In 1924 Janacek heard a performance by piano virtuoso JanHerman which impressed him somuch that he decided to write a concertante piece for piano. However, Janacekdid not havea concerto with orchestra in mind, but a concertino, where other instruments wouldjoin thesolo piano in a work betraying the austerity so typical of him: in the firstmovement just theFrench horn, in the second the E flat clarinet, and then other instruments -two violins, violaand bassoon. After its premiere in February 1926 the Concertino was rankedamong the mostoriginal chamber music scores by this composer, along with the wind sextetYouth (Mladi)and String Quartet No. 1.