15 TALICH QUARTET He made a major contribution not only as a collector but also as a researcher and organiser. Among other things, he is responsible for some of the earliest sound recordings of Moravian and Slovakian folk songs on the Edison phonograph. Janáček was supported in his concern to preserve folk song by the important Moravian collector František Bartoš (1837-1906). Together, they published A Bouquet of Moravian Folk Songs moraves, a collection of traditional Moravian songs for one voice, in 1890. The work quickly became highly sought-after, selling out in a matter of months, and a second edition was published two years later. Many people also wanted to perform these songs with piano accompaniment. Janáček first chose fifteen, then thirty-eight other songs for which he composed an accompaniment. They were then published in two volumes under the title Moravian Poetry in Songs. This edition was also a great success. Jiří Kabát's modern arrangement transforms the sung voice into a purely instrumental form. The sung word is no longer present, but the musical expression continues to speak, as Janáček so poetically evokes in the preface: "In the elongated melodies, folk musicians linger on sustained notes before returning to the melody with compressed, rapid intervals. There are melodies and songs for which only the breeze serves as the orchestral accompaniment..."
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