-String Quartet No. 2 'Intimate Letters' (1928)
-Sinfonietta (1926)
-The Clever Little Vixen (1921)
-Amarus: Cantata for Soloists, Mixed Chorus and Orchestra (1897)
-Zdenka Variations for Piano in B-flat Minor (1880)
-Suite for String Orchestra (1877)
Nothing like listening to Janacek (1854-1928) on a Monday morning. With Lockdown 4 kicking in, I sank into the sofa and allowed myself to be wooed by the fierce minors. I had listened to Britten's Simple Symphony before it, which I felt was quite flippant, yet boasted technical mastery of various dance forms. Yet the penchant for alliteration did get my goat!
Janacek was made of sterner stuff and his Suite for String Orchestra (1877) was not to be sneezed at. The CD followed up the selection with Suchon's Serenade for string orchestra which I felt had a tilt of Hitchcock in the eerie music it came out with.
So it was back to Janacek (pronounced yana-check).
Of course, Dvorak, his Czech compatriot, had his 'New World' symphony which seemed more popular (and could be hummed). And here (right) was a CD of Czech works for strings featuring Dvorak, Janacek and Martinu.
Czech composers have a strong sense of nationhood. They like Brahms from Hungary, try to preserve the rhythms and tunes of folk music in their works. This fervour is predominant in the Eastern swathe like Russia which tried to go back to their roots to define their music. In this they declared themselves as different from the 'high' 'classical' styles of Mozart or Beethoven. The sombre start of the suite recalls the stolidity of Brahms.
Described rather uneasily as a 'post-Romantic Romantic' by allmusic.com the suite for strings is from Janacek's early period and does not have 'the large mood swings that characterize his later work.'
I picked up Janacek in my pursuit for a sheet anchor for a listless day. The composer gave me the tone I was looking for. He redeemed my faith in life - if not only for the choices he made in his life and the relentless way he shaped his music.
In his later work he gave us the form of the opera to explore his genius. The Cunning Little Vixen (1921) a Czech opera. I watched the opera with an English libretto performed on YouTube recently. It was by the Hartt School's vocal Division of the University of Hartford, Connecticut at the Millard Hall in 2017.
The Cunning Little Vixen is about the life of a vixen played out in three acts. In the first act she is captured by a forester but escapes. In the forester's home she stirs up rebellion among the hens, dispatches the rooster, and flees into the forest. In the second act she meets a fox and falls in love. They get married. In a static scene with brooding lighting at the inn, the forester, the rector and the priest recall their loves. In the final act the vixen relieves the bird dealer Harasta of his chickens. Harasta caught in the fox trap meant for her, nevertheless shoots and kills her. The forester mourns the loss of the vixen and laments his oncoming old age.
The Sinfonietta (1926) was composed two years before Janacek passed on. It is a fine example of programmatic music where every movement suggests a location in Brno, Czechoslovakia. The movments are:
i. Fanfare - Allegretto
ii. The castle - Andante
iii. The Queen's monastery - Moderato
iv. The street leading to the castle - Allegretto
v. The town hall - Andante
Listening to the Sinfonietta on YouTube performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle is a rare treat.
Till the very last Janacek was a Romantic. His string quartet number 2, 'Intimate Letters' (1928) composed the year he passed on, celebrates his love - expressed through more than 700 letters - for Kamila Stosslova. The movements are:
Andante
Adagio
Moderato
Allegro
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Blog updated 13 June 2020.
Comments