The thesis deals with the topic of life and creation of Otakar Ostrčil, focusing on ballad Osiřelo dítě. The main goal is to spread the analysis of his life and work, which is now insufficient. Partial goal of this thesis is study of the interpretation of ballad Osiřelo dítě, which can be useful to the singers with their preparation of interpretation. In the first part of the thesis the chronological description of the author´s life and work is described and then the theme of the ballad and its formation and development in music and literature is analyzed. At the end the thesis will focus on the Ostrčil´s ballad Osiřelo dítě and synthetic analysis of interpretation of two of the most famous Czech mezzo-sopranists.