Page 35 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2018. Nova glasba v “novi” Evropi med obema svetovnima vojnama ?? New Music in the “New” Europe Between the Two World Wars. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 2
P. 35
janáček’s maestoso
A few years after Dvořák composed his symphonic poem, Janáček em-
barked on the long journey of writing his third opera Jenůfa, finally com-
pleted in 1903 and staged in Brno in January 1904. Like the end of Dvořák’s
Noonday Witch, Act 2 concludes with a maestoso passage, invoking an al-
most supernatural frisson as the Kostelnička, who has returned from mur-
dering her beloved stepdaughter’s baby in the frozen river, begins to realize
of the enormity of the crime she has committed and imagines death knock-
ing at her door (“Jakoby sem smrť načuhovala”). She utters these words in
a dramatic, unaccompanied cry, the five syllables of her final word “na-ču-
ho-va-la” echoed by the five chords in the orchestra which then launches
the terror-filled orchestral maestoso based on this rhythm as the curtain
falls (see ex. 3).
This type of concluding maestoso became a favourite in Janáček’s operas
for act endings, heightening the drama of what has just occurred on stage
and bringing the act to a forceful conclusion. Examples can be found in:
Její pastorkyňa [Jenůfa], opera (1903): end of Act 2; end of Act 3;
Osud [Fate], opera (1907): end of Act 2; end of Act 3
Šumařovo dítě [The Fiddler’s Child], symphonic poem (1913): end;
Výlety pana Broučka: Výlet pana Broučka do XV. století [The Ex-
cursions of Mr Brouček: Excursion to the Fifteenth Century],
opera (1917): end of Act 1;
Káťa Kabanová, opera (1921): end of Act 1; end of Act 2; end of Act
3;
Příhody lišky Bystroušky [The Cunning Little Vixen], opera (1923):
end of Act 3;
Věc Makropulos [The Makropulos Affair], opera (1925): end of Act
2;
Sinfonietta (1926), end of movements I and V.
All of Janáček’s operas from Jenůfa onwards include at least one maes-
toso act-ending (the Brouček example of course counts also as a heroic-pa-
triotic maestoso). But Janáček did not confine the use to operas. Large-scale
orchestral works such as his symphonic poem The Fiddler’s Child con-
clude with a maestoso marking. His Sinfonietta has two because the Fan-
fare opening, where it first occurs, is recapitulated at the end of the work,
now with the whole orchestra joining in the brass fanfares of the opening
movement.
33
A few years after Dvořák composed his symphonic poem, Janáček em-
barked on the long journey of writing his third opera Jenůfa, finally com-
pleted in 1903 and staged in Brno in January 1904. Like the end of Dvořák’s
Noonday Witch, Act 2 concludes with a maestoso passage, invoking an al-
most supernatural frisson as the Kostelnička, who has returned from mur-
dering her beloved stepdaughter’s baby in the frozen river, begins to realize
of the enormity of the crime she has committed and imagines death knock-
ing at her door (“Jakoby sem smrť načuhovala”). She utters these words in
a dramatic, unaccompanied cry, the five syllables of her final word “na-ču-
ho-va-la” echoed by the five chords in the orchestra which then launches
the terror-filled orchestral maestoso based on this rhythm as the curtain
falls (see ex. 3).
This type of concluding maestoso became a favourite in Janáček’s operas
for act endings, heightening the drama of what has just occurred on stage
and bringing the act to a forceful conclusion. Examples can be found in:
Její pastorkyňa [Jenůfa], opera (1903): end of Act 2; end of Act 3;
Osud [Fate], opera (1907): end of Act 2; end of Act 3
Šumařovo dítě [The Fiddler’s Child], symphonic poem (1913): end;
Výlety pana Broučka: Výlet pana Broučka do XV. století [The Ex-
cursions of Mr Brouček: Excursion to the Fifteenth Century],
opera (1917): end of Act 1;
Káťa Kabanová, opera (1921): end of Act 1; end of Act 2; end of Act
3;
Příhody lišky Bystroušky [The Cunning Little Vixen], opera (1923):
end of Act 3;
Věc Makropulos [The Makropulos Affair], opera (1925): end of Act
2;
Sinfonietta (1926), end of movements I and V.
All of Janáček’s operas from Jenůfa onwards include at least one maes-
toso act-ending (the Brouček example of course counts also as a heroic-pa-
triotic maestoso). But Janáček did not confine the use to operas. Large-scale
orchestral works such as his symphonic poem The Fiddler’s Child con-
clude with a maestoso marking. His Sinfonietta has two because the Fan-
fare opening, where it first occurs, is recapitulated at the end of the work,
now with the whole orchestra joining in the brass fanfares of the opening
movement.
33
