He was inspired by Moravian and other Slavic music, including Eastern European folk music, to create an original, modern musical style. In his homeland he inspired a new generation of Czech composers including several of his students. He wrote his first vocal compositions while choirmaster of the Svatopluk Artisan's Association β On his return to Brno he earned a living as a music teacher, and conducted various amateur choirs. From he taught music at Brno's Teachers' Institute.
Apart from an interruption from to , he remained its choirmaster and conductor until From October to February , he studied piano, organ, and composition at the Leipzig Conservatory.
While there, he composed Thema con variazioni for piano in B-flat, subtitled Zdenka's Variations. Which motif? Is this dramatic opera? No, I would write on the poster: 'Comedy performed together with music', since the music and the libretto aren't connected to each other". Most of his achievements in this field were published in β though his interest in folklore would be lifelong. In , the first part of his piano cycle On an Overgrown Path was published and gradually became one of his most frequently-performed works.
On the first occasion he took his daughter Olga to Saint Petersburg , where she stayed to study Russian. Only three months later, he returned to Saint Petersburg with his wife because Olga had become very ill.
They took her back to Brno , but her health worsened. He still yearned for artistic recognition from Prague. In , he started a long professional and personal relationship with theatre critic, dramatist and translator Max Brod. He conducted an obsessive and on his side at least passionate correspondence with her, of nearly letters.
