music sounded everywhere, in a telephone receiver, in the dust of centuries-old registers, in the flag flapping above the castle in a mad whirl. But not only is he the least imitable of 20th century composers, he is also one of the most popular. Productions of his operas - The Cunning Little Vixen, Jenufa, Kata Kabanova and others - grow in number year by year. His chamber and piano music is also increasingly heard and more and more widely loved.;Janacek created a style that was as new in his own country as it was abroad. He used structural principles that were not traditional, and his music is a synthesis of tremendous energy and great lyricism, passion and tenderness. But his operas are also psychologically penetrating studies, portraying a kaleidoscope of human emotions which audiences everywhere can readily recognize.;Yet despite his importance and popularity, very little is generally known of what Janacek was like as a man, nor of the remarkable story of his life and the late achievements of his genius.This biography draws extensively on Janacek's correspondence with his last passionate love, Kamila Stosslova, who brought forth an extraordinary lyrical flowering in the last years of his life. This book should deepen and enlarge our understanding of both the man and his accomplishment.