Franz Kafka (1883-1924) and Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) were both born on this date. The two apparently never met, but beyond their common nationality (Czech), they shared an association with Max Brod. Brod was Kafka’s friend and literary executor, who ignored the writer’s explicit instructions to burn his work, opting instead to have it published. He also did much to promote Janáček and disseminate his music. He translated the libretti for some of the composer’s operas and wrote the first Janáček biography. Here Brod memorializes Janáček in an obituary he wrote in 1928:

https://musiksalon.universaledition.com/en/article/remembering-leos-janacek

An article about Kafka and music:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/05/kafka-was-author-unmusical-will-self

More on the subject:

http://www.kafka.org/index.php?aid=247

A fragment of a film inspired by Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis” by Philadelphia-born University of the Arts graduates, the Brothers Quay, set to music by Janáček:

More about the project from the Museum of Modern Art:

https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2013/01/04/the-quay-brothers-the-metamorphosis-by-franz-kafka/

An earlier Quay film, “Leoš Janáček: Intimate Excursions”

PHOTO: A Quay window into Janáček