Leoš Janáček
In his final years Janáček wrote most of the great works for which he is world-famous. His opera Jenůfa was performed in Prague. This made him internationally famous. He was very proud when his country became independent after the war. He was also very happy because he was in love with Kamila Stösslová, who was 38 years younger than himself. He wrote three of his finest operas: Katya Kabanová, The Cunning Little Vixen and The Makropulos Affair. These operas were performed in Brno and then in Prague, and they were also published. He wrote two string quartets and a wind sextet: Mládi (Youth). By the time he was 70 he had retired from the Brno Organ School. In 1926 he wrote an orchestral work: Sinfonietta, followed by a piano concerto for the left hand (pianist just playing with the left hand) and chamber ensemble, and the Glagolitic Mass. All these works had enormous success in Czechoslovakia as well as abroad, even as far away as New York.