Milan Kundera was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia in 1929. "I was born on the first of April. That has its metaphysical significance." fn:1 Antonin J. Liehm, The Politics of Culture, translated by peter Kussi, Grove Press, 1967.

"I come from a family of musicians. My father was a painist, a very good pianist dedicated to modern music. He was one of the first to interpret piano compositions by Bartok, Stravinsky, Schonberg, and above all Janacek, whose young friend and student he was. Thus, I was imbued with music at home."²

"I was fascinated by [my father's] grasp of a composition, by the manner in which he played so that in his rendition each note was given a meaning.... I have come to understand the essence of the interpreter's art, and I know that the concert public does not appreciate it properly.... I am very found of music but I have...