On an Overgrown Path

On an Overgrown Path (Czech: Po zarostlém chodníčku) is a cycle of thirteen piano pieces written by Leoš Janáček and organized into two volumes.

Janáček composed all his most important works for solo piano between 1900 and 1912. He probably began preparing his first series of Moravian folk melodies in 1900. At this time, the cycle had only six pieces, intended for harmonium: Our evenings, A blown-away leaf, The Frýdek Madonna, Good night!, The barn owl has not flown away! and a Piu mosso published after Janáček’s death. These melodies provided the basis for the first volume of On an Overgrown Path. Three of these compositions were first published in 1901 with the fifth volume of harmonium pieces, Slavic melodies, under the title On an overgrown path – three short compositions. By 1908 the cycle had grown to nine pieces, and was by then intended for piano instead of harmonium. The definitive version of the first book was published in 1911. On 30 September 1911, Janáček published the first piece of the second series in the Lidové noviny newspapers. The new series was created, in its entirety, around 1911. The complete second book was printed by the Hudební matice in 1942. The première of the work took place on 6 January 1905 at the "Besední dům" Hall in Brno.

Book I

Book II

After intensive studies of various sources, the German pianist Lars David Kellner published the first version of the 'overgrown path' on his 2013 Janacek album ('The complete original works for piano'), using the earliest sources for Book I and Janacek's original manuscript for Book II. Kellner also includes this version of the piano cycle in his recitals.

Some movements were used in the soundtrack for the 1988 American film The Unbearable Lightness of Being.