Amarus is a cantata

Cantata

A cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir....

 composed by Czech

Czech people

Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...

 composer Leoš Janáček

Leoš Janácek

Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...

, consisting of five movements. It was completed in 1897, having been started after Janáček's visit to Russia the previous summer.

Amarus is a setting of the poem of the same name by Jaroslav Vrchlický

Jaroslav Vrchlický

Jaroslav Vrchlický was one of the greatest Czech lyrical poets. He was born Emil Frida, Vrchlický being a pseudonym.He also wrote epic poetry, plays, prose and literary essays and translated widely from various languages, introducing e.g. Dante, Goethe, Shelley, Baudelaire, Poe, and Whitman to...

, which tells the story of a young monk who had been abandoned at birth and brought up in a monastery. In June 1897, Vrchlický praised Janáček's setting of his poem, commenting: 'I am convinced that you have succeeded in it entirely'.

The work's premiere was in 1900, but a poor performance meant that it was not performed publicly again until fifteen years later.