Memory mines. At Janáček's

44 years behind closed doors in the life of a musical genius

Mářa or Marie Stejskalová (1873-1968) joined the Janáček family on 27 August 1894, when she was twenty-one years old. Leoš Janáček and his wife Zdenka were her lover and mistress. He was forty and she was twenty-nine. Mara remained in service until Zdenka's death, i.e. until 17 February 1938. She lived with the Janáček family for the entire 44 years, was a housekeeper and cook, and witnessed everything that happened in and outside the household, for better or worse.

Mara's memories were written down by the publicist Marie Trkanová before her death. They have been published in book form three times, but due to interference with the text in the 1950s, in a significantly abridged and censored version. Only recently an original, unmodified version of these memories was found. In 2023 it was published by TIC Brno and the Moravian Museum.