Czechs lovingly launch a yearlong Janacek revival
Down came the technological slogans in the square of Brno, Czechoslovakia (pop. 365,000). Up went huge posters of an intense-looking, white-haired man who could be a commanding commissar but who, in Brno at least, is more venerated than any socialist leader: Czech Composer Leoš Janáček. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of its composer's death and the 125th of his birth, Brno has opened a yearlong Janacek celebration, beginning with 27 musical events in a two-week-long gala festival. Students, soldiers and scores of foreign scholars jammed six...