The Diary of One Who Vanished by Leoš Janácek

The Diary of One Who Vanished - featuring tenor Stephen Ng

Available on Apple Music/iTunes

The Diary of One Who Vanished (Czech: Zápisník zmizelého) is a song cycle for tenor, alto, three female voices and piano, written by Czech composer Leoš Janácek.

• Potkal jsem mladou cigánku (One day I met a young gypsy girl)
• Ta cerná cigánka (That dark-skinned gypsy girl)
• Svatojánské mušky (The glow-worms are dancing)
• Už mladé vlaštuvky (The young swallows)
• Težko sa mi ore (Ploughing is heavy work)
• Hajsi, vy siví volci (Hey, you grey oxen)
• Ztratil isem kolícek (Now I’ve lost the little pin)
• Nehled’te, volecci, tesklivo k úvratím (Don’t look so sadly after me)
• Vítaj, Janícku (Welcome, Janícek)
• Bože, dálný, nesmrtelný (God in heaven, eternal one)
• Táhne vuna k lesu (The sweet smell of ripening wheat)
• Tmavá olšinka, chladná studánka (The shady elder-grove)
• Klavír solo (Piano solo)
• Slnécko sa zdvihá (The sun climbs high)
• Moji siví volci (My grey oxen)
• Co jsem to udelal? (What have I done?)
• Co komu súzeno (What has been ordained)
• Nedbám já vcil o nic (Nothing matters to me)
• Letí straka letí (The magpie flies away)
• Mám já panenku (I have a true love)
• Muj drahý tatícku (My dear father)
• Sbohem, rodný kraju (Farewell, my native countryside)

On May 14, 1916, the Lidové noviny newspaper published verses titled "From a Pen of the Self-taught Writer". This "diary in poems" tells the story of a village boy who falls in love with the young gipsy girl Zefka (Žofka), and decides to leave his family and village with her. The verses made a deep impression on Leoš Janácek (cooperator of Lidové noviny in that time), and he decided to rework the poems into the song cycle. He created a work in twenty-two parts, accompanied by scenic demands. The cycle was composed during August 1917 and June 1919; the last modifications were finished in December 1920.

"Stephen Ng, a tenor with an impressively eclectic resume, is simply superb in every respect. His voice is gorgeous and distinctive, and it rises to certain soft climaxes with impressive lyricism, yet when thundering high Cs are demanded in the climactic final song, those are delivered with unstinting vigor and freedom. He negotiates this complex score with rare assurance and musicality..."
Journal of Singing - May/June 2008

1. X. 1905 - featuring pianist Andrea Marie Baiocchi

1. X. 1905, also known as Piano Sonata 1.X.1905, is a two-movement piano sonata composed by Leoš Janácek in 1905. It is also known as From the Street.