Page 50 - 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. 50
nova glasba v »novi« evropi med obema svetovnima vojnama
has collapsed with exhaustion and is mocked by the other prisoners. And it
is heard at the end of Šiškov’s story when he tells Akulka that is about to kill
her, both these passages (D and H) are marked maestoso.
Example 10: Janáček: From the House of the Dead, Act 3. © With kind permission by Universal
Edition A.G., Wien. www.universaledition.com
Most of the maestoso passages in From the House of the Dead are heard
– unusually for Janáček – in sung passages and the words that are sung here
perhaps provide a clue to Janáček’s thinking. We have already noted two
painful uses – with Skuratov and with the killing of Akulka. But equally
there are others with positive associations. For instance when the prison-
ers tell Nikita to release the eagle, and the two moments of great tenderness
and compassion, in Šiškov’s story about Akulka.
Bearing in mind the original meaning of the term maestoso – majes-
tically – and the earlier Czech preoccupation with its regal and heroic as-
pects, Janáček’s use of the term in a prison setting and with common crim-
inals, seems out of place. But we need to put these associations within the
context of one more clue about Janáček’s intentions in this opera. At the be-
ginning of the score he wrote these words “V každém tvoru jiskra boží” [In
every creature a spark of God].
This thought is emphasized in the some lines found on Janáček after
his death. In what seems to be notes for an article on the opera, he wrote:
Why do I go into the dark, frozen cells of criminals with the poet
of Crime and Punishment? Into the minds of criminals and there
48
has collapsed with exhaustion and is mocked by the other prisoners. And it
is heard at the end of Šiškov’s story when he tells Akulka that is about to kill
her, both these passages (D and H) are marked maestoso.
Example 10: Janáček: From the House of the Dead, Act 3. © With kind permission by Universal
Edition A.G., Wien. www.universaledition.com
Most of the maestoso passages in From the House of the Dead are heard
– unusually for Janáček – in sung passages and the words that are sung here
perhaps provide a clue to Janáček’s thinking. We have already noted two
painful uses – with Skuratov and with the killing of Akulka. But equally
there are others with positive associations. For instance when the prison-
ers tell Nikita to release the eagle, and the two moments of great tenderness
and compassion, in Šiškov’s story about Akulka.
Bearing in mind the original meaning of the term maestoso – majes-
tically – and the earlier Czech preoccupation with its regal and heroic as-
pects, Janáček’s use of the term in a prison setting and with common crim-
inals, seems out of place. But we need to put these associations within the
context of one more clue about Janáček’s intentions in this opera. At the be-
ginning of the score he wrote these words “V každém tvoru jiskra boží” [In
every creature a spark of God].
This thought is emphasized in the some lines found on Janáček after
his death. In what seems to be notes for an article on the opera, he wrote:
Why do I go into the dark, frozen cells of criminals with the poet
of Crime and Punishment? Into the minds of criminals and there
48
