Page 39 - 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
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janáček’s maestoso
section, set vocally for chorus. This is more a marker for the central point
in the narrative than an “eleventh-hour maestoso”. However another maes-
toso occurs a little later that fulfils this function. The chorus repeats the
hushed “Věruju” opening, which is followed by a five-bar orchestral maes-
toso, fortissimo (bars 336–40), the chorus overlaps in the first bar) heralding
what is in effect the finale of the movement. After a pause bar the orchestra
continues with a new swirling accompaniment against the tenor’s words
“Katoličesku i Apostolsku Crkov” [(I believe) in the Catholic and Apostol-
ic Church]. A Un poco più mosso follows and drives to the movement to its
end. The scale of this example and the Makropulos finale is of course very
different from that in the final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony,
which is no more than an extended ritenuto. But the function is the same:
a distinctive holding back before a section brings the movement or the act
to a climactic end.
Highlighting important words
Most of the examples encountered so far in Janáček’s operas have been pure-
ly orchestral. However, in a few cases in Janáček’s operas words crucial to
the plot are highlighted either by having them sung against a m aestoso pas-
sage, or by placing a maestoso passage immediately afterwards. Thus in the
final pages of Act 1 of Janáček’s first opera, Šárka there is a three-bar sec-
tion (fig. 30) marked Poco lento (Maestoso). Two orchestral bars announce
a variant of the theme which will, at fig. 31, constitute the Adagio finale of
the act, the first of Janáček’s “slow cathartic waltzes”. In the third bar of
this marked Poco lento (Maestoso) the orchestra pauses for the temporari-
ly defeated Šárka to declare “příšerně” [viciously] “Krví tvou záští ukojím”
[I”ll assuage my anger with your blood!], a sentiment that will spur on her
actions in the next act, culminating in the death of her male rival, Ctirad,
At the end of the first act of Fate Míla elopes with her lover Živný. The
reaction to this by Míla’s mother is decisive. In Act 2, Živný and Míla and
their little son are living together. But with them is Míla’s mother, whose
horror at their out-of-wedlock liaison has driven her mad: her actions at the
end of the act lead to her and her daughter’s death. When in Act 1 Míla’s
mother hears of the elopement she cries out “To ne! To snad ne! S panem
Živným!” [No! Surely not! With Mr Živný!] to which the orchestra reacts
with a six-bar maestoso, fortissimo (Scene 15, bars 22–7).
In Káťa Kabanová, Act 3 Scene 1 Dikoj, having heard what he regard-
ed as a flippant answer to his question of what a storm is (“just electricity”),
37
section, set vocally for chorus. This is more a marker for the central point
in the narrative than an “eleventh-hour maestoso”. However another maes-
toso occurs a little later that fulfils this function. The chorus repeats the
hushed “Věruju” opening, which is followed by a five-bar orchestral maes-
toso, fortissimo (bars 336–40), the chorus overlaps in the first bar) heralding
what is in effect the finale of the movement. After a pause bar the orchestra
continues with a new swirling accompaniment against the tenor’s words
“Katoličesku i Apostolsku Crkov” [(I believe) in the Catholic and Apostol-
ic Church]. A Un poco più mosso follows and drives to the movement to its
end. The scale of this example and the Makropulos finale is of course very
different from that in the final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony,
which is no more than an extended ritenuto. But the function is the same:
a distinctive holding back before a section brings the movement or the act
to a climactic end.
Highlighting important words
Most of the examples encountered so far in Janáček’s operas have been pure-
ly orchestral. However, in a few cases in Janáček’s operas words crucial to
the plot are highlighted either by having them sung against a m aestoso pas-
sage, or by placing a maestoso passage immediately afterwards. Thus in the
final pages of Act 1 of Janáček’s first opera, Šárka there is a three-bar sec-
tion (fig. 30) marked Poco lento (Maestoso). Two orchestral bars announce
a variant of the theme which will, at fig. 31, constitute the Adagio finale of
the act, the first of Janáček’s “slow cathartic waltzes”. In the third bar of
this marked Poco lento (Maestoso) the orchestra pauses for the temporari-
ly defeated Šárka to declare “příšerně” [viciously] “Krví tvou záští ukojím”
[I”ll assuage my anger with your blood!], a sentiment that will spur on her
actions in the next act, culminating in the death of her male rival, Ctirad,
At the end of the first act of Fate Míla elopes with her lover Živný. The
reaction to this by Míla’s mother is decisive. In Act 2, Živný and Míla and
their little son are living together. But with them is Míla’s mother, whose
horror at their out-of-wedlock liaison has driven her mad: her actions at the
end of the act lead to her and her daughter’s death. When in Act 1 Míla’s
mother hears of the elopement she cries out “To ne! To snad ne! S panem
Živným!” [No! Surely not! With Mr Živný!] to which the orchestra reacts
with a six-bar maestoso, fortissimo (Scene 15, bars 22–7).
In Káťa Kabanová, Act 3 Scene 1 Dikoj, having heard what he regard-
ed as a flippant answer to his question of what a storm is (“just electricity”),
37
