John Tyrrell – výjimečný janáčkovský životopisec a editor

Abstract

Professor John Tyrrell is one of the leading musicologists specializing in Czech music and most importantly in the composer Leoš Janáček. Tyrrell died on 4 October 2018. His interest in Janáček finds expression in several scholarly spheres. The first analyses Janáček's dramatic compositions, the second involves studies in history and historiography – however, these often permeate the analysis. Further spheres include translations of crucial sources to English, compiling the catalogue of Janáček's works, editorial and promotional work. The analytic sphere's important item is the author's dissertation of 1968 on Janáček's Stylistic Development as an Operatic Composer as Evidenced in his Revisions of the First Five Operas. Here he studies Janáček's dramaturgic attitude to the music drama. It was already in this study when Tyrrell noticed a certain autonomy of singing and the orchestra. Part of this issue was also expressed in the study O připojování slova k hudbě v Janáčkových operách (On Attachment of Words to Music in Janáček's Operas). This was followed by the outstanding text Janáček and the Speech-Melody-Myth of 1971 where he answerd the question if it is true that in Janáček's music everything grows up of the speech melodies. Tyrrell's historical texts include the extensive study on the Excursion of Mr. Brouček to the Moon (1969). It was the first relevant text on the issue of problems concerning this opera. Also Tyrrell's opus magnum mustn't be omitted: he worked on it for many years and made good use here of his lifelong experience and knowledge of Janáček's life and works. It is the two-volume Janáček: Years of a Life. It is a truly brilliant monograph, built on deep knowledge of different documents, literature and period conditions. It could hardly be surpassed. The important published translations fulfill Tyrrell's wish to provide the English speaking scholars with basic sources. A solitary work, however fundamental, is the thematic catalogue of Janáček's works, both musical and literary: Janáček's Works. A Catalogue of the Music and Writings of Leoš Janáček. Editiorial work was also crucial: together with the conductor Charles Mackerras, they prepared the editions of operas Jenůfa (Brno version of 1908) and From the House of the Dead. John Tyrrell is certainly one of the leading musicologists in history. His interest in Janáček makes him a fundamental Janáček scholar, together with professors Vladimír Helfert and Bohumír Štědroň.

Keywords

• John Tyrrell
• musicology
• Leoš Janáček
• Czech music