Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Eternal Gospel, legend for soli, mixed choir and orchestra (1914)
Jadwiga Wysoczanska & Beno Blachut, voices
Czech Philharmonic Chorus
The Prague Symphony Orchestra
Jiří Pinkas
The Eternal Gospel dates from 1914 when Janáček was struggling with his opera Jenufa and is based on a poem from Jaroslav Vrchlický's Frescoes and Gobelins which treats the theme of unearthly idealism. The prophet Joachim de Fiore has a vision of an angel who announces that all material goods such as gold and jewels will lose their value and a new realm of love will reign. This vision is described in four parts:
1. The Kingdom of the Father was the starry dome
2. The Kingdom of the Son is the happy smiling sun
3. The Kingdom of the Spirit shall be the eternal light
4. Both Kingdoms have perished but the third will last for ever
The fourth part closes with the glad tidings of eternal love.
The work is written for soprano, tenor, chorus and orchestra and was first performed in Prague in February 1917. One can see in it how Janáček responded warmly to the theme of eternal evangelical love and one can also already detect some of the characteristic Janáček, for instance in the solo violin and its triad figure that depicts the angel. --Jaroslav Smolka
Art by Gregorio Vázquez de Arce y Ceballos
Eternal Gospel, legend for soli, mixed choir and orchestra (1914)
Jadwiga Wysoczanska & Beno Blachut, voices
Czech Philharmonic Chorus
The Prague Symphony Orchestra
Jiří Pinkas
The Eternal Gospel dates from 1914 when Janáček was struggling with his opera Jenufa and is based on a poem from Jaroslav Vrchlický's Frescoes and Gobelins which treats the theme of unearthly idealism. The prophet Joachim de Fiore has a vision of an angel who announces that all material goods such as gold and jewels will lose their value and a new realm of love will reign. This vision is described in four parts:
1. The Kingdom of the Father was the starry dome
2. The Kingdom of the Son is the happy smiling sun
3. The Kingdom of the Spirit shall be the eternal light
4. Both Kingdoms have perished but the third will last for ever
The fourth part closes with the glad tidings of eternal love.
The work is written for soprano, tenor, chorus and orchestra and was first performed in Prague in February 1917. One can see in it how Janáček responded warmly to the theme of eternal evangelical love and one can also already detect some of the characteristic Janáček, for instance in the solo violin and its triad figure that depicts the angel. --Jaroslav Smolka
Art by Gregorio Vázquez de Arce y Ceballos
