Tagebuch eines Verschollenen

Many of Leoš Janáček's characters suffer from unrequited love. However, no other of his works is as intimate and at the same time mysterious as his song cycle "The Diary of One Who Disappeared" (Czech: "Zápisník zmizelého"). On 14 May 1916, the Lidové noviny newspaper published a series of verses titled "From the Pen of a Self-Taught Writer". This diary-in-poems tells the story of an unnamed village boy who falls in love with the "black gipsy girl" Zefka (Žofka) and decides to leave his family and village with her. The diary made a deep impression on Leoš Janáček, a collaborator on Lidové noviny at that time, and he decided to rework it into a song cycle.

Slovak star tenor Pavol Breslik, mezzo soprano Ester Pavlu and pianist Robert Pechanec bring this moving masterpiece to the Wiesbaden stage as part of the 2023 International May Festival.