1854 – Leoš Janáček is born on 3rd July in Hukvaldy, Moravia.

1869 – Finishes school and begins to attend the Brno Teacher Training Institute.

1872 – Begins teaching, and becomes the choirmaster at the monastery where he was a chorister.

1874 – Becomes a fully qualified teacher and attends the Prague Organ School.

1877 – First piece, Exaudi, choral piece for mixed voices published.

1881 – Marries Zdenka Schulzová and is appointed the founding director of the Brno Organ School.

1882 – Daughter, Olga, born but soon afterwards separates from his wife. Begins teaching at Brno Beseda, and at the Organ School.

1884 – Janácek returns to his wife. Hudební listy is founded, in which, many of Janácek’s writings and reviews are published. Czech theatre opens in Brno.

1886 – Begins teaching at Old Gymnasium in Brno where František Bartoš (the philologist who later constructed the collections of folk songs with Janácek).

1887 – Composes his first opera Šárka and sends the manuscript to Dvorák for his comments, but the rights for the libretto are refused by its author, Julius Zeyer.

1888 – Second version of Šárka written after Dvorák’s recommendations. Last volume of journal Hudební listy published. Begins collecting folk songs with Bartoš. Son Vladimír is born.

1890 – Janácek’s son dies. Premiere of Gabriela Preissová’s play Her Stepdaughter.

1891 – Pocatek románu composed, including adaptation into a suite.

1894 – Premiere of Pocatek románu in Brno, begins to plan Jenufa, and writes the original ‘Jealousy’ prelude.

1902 – Janácek’s daughter, Olga, is mortally ill. Completes Act Two of Jenufa in the summer.

1903 – Olga dies in February. Jenufa is completed and dedicated to her memory. Sees Charpentier’s Louise, which remains a lasting inspiration to his later works. Jenufa is submitted to the Brno theatre, where it is accepted for performance. Starts plans for Osud.

1904 – First performances of Jenufa in Brno. Has plans to write another Preissová opera (based on The Farm Mistress) but instead continues with work on Osud.

1905 – Osud first version completed.

1906 – Revises the opera and submits it for consideration at the Brno theatre.

1907 – Sketches are made for a new opera on the subject of Anna Karenina. Submits Osud for performance at the new Czech theatre in Prague, and makes further revisions. Jenufa also undergoes revisions.

1908 – Jenufa published in vocal score. The Excursions of Mr Broucek to the Moon begun.

1910–1911 – Further work on the Broucek opera, which he completes in two act for in 1917.

1915–1916 – Kovarovic accepts Jenufa for performance in Prague (performed in 1916 in Kovarovic’s version of the score to great success). Completes the final version of Broucek and begins the Epilogue.

1917 – Has affair with Gabriela Horvátová, the Kostelnicka in the Prague Jenufa. Has out-of-court divorce from his wife. Epilogue of Broucek opera is completed. Jenufa published. Meets Kamila Stösslová in Luhacovice and begins The Diary of One who Disappeared.

1918 – Jenufa premiered in Vienna. Abandons epilogue to Broucek, which is then accepted for Prague, later published. Czechoslovakia becomes independent.

1919 – Revises Šárka (which he finds again in a trunk) and completes The Diary. Sees a performance of Puccini’s Butterfly that is the impetus for composing an opera of Ostrovsky’s The Storm, which becomes Katja Kabanowa.

1920 – Broucek performed in Prague.

1921 Completes Katja, which is premiered in Brno. Buys holiday cottage in Hukvaldy, the village in which he was born.

1923 – Completes The Cunning Little Vixen and begins his next opera The Makropoulos Case.

1924 – World premiere of Vixen in Brno, and Berlin premiere of Jenufa.

1925 – Vixen given in Prague. Šárka given for the first time in Brno. The Makropoulos Case is completed.

1926 – Brno premiere of Broucek, followed by the publication and premiere of Makropoulos in Brno. Katja premiered in Berlin.

1927 – Begins his final opera From the House of the Dead. From his visit to Písek in April Janácek writes to Kamila Stösslová more or less every day until his death. Interludes to Katja are extended to suit staging requirements.

1928 – The Makropoulos Case premiered in Prague. From the House of the Dead is completed.

Janácek catches a chill during Stösslová’s trip to Hukvaldy and dies from pneumonia in Ostrava on the 12th August.