Page 38 - 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. 38
nova glasba v »novi« evropi med obema svetovnima vojnama
plunging into Prestissimo for solo piano. After twenty bars the flute joins
in, followed by the rest of the ensemble as the piece moves towards its close.
Apart from the Grave for the final twelve bars this gives the impression of a
rather more elaborate “eleventh-hour maestoso”.
Towards the end of The Makropulos Affair, Emilia Marty tells her mys-
terious story as, among her hearers, disbelief turns slowly to grudging ac-
ceptance. She collapses, a doctor is called, and she is taken into the bed-
room of her hotel suite. Fast and furious orchestral music, high and full
of trills, gives way after eighteen bars to a passage marked maestoso (at
bar 810). At first there are slow and solemn brass chords; then a theme, at
first on a solo violin, transfers to the viola d’amore (an instrument which
Janáček used occasionally to convey especial tenderness) and then, after the
viola d’amore has ascended to the top of its range, a full forte orchestral ver-
sion takes over, again marked maestoso (though no other instruction has
intervened). An Adagio follows with the reappearance of Marty, described
in the stage direction as “jako stín” [as a shadow], “a pale green light over-
flowing the stage and auditorium” contributing to the other-worldly atmos-
phere. This is the beginning of the finale in which Marty comes to terms
with her mortality and accepts death.
With great clarity this passage depicts a change of state. Something is
going on that transforms Emilia Marty from the bossy, confident figure we
have seen so far, determined to get the formula to give her another three
hundred years of life, into someone quietly reconciled to death. The long
orchestral maestoso before the final scene is a structural marker, a develop-
ment of the “eleventh-hour maestoso”, but this wonderful section is also an
example of what one might call a “redemptive maestoso”.
There are more uses of maestoso as a near-end structural marker in
two movements of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass In the third movement,“Sla-
va” [Sanctus], a long passage starting “Sědej o desnuju otca” [Sitting at the
right hand of the father] (bar 139) marked maestoso is dominated by the ten-
or solo (with increasing support from the chorus) though when the cho-
rus takes over completely the pace increases to a Un poco mosso moving
through Allegro with the return of the solo tenor, then Presto and finally a
purely orchestral Allegro of nine bars to close the piece.
In the next movement, the “Veruju” [Creed] a long orchestral sec-
tion describes Christ’s suffering on the cross. The chorus comments brief-
ly “raspect že zany, mučen i pogreben byst” [He was crucified also for us,
he suffered and was buried] after which a five-bar maestoso (bar 244–8)
on full orchestra including the organ, fortissimo, gives way a new Andante
36
plunging into Prestissimo for solo piano. After twenty bars the flute joins
in, followed by the rest of the ensemble as the piece moves towards its close.
Apart from the Grave for the final twelve bars this gives the impression of a
rather more elaborate “eleventh-hour maestoso”.
Towards the end of The Makropulos Affair, Emilia Marty tells her mys-
terious story as, among her hearers, disbelief turns slowly to grudging ac-
ceptance. She collapses, a doctor is called, and she is taken into the bed-
room of her hotel suite. Fast and furious orchestral music, high and full
of trills, gives way after eighteen bars to a passage marked maestoso (at
bar 810). At first there are slow and solemn brass chords; then a theme, at
first on a solo violin, transfers to the viola d’amore (an instrument which
Janáček used occasionally to convey especial tenderness) and then, after the
viola d’amore has ascended to the top of its range, a full forte orchestral ver-
sion takes over, again marked maestoso (though no other instruction has
intervened). An Adagio follows with the reappearance of Marty, described
in the stage direction as “jako stín” [as a shadow], “a pale green light over-
flowing the stage and auditorium” contributing to the other-worldly atmos-
phere. This is the beginning of the finale in which Marty comes to terms
with her mortality and accepts death.
With great clarity this passage depicts a change of state. Something is
going on that transforms Emilia Marty from the bossy, confident figure we
have seen so far, determined to get the formula to give her another three
hundred years of life, into someone quietly reconciled to death. The long
orchestral maestoso before the final scene is a structural marker, a develop-
ment of the “eleventh-hour maestoso”, but this wonderful section is also an
example of what one might call a “redemptive maestoso”.
There are more uses of maestoso as a near-end structural marker in
two movements of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass In the third movement,“Sla-
va” [Sanctus], a long passage starting “Sědej o desnuju otca” [Sitting at the
right hand of the father] (bar 139) marked maestoso is dominated by the ten-
or solo (with increasing support from the chorus) though when the cho-
rus takes over completely the pace increases to a Un poco mosso moving
through Allegro with the return of the solo tenor, then Presto and finally a
purely orchestral Allegro of nine bars to close the piece.
In the next movement, the “Veruju” [Creed] a long orchestral sec-
tion describes Christ’s suffering on the cross. The chorus comments brief-
ly “raspect že zany, mučen i pogreben byst” [He was crucified also for us,
he suffered and was buried] after which a five-bar maestoso (bar 244–8)
on full orchestra including the organ, fortissimo, gives way a new Andante
36
