This is the first major set of essays on the Czech composer Leos Janá^Dvcek, widely considered one of the most important composers of the early twentieth century. The essays deal with a range of subjects relating to opera, symphonic poem, instrumental music, cultural context, reception, and Janá^Dvcek as music theorist and analyst. Some topics, such as the sources of his musical expressivity, narrative, and Jan^Dvacek as musical analyst and realist have hitherto received little attention, while other, more conventional topics, such as "speech melody" and Janá^Dvcek"s ethnographic activities, are reappraised.