Concertino (1925)

Janáček began to outline the work, according to his own notes, on New Year's Day 1925 on the embankment of the Vltava river, then eleven days later on a train from Prague, and then again in April in Hukvaldy; at first he conceived that it would be entitled “Jaro” (Spring), and would be a suite. Some days before finishing the composition, he sent an Easter postcard from Hukvaldy to Mrs. Kamila Stösslová, with this short message: ... I have composed a piano concerto called “Spring”here. There’s a cricket, little midges, a roebuck – a sharp torrent – yes, and a man ... (Moravian Regional Museum, Janáček Archive, E 289). To the finished manuscript on the title page he wrote 29 April 1925 (the date the piece was finished), and to the fourth movement he added the program note:
Jaro [Spring] / Suita [Suite] / pro [for] / klavír (concertní), Oboe, dvoje housle, Violu, Cornu a Fagot [piano }(concertante), oboe, two violins, viola, horn and bassoon] // Brouk, Jelen, Mušky, Cvrček, Bystřina [beetle, stag, midges, cricket, torrent] ...