In 1924 Janacek heard a performance by piano virtuoso Jan Herman which impressed him so much that he decided to write a concertante piece for piano. However, Janacek did not have a concerto with orchestra in mind, but a concertino, where other instruments would join the solo piano in a work betraying the austerity so typical of him: in the first movement just the French horn, in the second the E flat clarinet, and then other instruments - two violins, viola and bassoon. After its premiere in February 1926 the Concertino was ranked among the most original chamber music scores by this composer, along with the wind sextet Youth (Mladi) and String Quartet No. 1.<br>