Janáček met Kamila Stösslová in 1917 in the spa town of Luhačovice. They were both married to others, and she was thirty-eight years his junior.
Kamila was to become his (imagined?) lover and muse for the last, most productive, ten years of his life.
Originally entitled Listy milostné [Love Letters] – the name was subsequently amended to Listy důvěrné [Intimate Letters] – the second string quartet is the composer’s impassioned response to this, apparently, one-sided love affair. It consists of four “letters”:
Andante
Adagio 5:44
Moderato 11:28
Allegro 16:35
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The Art of Listening 