MRTHE BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ FOUNDATIONTHE BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ INSTITUTETHE INTERNATIONALMARTINŮ CIRCLE

may—august 2016 / vol.XVI / no.2juliette in prague and berlin

the greek passion in graz

the epic of gilgamesh in brno

violin concerto —new discovery

special summer issue with reviews of martinů’s premieres!

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3 highlights / obituaryremembering harry halbreichALEŠ BŘEZINA

4 imc news

5 incircle news

6 reviewsjuliette in prague & berlinPETR VEBER, LENKA ŠALDOVÁ

8 newsbohuslav martinů complete editionsymphony no.4SHARON A. CHOA / SANDRA BERGMANNOVÁ

unusual scorings: mixed chamber musicJITKA ZICHOVÁ

9 researcha concerto twice lostJANA HONZÍKOVÁ

10 reviewsthe greek passion at the oper graz

12 portrait…your performance totally engrossed me…jakub hrůša on jiří bělohlávek / part 1

14 researchballet the shadow, H 102MICHAEL CRUMP

16 interview…with tomáš jamníkANNA MATOUŠKOVÁ

the tale of a corrected noteTOMÁŠ JAMNÍK

18 reviewsdido and gilgamesh at the janáček theatre in brnoMICHAELA VOSTŘELOVÁ, OLGA JANÁČKOVÁ

bohuslav martinů days 2014A NEW CD, featuring performances at theBohuslav Martinů Days 2014 festival, is underpreparation. The album, which you will receivewith the next issue of the Martinů Revue,contains the following compositions:String Quartet No. 4, H 256Sedláček Quartet (first prize at the BohuslavMartinů Foundation Competition 2014)Field Mass, H 279, cantata for baritone,male chorus and orchestraHISTORICAL RECORDING, Supraphon, 1958Choir of the Vít Nejedlý Army Artistic Ensemble,Czech Philharmonic Soloists Choir, BohumírLiška (Conductor), Theodor Šrubař (Baritone)Field Mass, H 279 — alternative ending

recorded at a concert given by the PragueMixed Choir in 2016 according to the newresults of research for the Bohuslav MartinůComplete Edition. Prague Mixed Choir, membersof the Band of the Castle Guards and Police ofthe Czech Republic, Jiří Petrdlík (Conductor). ❚

NIGEL SIMEONE reviews the first two volumes of theBohuslav Martinů Complete Edition for the Septemberedition of Notes, the Quarterly Journal of the MusicLibrary Association. More details about the revieware to be revealed soon on our website www.martinu.cz

Quotes:

Symphony No. 4: ”With the additional material in the appendices, and the extensive introduction andcritical apparatus, this edition should be of the greatest interest to anybody performing or studyingthis symphony, particularly as the task of editing it has been done so meticulously.”

The Epic of Gilgamesh: ”Březina’s edition is a modelof its kind.”

”As well as the discussion of context and genesis,the introductory matter also includes a numberof carefully chosen facsimile pages from variousstages in the work’s evolution (including thepreliminary sketch).”

”As with the Fourth Symphony, Bärenreiter’s note-setting is beautifully clear throughout, and welllaid-out on the page. As befits an edition of thiskind, the paper is of high quality, as is the sturdycloth binding of both volumes.”

”This new complete edition – which I stronglyrecom mend to music libraries and serious Martinů enthusi asts alike – should do much to bring hismusic in from the margins. These first two volumesare a most auspicious start to the project.” ❚

news

y The Epic of Gilgamesh was awarded the German Music Edition Prize for Best Edition of 2016

The Sedláček Quartet

excitingrevıew

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highlig

hts operasTHREE WISHES OR INCONSTANCY OF THE LIFE, H 17526 October 20166 November 2016> National Moravian-Silesian Theatre,

Ostrava, CZwww.ndm.cz

JULIETTE, H 25326 October 20164 November 201622 + 31 March 20173 April 2017> National Theatre, Prague, CZ

www.narodni-divadlo.cz

PLAYS OF MARY, H 23616 + 27 December 2016> National Theatre Brno, CZ

www.ndbrno.cz

first performances prepared according to the bohuslav martinůcomplete editionFIELD MASS, H 279 (Volume No. 3)23 September 2016> Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall,

International Music Festival Dvořákova Prahawww.dvorakovapraha.cz

Czech Philharmonic, Jiří Bělohlávek (Conductor),Prague Philharmonic Choir, Lukáš Vasilek(Choirmaster), Svatopluk Sem (Baritone)

2nd benefit concert of the bohuslav martinů institute28 November 2016 / 7.30 pm> Kaiserstein Palace, Prague, CZ

More info: www.martinu.czLEOŠ JANÁČEK Moravian Folk Poetry in Songs — selectionBOHUSLAV MARTINŮ The New Slovak Songs, H 126 (1920) — selectionMartina Janková (Soprano),Tomáš Král (Baritone),Ivo Kahánek (Piano)

festivals22. MARTINŮ FESTTAGE 201612—27 November 2016> Basel

More info: www.martinu.ch

BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ DAYS 201620 November — 22 December 2016> Prague

More info: www.martinu.cz

rememberingharry halbreich/ ALEŠ BŘEZINA

ON MONDAY, 27 June 2016, the eminent Belgianexpert on Czech music, musicologist HarryHalbreich, passed away after a long and difficultillness. As a leading personality who made anunparalleled contribution to Martinů research,he also authored publications on Olivier Messiaen,Arthur Honegger, Edgar Varèse, as well as IannisXenakis and Giacchinto Scelsi. He was a frequentjury member in contemporary music festivals andchaired the Société Philharmonique de Bruxelles.

He first discovered the music of Bohuslav Mar -tinů in 1948 when he saw Rafael Kubelík conducthis Double concerto at the Brussels Philharmonic

Society. That event became a crucial moment of hislife as he decided to devote his life entirely to music.As the 1950's were coming to an end, he finishedhis studies with Olivier Messiaen at the Paris Con -servatory and began to work as an assistant ina company that imported Supraphon recordingsto France. He first came to Prague in 1958 andcontinued to return to the city ever since. He cre -ated the Bohuslav Martinů catalogue, comparable

to the Köchel catalogue of W. A. Mozart’s works.The catalogue was published in its second versionin 2007 and became synonymous with researchon Bohuslav Martinů's works the world over.

In the preamble to the revised Catalogue of Bo -hu slav Martinů Works, Harry Halbreich confesses:“[…] This catalogue would never have come into being had it not been for the generous support,numerous stimuli and encouraging, as well aspractical assistance, on the part of the BohuslavMartinů Institute – its director Aleš Březina (whohas become a good friend of mine) and his diligentfemale associates, whom I can denominate thetrue co-authors of the book. For years, the BohuslavMartinů Institute has made me feel at home.”We are immensely saddened by the passing of thisnoble friend of Czech culture, who was a frequent,and very welcome, visitor to the Bohuslav MartinůInstitute.

An article about Harry Halbreich was pub lishedin Martinů Revue, No. 1, January–April 2014, page 4. ❚

17 October 2016> Czech Museum of Music, Prague, CZWORLD PREMIERES OF THE BOHUSLAVMARTINŮ COMPLETE EDITION, VOL. 4SERENADE NO. 1, H 217SERENADE NO. 3, H 218LES RONDES, H 200STOWE PASTORALS, H 335,NONET NO. 2, H 374Members of PKF — Prague Philharmonia

EPIC OF GILGAMESH, H 351 (Volume No. 1)(together with Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell)15 + 16 + 18 November 2016> National Theatre Brno, CZ

www.ndbrno.cz

THE SPECTRE’S BRIDE, 214 AWORLD PREMIERE OF THE BOHUSLAVMARTINŮ COMPLETE EDITION, VOL. 323 November 2016> Janáček’s Theatre, Brno, CZ

www.filharmonie-brno.czAdriana Kohútková (Soprano), Peter Berger (Tenor),Jozef Benci (Bass), Brno Philharmonic, Jiří Rožeň (Conductor), Brno Philharmonic Choir, Petr Fiala (Choirmaster)

EPIC OF GILGAMESH, H 351(Volume No. 1)25 + 26 + 27 January 2017> Rudolfinum, Dvořák Hall

www.ceskafilharmonie.czLucy Crowe (Soprano), Andrew Staples (Tenor), Derek Welton (Baritone), Jan Martiník (Bass), Prague Philharmonic Choir, Lukáš Vasilek(Choirmaster), Czech Philharmonic, Jiří Bělohlávek (Conductor)

obituary

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imc news

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/ GERT FLOOR

SJEF DE KORT(born 1973 Breda,Netherlands) studiedFrench horn andcon ducting at theHague Royal Con -servatory. He worksas a con ductor ofseveral amateursymphony and windorchestras.

I met him whenhe coached a groupof ama teur musicians preparing Bohuslav Mar -tinů’s magnifi cent Nonet No. 2, H 374, in whichI played the viola part. This came at the initia tiveof his father, Fons de Kort, an enthusiastic ama -teur French horn player, IMC member and admirerof Czech music in general.

“Do you feel specially drawn to Czech music?”and “How did this originate?” I asked him.

“Sure!” he replies: “Oldřich Milek, my Frenchhorn teacher, who escaped many years ago to theNetherlands and guided me from my 10th untilmy 30th year, has educated me according to theCzech French Horn School, in which the rhythmicalstudies of Starý were an integral part. I alsoattended the masterclass of Prof. Jindřich Petráš

mobile exhibition bohuslav martinů —leben und werk/ GABRIELE JONTÉ

PROGRAM notes are an established source of in -for mation for audiences, and verbal introduc tionsto concert performances have become quite com -mon. But an exhibition accompanying a musi calperform ance is still something very special. Theexhibition “Bohuslav Martinů — Leben und Werk”formed an essential backdrop to the Martinů Fest -tage 2015 in Basel. It consists of five modulesproviding easily readable information on Martinů’slife and work in Polička, Prague, Paris, the USA andfinally France, Italy and Switzerland. Correspond -ing photographs have been carefully selectedand are displayed in an aesthetically captivating

manner. Initiated by Robert Kolinsky, the project was realized bygraphic designer Sibylle Ryser and musicologist Gabriele Jonté. Themodules can easily be assembled, disassembled and trans ported. Thisway they will be available for further events, not only in Basel, butwherever Martinů’s works might be performed in German-speakingcountries. In June 2016, the exhibition could be seen at the SchillerTheater in Berlin during a production of the opera Juliette. ❚

Gabriele Jonté and Gert Floor are IMC members

amateur musiciansfrom the netherlands play martinů

Concert in Polička, CZ, June 2016. Gert Floor sixth from the rightSjef de Kort

at Brno Academy. Petráš was present at my finalexams in The Hague.

In the Netherlands the music of Martinů isalmost never played, and if it is played, this is atthe initiative of pupils themselves. That is sucha pity! I regard his music very highly: he is veryclear in how he wants things to sound. He hassearched for — and really found! — his own style,in which the lines of melody in the accom pa ni mentand in the principal melody are quite clearly sepa -rated from each other by the instrumentation,resulting in a distinctive tone colour. The Nonetis full of small sections with such a distinctivesound. In the first movement, just before thereprise the music is almost programmatically emo -

tional, where it seems to become just a mo menttoo much for the then already very sick composer.But he regains his com posure, it seems, with therepeat of the opening section of that movement.

I have also puzzled over the tempo of thesecond movement, indicated Andante: should thismove ment be defined by expectation of death, likemany performances seem to suggest (playing veryslowly), or is life still going on?

The “complicated” rhythms in the music of Mar -tinů are, in fact, not entirely complicated: everyCzech child recognizes, sings and hops to them.But for Dutch people it is quite a different matter:the musicians have to work to get com fortablewith them to play them naturally.” ❚

International Martinů CircleGENERAL INFORMATION

Members receive the illustratedMartinů Revue published three timesa year plus a special limited edition CDcontaining world premieres, historicperformances and archival recordingsfrom the annual Martinů Festival notobtainable commercially.

The IMC is supported by the Bohu -slav Martinů Foundation and BohuslavMartinů Institute in Prague.

MEMBERSHIP & SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

ï YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION:25 EUR / 30 USD / 18 GBP / 450 CZK

ï SUBSCRIPTION FOR CORPORATEMEMBERS: 100 EUR / includes10 copies of each Revue PLUS 3 copiesof the special limited edition CD

ï SPECIAL RATE for music studentsunder 25 years of age: 10 EUR / 250 CZK

ï SINGLE COPIES OF THE REVUE: 80 CZK / 3 EUR / 4 USD + postage

For further details and for single copiesof the Martinů Revue contact: Lucie Jirglováphone: +420 773 656 586e-mail: incircle@martinu.cz

The International Martinů Circle, o.s. Bořanovická 1779/14 182 00 Praha 8-Kobylisy, CZ

A WARM WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS

> Rev Neville Jarrett, UK> Derek Katz, USA

BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ DAYS 2014 CDBecause of the demanding process ofthe IMC’s transformation into a society,you will receive the CD along with thenext Martinů Revue. We apologise forthe delay.More info see page 2.

MORE VOTES NEEDED FOR THE IMC TO BE TRANSFORMED INTO A SOCIETYSINCE MAY, the International Martinů Circle members have been votingon the association’s transformation into a society. As of the beginning ofJuly, we had received the vast majority of the necessary number ofvotes. At the present time, however, we still need another 43 votes so asto make the vote valid. We have therefore decided to extend the votingperiod till 15 October 2016 and again appeal to those of you who haveyet to cast their vote. Without receiving the necessary numberof votes, it will not be possible to complete the transformation untilthe end of 2016, which would threaten the very existence of theIMC, including the publication of the Martinů Revue, the release ofCDs and the pursuit of other activities. We firmly believe that we willsuc ceed in obtaining the remaining votes. The information about thevoting results, and about the completion of the entire process of trans -formation, will be provided in the autumn issue of the Martinů Revue. Weextend our thanks to all the members who have participated in thevoting for their cooperation and ask the others for prompt assistance!Contact for more information: Lucie Jirglová, incircle@martinu.cz

2016 SUBSCRIPTION PAYMENTSWE WOULD REQUEST members to forward their 2016 subscrip tionpayments through their usual channels. A list of our inter nationalcontacts:> For Great Britain:

Phillip C. Boswell, pcboswell78@gmail.com, 3 Warren Croft,Storrington, RH20 4BE Great Britain

> For Netherlands and Luxembourg:Gert Floor (Netherlands), gsmfloor@xs4all.nl, +31725095262,Gortersweg 6, 1871 CC Schoorl, Netherlands

> For France and Belgium:Nicolas Derny, 55 Chemin de Mons, 6220 Fleurus, Belgium,phone: +32 472360869, n.derny@gmail.com

> For USA:Robert Simon, rcs7684@yahoo.com, mobile number 216-973-7716,322 E Colfax Ave #103, South Bend, IN 46617, USA

> For Germany:Lucie & Clemens Harasim, lucie@martinu.cz, +49 152 581 668 32

Members from other countries please pay via:– IMC Paypal account at: www.martinu.cz, section International

Martinů Circle, subsection Membership– or directly via bank account in Prague (the number you can find at

the same web page — section).PLEASE ADD YOUR NAME WHEN PAYING VIA BANK TRANSFER,SO WE CAN IDENTIFY YOUR PAYMENT.Members who pay their subscriptions via the Dvořák Society shouldcontinue to do so. Those wishing to pay in Czech currency or by cashshould contact us at incircle@martinu.cz ❚

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MARTINŮ REVUE (formerly BohuslavMartinů Newsletter) is published by theInternational Martinů Circle in collabo ra -tion with the Bohuslav Martinů Institutein Prague with the financial supportof the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation.Published with the financial supportof the Ministry of Culture of CzechRepublic, code No. MKCRX006Z32Y

Editors Zoja Seyčková & Lucie Harasim,Bohuslav Martinů InstituteJustin Krawitz (English language editor)

Publisher’s OfficeInternational Martinů Circle, o.s.IČ: 22688846Bořanovická 14, 182 00 Praha 8-Kobylisy,Czech Republice-mail: incircle@martinu.czwww.martinu.cz

Translation of selected articles Hilda Hearne

Photographs The Bohuslav Martinů Foundation’sand Institute’s archive, collections of theBohuslav Martinů Center in Polička

Graphic Design David Cígler

Printing BOOM TISK, spol. s r.o.

The Martinů Revue is published three times a year in Prague.

CoverMagdalena Kožená and Rolando Villazónin the opera Juliette, Berlin, June 2016

© Monika Rittershaus

ISSN 1803-8514MK ČR E 18911

www.martinu.cz

d

THE BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ CENTER IN POLIČKA offers an interesting, inter -actively conceived exhibition on the com -poser’s life and work. The modern display ofBohuslav Martinů’s life and work is locatedin the historical building of the formercouncil school, which Martinů attendedas a child. Consequently, the project alsocomprises a reproduction of Martinů’sclassroom, complete with period paintingand furniture. The centre also containsan audio-visual hall and study room.

Bohuslav Martinů Center Tylova 114, 572 01 Polička tel.: +420 461 723 857 www.cbmpolicka.cz

Magdalena Kožená,IMC Patron

Jakub Hrůša,President of IMC

incirclenews

bMR

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phantom, a vision common — at least by name — toall the dreamers… These are the stimuli affordingevery stage director an extraordinarily wide spec -trum of associations, feelings, images and inter pre -tations, wider than in the case of many other operas.

Zuzana Gilhuus, a Slovak artist living in Norway,has both directed the Prague production and cre -ated its scenography. She presents the major visualidea in Act 1, fleshing out the unreal urban milieuinto the form of a sort of square, white, mysteriouspool with plants. In Act 2, set in a forest, all thisis elevated — not too becomingly — quite high onpillars, perhaps representing tree trunks. The actiontakes places on both the lower and upper level.In Act 3, set in a bureau, all that remains from theinitial plane is a suspended fragment, a sugges tion,a single ledge, whereas the vacated, virtually empty,space is enlarged and deepened. The one and onlyreal scenic element present in all the three Acts isa white piano that is never played. And there is alsothe motif of the stairway hanging in the air, notdenoting anything until the end, when it appearsas a possible route, ambivalently open to the worldof dreams — or to leaving this world. Then it is upto the spectator to decide which way to let thewandering Michel take.

juliette in prague: an open road to theworld of dreams.or out of it?/ PETR VEBER

THE OPERA Juliette, H 253 does not end clearly.The com poser Bohuslav Martinů, who also pennedthe libretto, leaves open two opposite possibilities:Michel will either awaken from his dreaming orhe won’t. He will either return to reality or he willarrive at the decision to stay beyond it for good.The stage director of the new production at theNational Theatre in Prague, Zuzana Gilhuus,has rather indicated — judging by the first-castpremiere on 24 March — the latter option. But theoutcome may not actually be of great importance,as the sense of the surrealistically absurd fantasycertainly rests much more (or almost entirely)in the drama’s course than its denouement.

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juliette in prague &

If the subject matter of Juliette is the pursuit of thefemale ideal (or the illusion thereof), or if it is theexistential uncertainty of dreaming, and if this operais (or should be) about creating a forum for poeticimages that give rise to philosophising about the vitalimportance of memory and recollections, then thistheatrical realisation is almost too realistic, espe ciallytowards the end. Nonetheless, the pro duction doespossess a creative idiom and atmo sphere.

Martinů composed this first truly mature work ofhis to Georges Neveux’s surrealistic play at the endof the 1930s, filling it with unsettling, colourful,imaginative, passionate, as well as dreamy, highlysuggestive, markedly personal music, into which heundoubtedly projected his own desires and in whichhe later on found the reflection of his own yearnings.He conceived the opera Juliette (The Key to Dreams)in a largely symphonic manner. The stylistic andsonic traits of the previous years are audible in thismusic, as are the glimmers of the direction his inven -tion and instrumentation would take a few yearslater. It clearly reveals the incipient synthesis of Neo-Classicism and Neo-Impressionism, a masterfulmusical imagination and sense of theatre.

The National Theatre production was conductedby Jaroslav Kyzlink, who presented the music inan elaborate form, with its foundation being rathercompact, more dramatic and specific than dreamilylyrical. This approach corresponds with the vocalperformances of the lead characters by the firstpremiere cast. Alžběta Poláčková is a splendidJuliette, singing beautifully and with certainty, yetby no means is she an ethereal being, being insteada decidedly real, flesh-and-blood young woman. Andthe bookseller Michel, on his mysterious wander ings,striving to find the girl singing a song that he mayhave heard in the past, finding himself in weird

One is hard pressed to believe that this inspiredand peerless work, in which the story and the musicso magically blend together, is now being staged atthe National Theatre for only the fourth time in itshistory, and more than a quarter of a cen tury sincethe premiere of the previous adaptation. In themean time, Prague audiences have only had theopportunity to see a guest performance of DavidPountney’s British production. Over the past fewdecades, Juliette has been performed at a numberof theatres across Europe — including in Brno,Görlitz, and Paris — and London has also presentedit in a concert version. A town without memory,a bureau of dreams, a vendor of memories, a girl-

The girl Juliette — who in the final Act is singing,audible, yet inaccessible — remains consistentlyelusive, akin to the door behind which there isnothing. And in a similar vein, the motif of the greyfigures who are talked and sung about, a motif oflunatics who have resolved to stay in a dream forever, that is, a motif that can add eeriness, grue -some ness or, at least, cogency to the opera and maysuggest the story’s ending, is not implemented herevisually.

When it comes to the staging concept, fantasy,imagination and unreality are the most distinct andmost forcible in Act 1, with the final Act being muchpoorer in terms of invention and true surrealism.

Peter Berger (Michel) and Alžběta Poláčková (Juliette)

situations and facing Juliette’s similarly incompre -hensible whims? Brilliantly sung, performed in analmost romantic Italianate way by Peter Berger,he comes across more as a hero than a dreamer,more a victim of passion than a blundering wretch.The two artists are superb in portraying Juliette andMichel in the opera’s given interpretation, whileall the other singers do credit to the collaboration —Ondřej Koplík, Petr Levíček, Vladimír Chmelo,Luděk Vele, Ivan Kusnjer, Yvona Škvárová, AlžbětaVomáčková, Lucie Hájková.

The world premiere of Martinů’s Juliette tookplace at the National Theatre in Prague on 16 March1938, conducted by Václav Talich, where the workmet with great acclaim. The opera has not lost anyof its forcefulness over the years. Yet now a lot is atstake: the challenge is to engage current audiences,who generally do not attend the Czech opera clas -sics en masse and with expectations, and to engageaudience members on an individual level. And thecreators of the new National Theatre productionhave, with the best intentions, done their utmostto attain this objective. ❚

juliette in berlin: imprisoned ina murderous dream/ LENKA ŠALDOVÁ

BERLIN, the Schiller Theater. Daniel Barenboim onthe conductor’s podium, Claus Guth directing. Twodistinguished artists, both known for their originalinterpretations. Yet their interpretations nevercome across as unbecoming or affected. They do

not strive to create conceptions for the sake ofcreating conceptions. Rather, they unveil surprisingpossibilities in the works they take on, and presentthese with eloquence and attention to the finestdetail, both on the stage and in the orchestra pit.The production of Martinů’s Juliette is yet anothercase in point.

Michel is imprisoned in a crazy, frantic dream.He finds himself in a giant white cube, with its wallsmade up of dozens of small doors, the floor ofdozens of hatches. You never know who or whatwill spring up from somewhere — and againdisappear. In the first scene, Michel tries to hidea revolver and Juliette’s shawl. As in a proper slap -stick comedy, as soon as he gets rid of them theypromptly re-emerge. The maddest thing about thedream is not that all the people in the town visitedby Michel have lost their memory and so behavestrangely, buying reminiscences, having their pastforetold… It is not their bizarre demeanour thatdrives the young man insane. At every turn, Michelis above all haunted by that which he himself(apparently) has done: that he has shot Juliettedead. Yes, it only occurs at the end of Act 2, but whycould Act 1 not come after Act 2? It is enough toshow the inscription “24 hours earlier”. Accordingly,Michel is seen at the end of Act 2 in the situationidentical to that at the very start of the perform -ance: when he finally disposes of the dead body, hemust hide the revolver and the shawl somewhere…The introductory scene recurs once again: in Act 3,the white cube is moved to the background, theempty stage is shrouded in a mist through whichdreaming figures flounder. It is a beautiful, poetic —as well as spine-chilling — bureau of dreams. Michelleaves it and approaches the white cube, observinghimself desperately trying to hide the revolver andthe shawl. Himself, imprisoned in a murderousdream for good.

While the casting of Rolando Villazón does notshowcase the artist in top vocal form, his charac -terization of Michel is impeccable. Villazón’s Michelis an erratic, impetuous, restless guy, constantlyand nervously roaming across the stage. Desper -ately and in vain does he strive to gain control ofon the goings-on, like, for instance, elbowing outJuliette’s unwanted admirers. Distraught, he tearsup the flowers he has brought to Juliette. (She lovesme? She loves me not?) The excess of emotions is

martinůrevue22016 | 7

berlin

also evident in the edgy vocal performance, whichis deliberately somewhat sobbing. All that complieswith Barenboim’s acutely dramatic musical con -ception: no trace of dreamy lyricism, but rather anunceasing agitation, tension — dashing in a frantictempo. And Juliette (splendidly sung by MagdalenaKožená) is by no means a lyrical fairy but a vivid girlin a red dress and court shoes. Self-confident, readyto enjoy every single moment she lives through, aswell as the memories she makes up. Little does shecorrespond to the romantic being Michel dreamt upa few years ago, when she smiled down at him froma balcony. The audience follow the rising resent -ment on the part of Michel, a hopeless dreamer,with the clash between the illusion and the realitybecoming unbearable, and Michel ultimately pick -ing up a gun and killing Juliette, who mocks hisdreams. The clash between illusion and reality isthe central theme of Claus Guth’s production, inwhich the strange milieu of the town whose inhabi -tants have lost their memory recedes into the back -ground and everything circles around Michel’sobsession with Juliette. And the murder he finally,and inevitably, commits. The murder he strives tocover up. An unusual conception, in a truly com -pelling performance. ❚

Berlin, Staatsoper im Schiller TheaterBohuslav Martinů: Juliette, H 253Conductor: Daniel Barenboim; Stage director: ClausGuth; Sets: Alfred Peter; Costumes: Eva Dessecker;Choreography: Ramses Sigl; Chorus master:Martin Wright; Lighting design: Olaf Freese; Dramaturgy: Yvonne Gebauer and Roman Reeger. Premiere: 28 May 2016Performance reviewed: 14 June 2016

Rolando Villazón (Michel) and Richard Croft (Officer)

Magdalena Kožená (Juliette) and Rolando Villazón (Michel)

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unusual scorings: mixed chamber musicby bohuslav martinůnew volume of the complete edition/ JITKA ZICHOVÁ

AMONGST the sumptuous riches of Bohuslav Mar -tinů’s creative output, there are original chambermusic works for larger forces. A new volume inthe Complete Edition now makes these available.

Volume No. IV/4/1 of the Bohuslav Martinů Com -plete Edition comprises chamber music compositionsfor mixed wind and string ensembles. With the excep -tion of one of the works (Nonet No. 2, H 374), thecombinations are unusual — the septet Les Rondes,H 200, is written for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet,two violins and piano; Serenade No. 1, H 217,is for clarinet, horn, three violins and viola; SerenadeNo. 3, H 218, is for oboe, clarinet, four violins andcello; the nonet Stowe Pastorals, H 335, is for fiverecorders, two violins, clarinet and cello. Theseuncommon instrumentations are in line with Bohu -slav Martinů’s other chamber works, especially inhis Paris works from the 1920s to 1930s, which arenotable for their experimentation in both sound and

bohuslav martinů,symphony no.4/ SHARON A. CHOA / SANDRA BERGMANNOVÁ

SYMPHONY No. 4, H 305, was written in the springof 1945, during the last months of World War II.The work was officially commissioned by WilliamZiegler. The Zieglers had lived in Manhattan sincetheir marriage in 1927, and as they were prominentpatrons of the arts, it may be assumed that theywere actively involved in cultural events. It is thusvery probable that Martinů continued to meet withthe Zieglers in New York even after the summer of1943, and the commission could have been made atthis time. The symphony was premiered on 30 No -vember 1945 by the Philadelphia Orchestra con -ducted by Eugene Ormandy. This was followed byadditional performances in December in variouslocations throughout the United States. Martinůattended the premiere, as attested by correspon -dence with his family before and after the event.According to the author’s own words from his letterhome, the premiere was a great success. A study ofthe available American reviews reveals a generallypositive consensus expressing admiration for thepraiseworthy musicality enhanced by compositionalskill, and the ability to exploit the classical formwhile using new content. As far as we know, thework was performed once more in New York in1948 by the Rochester Symphony Orchestra underthe direction of Erich Leinsdorf. As Bohuslav Mar -tinů was still living in the US at the time, it ispossible that he attended the concert.

In Europe the work became known thanks tothe efforts of Rafael Kubelík. He conducted theEuro pean premiere with the Czech Philharmonicin Prague on 10 October 1946. Kubelík then con -ducted the symphony in other European cities andin Australia. Martinů sent different lists of correc -tions to his publisher, but it is uncertain whetherKubelík was ever informed of the alter ations, and ifhe was, whether his later perform ances reflectedthe changes to the original score. All twenty-fourperformances that Kubelík conducted before hisemigration from Czechoslovakia on 17 July 1948were based on the autograph manuscript. However,the four performances that he directed in 1950 inLondon and the Netherlands may have been basedon the published version of the score.

The symphony did not remain unaltered; beforepublication, Martinů decided to alter some pas -sages, primarily those involving the piano. It is notpossible to precisely date when he made thechanges that appear in the printed score due tomissing scores and the fact that the symphony wasnot published by Boosey & Hawkes until 1950. Thepublishing history of the symphony attests to thediligence with which both Martinů and the editorsfrom B&H strived for an accurate edition. Never the -less, mistakes were made and the published score

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bohuslav martinů complete

Bohuslav Martinů in 1945

Cape Cod (USA), a house, where Martinů composed the 4th movement of his Symphony No. 4, Spring 1945

contains more than seventy errors. Due to the factthat Martinů completed all his alterations beforeallowing the symphony to be published, the maintext of this edition follows the com poser’s finalauthorised version. However, as performances from1945 to 1948 used the autograph version, this perioddocuments the original concept of the com position.Appendices contain the divergent passages of itsoriginal version. ❚

(reprinted from [t]akte 1/2016, with their kind permission)

form. The com positions originated between 1930and 1959, thus encompassing several of BohuslavMartinů’s creative periods.

LES RONDESThe septet Les Rondes, H 200, was completed byBohuslav Martinů on 23 November 1930 in Paris.The work comprises six parts, which Martinůrepeatedly called dances. The composer alternatelydescribed the movements as Moravian or Czechdances because they were inspired by folk tunesand rhythms. This is the first work of the com poser’s

martinůrevue22016 | 9

edition

famous by the 1966 Academy Award-winning filmThe Sound of Music. The premiere of the StowePastorals was aired on 7 May 1952 on Radio Baselas part of the celebrations of the 25th anniversaryof the foundation of the local branch of the Inter -national Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM).The work was published in 1960 under the moreconcise name Pastorals. The current edition returnsto the complete original title of Stowe Pastorals,which refers both to the place and persons thatinspired the composer to create the piece.

NONET NO. 2Nonet No. 2, H 374, for flute, oboe, clarinet,bassoon, horn, violin, viola, violoncello and doublebass, H 374 was commissioned by the Czech Nonet,whose director, violinist Emil Leichner, had askedBohuslav Martinů for a composition for theensemble’s 35th anniver sary. Martinů accepted thecommission, and his pledge caused a considerablestir both in Czecho slova kia and abroad. He workedon the piece in January and February 1959. The fullpublic premiere took place at the festival inSalzburger Festspiele on 27 July 1959. A pocketedition of the composition was published in autumn1959 by the Prague pub lishing house SNKLHU. ❚

(reprinted from [t]akte 1/2016, with their kind permission)

the autograph of martinů’s firstviolin concerto finally discovereda concerto twice lost / JANA HONZÍKOVÁ

THE HISTORY of this Martinů piece is compli catedand continues to give rise to questions that have yetto be answered. The Concerto No. 1, H 226, waswritten in 1932 and 1933, and for many years after itwas penned, its autograph was considered lost. Thework was commissioned by the renowned violinistSamuel Dushkin, at whose suggestion Martinů madenumerous revisions. Because the concerto was notpremiered during Martinů’s lifetime and then waslost, the second violin concerto, dating from 1943,was long deemed to be the first — until 1961, whenthe archivist and musicologist Hans Moldenhauerobtained the autograph from a member of theChicago Symphony Orchestra. The world premieretook place in October 1973 in Chicago, and verysoon there after, the work was performed in Pragueas well — in November 1973, by Josef Suk.

According to the Halbreich catalogue, afterMoldenhauer’s death the autograph was kept at theHans Moldenhauer Archive at Spokane in the USA,and subsequently at the Library of Congress. Buta part of the Hans Moldenhauer Archive was takenover by the Northwestern University Library. De -spite many questions about the autograph andpersonal visits over the past 20 years to the North -western Univer sity Library, the whereabouts of themanscript could not be confirmed. It seemed thatthe concerto had been lost for the second time.That is until the autograph was finally discov eredthis February by Jana Honzíková in the GeneralCollection of the library at North western, ratherthan in the Moldenhauer Collection. And nowa high-quality digitised version is available at theBohuslav Martinů Institute Library.

Alongside the autograph, the NorthwesternUniversity Library had maintained two pages ofsketches, the solo part intended for the pre miere,and the concerto’s alternative ending. These mate -rials, combined with the parts from the premieregiven by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (pro -cured earlier by Pavel Žůrek of the Bohuslav Mar -tinů Institute), now mean that the available sourcematerials are sufficient be able to include this note -worthy and wonderful concerto in the plan for theBohuslav Martinů Complete Edition. ❚

mature creative period that makes such extensiveand ingenious use of the melodic, harmonic, andrhythmic elements of folk music. The premiere ofLes Rondes took place on 18 March 1932 at a con -cert at the École Normale de la Musique in Parisunder the direction of Alfred Cortot. The work waspublished in 1950 by the Prague publisher Orbis.

SERENADES NOS 1 & 3Martinů composed a cycle of four serenades in Parisin 1932. The title page of the autograph of SerenadeNo. 4 includes the author’s dedica tion “À la Sociétéd’études Mozartiennes de Paris” However, we donot have any documents that indicate that thissociety ever performed the works. The premiere isgenerally considered to have taken place on 16 Octo -ber 1947 pre sented by members of the FOK orches -tra, as is noted by Harry Halbreich. Unfortunately,neither the programme nor any reviews or othersources pertaining to this concert have been pre -served. The Serenades were pub lished by thePrague publishing house Melantrich in 1949.

STOWE PASTORALSThe Stowe Pastorals, H 335, were composed byMartinů in New York in November 1951, and theiroriginal inspiration is connected with The TrappFamily. Their unusual instrumentation was clearlyderived from the options and instruments of theensemble. The Trapp Family Singers was a familyensemble that focused on the interpretation of folkmusic and music of the seventeenth and eighteenthcenturies. The group was led by Maria von Trapp,who founded The Trapp Family and served as itsartistic director together with Franz Wasner. In1938 the family immigrated to America and set tleddown in the town of Stowe. The family was made

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 1, H 226 (autograph)

new discovery

Mano lios, particularly towards the end of the opera.Dshamilja Kaiser is a splendid Katerina, especiallywhen it comes to the development of her emotionalrelationship to Manolios. Both priests, WilfriedZelinka (Grigoris) and Markus Butter (Fotis), demon -strated enormous vocal potential. The singers ofthe 21-member choir were also unhesitating andfaultless in their delivery.

The production of The Greek Passion at the OperaGraz does not aspire to edify us, sending us ratheron a mystical journey through time, ending in a safehaven. A truly unforgettable evening.

Wiener Zeitung, 10 March 2016, abridged

Bohuslav Martinů: The Greek PassionDirector: Lorenzo Fioroni Conductor: Dirk Kaftan Rating: ★★★★★

yet another crimeagainst the redeemer/ MARTIN GASSER

A PASSION PLAY, performed by simple villagers.A group of refugees seeking shelter and help.A shepherd who suddenly comprehends the wordsin the Bible as a vital message. And the men of thecloth, who feel so threatened by them that they

THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLDThe Swiss stage director Lorenzo Fioroni and thedesigner Paul Zoller plunged deep into Martinů’smusic and have succeeded in fault lessly renderingits timeless spirit. The produc tion is set in a smalltown, where the people wear national costumes,jeans and cocktail dresses alike, just as naturallyas they prepare for the annual Passion Play.

All of a sudden, a group of migrants appears.No, they are not Syrians or Afghans… The villageinhabitants divide into two camps. The hardhearts and obstinate clergy on the one hand, andManolios, increasingly associating himself withthe pageant’s messianic character of Christ, onthe other. Initially, Manolios is merely an affablespokesman of the kind-hearted people, yet heultimately identifies with his role, so much so asto seek to become a saviour and messiah himself.

Direct insinuations by the stage director to thecurrent refugee crisis are not necessary, as theaudience immediately grasp the story’s parallelwith the present situation. In the end, the advo -cates of the old order and the protec tors ofproperty prevail, Manolios is left alone and thegroup of unwelcome guests has to leave. Thecurtain falls, and the astounded audience hasgoose-bumps.

IN SPITE OF REALITYThe Oper Graz presented a top-notch cast, withthe vast majority made up of the members of itsown company. One of the few guests, the Swisstenor Rolf Romei, offers a convincing portrayal of

the greek passionat the oper graza mystic journeywith halfway stationshere and there/ REINHARD KRIECHBAUM

WHAT UTTERLY fabulous music! In the middleof the 20th century, Bohuslav Martinů came upwith an opera entirely surpassing the spiritof his time: The Greek Passion, based on NikosKazantzakis’s novel. Possessing a sensuous tonalmastery, now and then the music is “interrupted”by folkloristic elements (yet no direct quotationsfrom folk music) and stylistic crossovers. It fea -tures the typical Martinů colourfulness, leaningtowards Impres sionism, with an important rolebeing afforded to the accordion, as well as theexposed harp.

Everything at the Oper Graz stands and fallswith Dirk Kaftan, conducting the Grazer Philhar -monisches Orchester. He lets Martinů’s musicunfurl slowly, allows it to dance, yet in placeseverything again mellows, like during a medita -tion… What if the Greek story were to take placesomewhere in Bohemia? Or elsewhere? It doesnot really matter.

review

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would rather commit murder. That is, in a nutshell,the story of the opera The Greek Passion, whichhas been forcefully rendered by the stage directorLorenzo Fioroni.

It is a production of extreme artistic refine -ment, on the one hand, and drastically natura listic,on the other. A performance constantly shiftingthe boundary between theatre and reality,between play and seriousness. Fioroni refrainsfrom direct, superficial updating of the topic in thelight of current migration politics. The refugeesin his conception are reminiscent of the Hebrewslaves in Cecil B. DeMille’s Holly wood epic The TenCommandments, with their leader, the priest Fotis(grandiosely portrayed by Markus Butter), suspi -ciously evoking Moses (as performed by CharltonHeston). The entire New Testament masqueradein the opera is filmed by TV cameras, with themedia omni present, including at Lenio’s wedding,which turns into a ceremony of granting EUcitizen ship. Today’s Europe is morally decayed:it does not live by, but merely feigns, humanity.The Passion Play, which ends with the real deathof Christ, is depicted as a cynical theatre show,with the guests in tuxedos watching a little bitof brutality.

Amidst this utmost artistic cultivation, whichcould be deemed to border on travesty, Manoliosgradually identifies with Christ. An archaic playwith flaming, ardent souls, one not coinci den tallyakin to the universe of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s films.The lead characters are forcefully por trayed by thetenor Rolf Romei (Manolios / Christ) and DshamiljaKaiser (Katerina / Mary Magdalene), waveringbetween sensuality and despair.

However exaggerated it may sound, the pro -duc tion, starting with the treatment of the themeand ending with the tiniest gesture of each andevery chorus-singer, really does strike home.Owing in part to Dirk Kaftan, conducting theGrazer Philharmoniker, who has succeeded incommunicating the sheer diversity of Mar tinů’smusic: its chamber-like idiom, energetic rhythm,harmonic richness. Much like the excellently ledchoir, the singers performing the minor roles alsoproduce splendid, admirable moments: KonstantinSfiris as the Old Man, Manuel von Senden asYannakos, Benjamin Plautz as the narrator, TaylanReinhard as Panait, etc. The ensemble and thechoir, the sets, wittily designed by Paul Zoller,Fioroni’s direction — all these come togetherin a grandiose play about the murder of a manwhose Christian stance evidently gives rise tooutrage. Yet again.

Kronen Zeitung, 7 March 2016, abridged

photos: werner kmetitsch

martinůrevue22016 | 11

Dshamilja Kaiser (Katerina / Mary Magdalene) and Rolf Romei (Manolios / Christ)

Manolios (Rolf Romei) identifies with his role of Christ, 3rd Act

The end of the 3rd Act (Markus Butter as Fotis in the middle)

< Markus Butter (Fotis)

portra

it

and tenderness, an execution so balanced andcertain. Ever since, I have often given thoughtto how it is at all possible to perform music soprecisely, as well as forcefully. […]” The epistlecontinued with my expressing the desire to try,immediately after completing my grammarschool studies, to pass the exams for the Acad -emy of Performing Arts in Prague, at which theaddressee was teaching at the time, and thanksfor, among other things, the aesthetic aspectof the maestro’s conducting (which had pro -foundly impressed me): “[…] Therefore, I uttermy sincere admiration for your performance and thanks for giving me the inspiring exampleof your behaviour. […]” Later on, Jiří Bělohlávek

and I would frequently be compared as regardsour conducting gestures, or more precisely, mygestures were said to mimic those of Jiří’s. Yetgestures is merely an exterior trait, one thatintrigues at first glance. I think that the feelingof affinity was actually far deeper and, aboveall, immediate. For my part, I did not deliberatelycultivate this influence — it simply “occurred”in an instant. Sometimes souls find each othermore quickly than reason is able to comprehend.

Even though later on I was not spared tem -porary doubts, doubts that buffet everyone

and Beethoven’s Eroica far surpassed thatwhich was regularly heard in Brno — an evalu -ation based not as much on my certainlyperfunctory sense of judgment, but rather onthe overall, essential feeling, intuition, whichpermeated me beyond the framework of myintellectual faculties. Today, it is not easy to

express in words what exactly made the per -form ance so forceful, yet the experience wasa powerful one. On the next possible occasion,I gave vent to my impressions and conveyedthem verbally. During a Czech lesson, we wereasked to draw up an “open letter to XY”, that is, a publicly known figure. And in this essay,I wrote: “[…] Without the slightest exaggera -tion, I can say that your performance ‘totally’engrossed me. I had never previously encoun -tered such a natural execution, fraught withdrama and vehemence, as well as emotion

IT WAS SOMETIME in 1996 or 1997 — I wasstill studying at the four-year grammar schoolon Kapitán Jaroš Avenue in Brno, preparingmyself for my future, an unclear career in oneof the dozens of possible spheres — whenI first caught sight of Jiří Bělohlávek. I remem -ber the moment as though it were yesterday.

As a young music-lover, I used to attend themajority of the orchestral concerts in my nativecity, given by the Brno State PhilharmonicOrchestra. Step by step, I developed a sensefor distinguishing between the quality of theperformances and, as an ardent adolescent,I never missed the opportunity to trumpet myopinions. That evening, however, I remainedseated in the auditorium, all of sudden devoidof any of the juvenile criticism that I haddisbursed until then with perhaps insufficientcare. The performance of Schubert’s Unfinished

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jakub hrůša on jiří bělohlávek / part 1The famous Czech conductor and Martinů interpreter Jiří Bělohlávekcelebrated his 70th birthday this year. In the text below, his pupil andcurrent president of the Inter national Martinů Circle Mr Jakub Hrůša describes his relationship with Mr Bělohlávek in a very personal way.

…your performance

y Jiří Bělohlávek was awarded by the Martinů medal in 2006 y Jiří Bělohlávek conducting the stage performance of the opera What Men Live by in December 2014

sincerely seeking one’s own identity, I soonregained the conviction that positive and live (!)models are a sound model for an evolving youngperson. And this also holds true later on, inother phases of our lives, with perhaps thedifference being that everything becomes moresubtle and more internal. One way or the other,having such a model before me was a great gift,serving as an extraordinary motivation, as it isput in the open letter, which is actually a “diaryentry” expressed outwards.

After enrolling at the Academy of PerformingArts, I didn’t have the chance to study withJiří straightaway, but I did attend all his les -sons. I will never forget our first more personalencounter, when Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 wasbeing dealt with in the class. An extraordinarysituation arose. Messrs Jaroslav Šaroun andTomáš Víšek, who regularly played piano fourhands, had failed to arrive, and actually onlythree persons were present: my older school -mate Tomáš Hanák, Jiří Bělohlávek and I. So themaestro asked me to play the piano with him.It was simply lovely. Both of us struggled withMahler’s ornate and dramatic score, each ina different way: Jiří, even though having a clearmusical notion, grappling with a somewhatrusty piano technique, I ambitiously roaring in

the demarcated bass space, albeit, more or less,lacking an insight into the music, fumbling. Well,I did my utmost. It was quite touching whenJiří began sincerely fretting about having failedto play some of the figurations appropriately.Regardless of the aspiring student, he simplyinterrupted his playing and started to practiseseveral passages like etudes, testing his finger

dexterity. His body language seemed to speakvolumes: Why, it simply cannot be such a prob -lem! Amid tense silence, my schoolmate andI (gladly) waited for the professor to readyhimself, and then continued. I am still not sureto what extent the teacher was able to judgemy conducting gestures, yet I clearly recall howdelighted I was when, after finishing the sym -phony, I felt an appreciatory tap on my backand heard Jiří thunder: “Well, you are a musicianindeed!” Myriad official opinions could not haveoutweighed the maestro’s praise, which encour -aged me, a freshman looking insecurely around,to continue to pursue the direction I hadchosen.

When in that very same season I miracu -lously succeeded in the Prague Spring com pe -tition, in my first-ever attempt at conductinga professional orchestra, I plucked up thecourage to ask to join Jiří’s class. I still remem -ber the immense gratitude I felt after being told

by Radomil Eliška, my then “form teacher”, thatnot only did he not bear a grudge but he evenrecommended the move. Consequently, in 2000,with his noble-minded blessing, I plunged intostudies in the class of my model conductor.

(to be continued in the next issue)

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totally engrossed me…

Jakub Hrůša with The Czech Philharmonic during the Bohuslav Martinů Days in 2010

Jiří Bělohlávek, National Theatre, Prague 2006

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Martinů’s hopes were dashed before the endof the year. Ostrčil felt he could recommendneither Night nor The Shadow. His review ofNight is perfunctory in the extreme, but forThe Shadow he wrote at greater length, sum -marising the plot of the ballet and then givinghis reasons for refusing the work:

The entire action of the one-act ballet is takenup with the following story: A girl enters a parkand dances. Her mirror image (the shadow) risesfrom a fountain and dances with the girl. In thebackground three dark figures appear. The middleone is Death. Who the other two are, we neverfind out. The shadow dances into the arms ofDeath, who covers it with a cloak and the girl fallsto the ground dead. — The girl’s dance, from herarrival to the emer gence of the shadow, comprises60 pages of score, with two systems on eachpage; the girl’s dance with the shadow, up to theappearance of Death is another 70 pages (again

with two systems on each). It is physically impos -sible for anyone to dance for this long, or indeedfor anyone to watch it. […] The orchestration issimple and artless, with an excessive use of thepiano and celesta. The contrast between pianoand orchestra is deployed appropriately at onepoint, […] elsewhere the sound of the piano wouldsurely evoke the trivial sound of a cheap band ina coffeehouse. It is not possible to recommendthis work for performance at the NationalTheatre.5

It would be wrong to judge Ostrčil harshlyfor his negative reaction. He had to judge thework specifically as a ballet and was rightly

Martinů wrote to her, hoping to collaboratewhen she next came to Prague. His overtureswere received favourably, judging from a shortreply from Gzovska’s husband Vladimir Nelidov,asking Martinů to call at their hotel. However,in a letter to his friend and biographer MilošŠafránek from 1958,2 Martinů stated that henever got to meet Gzovska but merely sent hera score. Indeed, the magazine Nové ilustrovanélisty reported in August 1914 that Gzovska hadaccepted Dances with Veils for performance,and although no such performance seems tohave resulted, Martinů was sufficiently encour -aged to press on and complete The Shadowby Christmas of 1916.

In the years immediately following the com -position of The Shadow, the anticipated supportof Gzovska was probably the best chance Mar -tinů had of getting his two ballets performed,since he had yet to make a name for himself.This situation changed after the two highlysuccessful performances of his patriotic can -tata Česká rapsodie (Czech Rhapsody, H 118)in January 1919. Perhaps tired of waiting forsome sign from Gzovska, or perhaps embold -ened by his success, he wrote to the head ofthe National Theatre, Karel Kovařovic, on 16August 1919 to try to persuade him to mounta production of his ballet.3 Kovařovic did notreply until the end of October,4 but indicatedthat he was prepared to recommend the work.He further advised Martinů to be patient andexplained that the final decision now restedwith Otakar Ostrčil, recently appointed hissuccessor.

/ MICHAEL CRUMP

THERE ARE PROBABLY not many pieces inmusical history that have received their firstperformances almost exactly one hundredyears after their composition. Such is the case,however, with Bohuslav Martinů's ballet Stín(The Shadow), assigned the number H 102in Halbreich's catalogue. The manuscript isdated Christmas 1916 and on June 1, 2016,The Shadow was issued as Volume 2 in ToccataClassics’ CD series of Martinů's early orchestralworks. Ian Hobson conducts Sinfonia Varsoviaon this new recording, which uses materialwhich I have prepared, in collaboration withthe publisher Schott, from the error-strewnand rather confusing manuscript. The balletcontains plenty of tuneful and attractive music, yet is also prophetic; during its hour-longspan it often gives the impression that thecomposer of Špalíček is waiting patiently inthe wings.

The Shadow is one of four hitherto unknownballets which Martinů wrote before Istar,H 130, the first of his ballets to be staged(in Prague, 1924). Two of them, Tance se závoji(Dances with Veils, H 93) and Koleda (ChristmasCarol, H 112), dated 1914 and 1917 respectively,have long been considered lost. The balletwhich survives alongside The Shadow is Noc(Night, H 89) from 1914, an imposing scorewhich employs a very large orchestra andan off-stage female chorus. The Shadow, bycontrast, uses merely a chamber orchestra andan off-stage soprano. Harry Halbreich observedthat ‘one would hardly suspect that theseworks were conceived by the same composerwithin the space of three years’.1 It is harderstill to believe that they were meant to formpart of a trilogy of one-act ballets, but such isthe case. The third part was to be a dramati -zation of the painting Villa by the Sea by theSwiss artist Arnold Böcklin. Ultimately, thisimpulse was to produce the orchestral Ballade,H 97, probably written in the year betweenNight and The Shadow.

The catalyst for this spurt of creativity wasthe Russian actress and dancer Olga Vladimi -rovna Gzovska, who first appeared as a soloartist at Prague's National Theatre in 1912.

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Olga Vladimirovna Gzovska photo: josef sudek

the shadow, H 102

convinced of its impracticality. Although themanuscript does contain some stage directions,many of the changes in tempo, mood andtexture remain completely unmotivated by theaction. The Shadow is perhaps best appreciateddivorced from any dramatic concept, as anextended dance suite full of abundantlyattractive and inventive music.

It begins unassumingly: three notes on solohorn introduce the only occurrence of a charm -ing theme on the oboe. Soon, a soprano behindthe scenes sings a melody — similar to thethird movement of Beethoven's piano trioOp. 70, No. 2. The solo dancer enters, playingwith a ball and listening to the song. Severalof the harmonic touches here recall RichardStrauss' Der Rosenkavalier, but as the girl startsto dance, one hears more and more materialthat reminds one of the later Martinů. TheCinderella music from the ballet Špalíček, H 214,and Popelka's aria from the opera Comedyon the Bridge, H 249, can both trace theirparentage back to this music. The tenderLento which eventually emerges is an earlyexample of that mastery of glowing stringtextures which was to serve Martinů so well inhis symphonies. As the girl continues dancing,the music advances through a harmonicallycomplex waltz in B major (where Strauss againlooms large), then builds impressively beforecoming to an abrupt stop about half-waythrough the ballet: the girl has dropped her ballinto the fountain and is about to meet the‘shadow’ (her own reflection).

As the reflection rises from the water, musicfrom the earliest stages of the ballet is freelyrepeated. It will be heard again in a new guisewhen both girl and 'shadow' meet their fates.From the mid-point onwards, The Shadowbecomes largely a sequence of self-containednumbers, each prefaced by a short passage ofunrelated material. There are no stage indica -tions for over a thousand bars — the girl andthe 'shadow' simply dance their way througha succession of different tempi and textures.As drama or spectacle, this part of the balletis ridiculously over-extended, but in compensa -tion it contains some of the most attractivemusic that the score has to offer. Given thata staging of the whole ballet would be problem -

atic, an attractive concert suite could easilybe produced from the march, minuet, jig andMozartian Allegro that lead up to the finalpages, where the main ‘action’ of the balletis presented in highly compressed form. Afterthat final catastrophe, the soprano sings again,now at a considerable distance, and soft stringchords of A major bring the ballet to a close.

In later life, Martinů had nothing good to sayof this youthful piece. In letters written in 1958to Šafránek,6 reviewing a draft of his friend‘ssecond biography, he wrote:

You perhaps place too much weight on thoseearly works, like The Shadow and other things,which are surely just a phase and more liketraining exercises. […] In short, The Shadow isa weak apprentice work and I wouldn’t writeabout it at all. […]. You spend too much timeon things which really don’t have any greatsignificance. They are transitional and hap hazard— the work of a student reacting to everystimulus he encounters.

Those who become acquainted with TheShadow may feel that Martinů’s judgementof it was harsh. Halbreich feels that it marksan important stage in the composer‘s devel -opment, especially in its use of the piano in

a chamber setting. This feature, of course,attracted the most scathing criticism fromOstrčil, but would be encountered againand again in Martinů’s work in the followingdecades. The Shadow surely has more thanmerely documentary value — for all its wantonimpracticality and occasionally awkwardorchestration, it contains a wealth of attractiveideas which have remained concealed for fartoo long. ❚

This article is adapted from the booklet essayaccompanying the CD release of The Shadow

(TOCC 0249) and is reproduced with the kind permission of Toccata Classics.

1 Bohuslav Martinů: Werkverzeichnis und Biografie, Schott,Mainz, 2007, p. 197.

2 Held at the Bohuslav Martinů Centre in Polička, cataloguenumber PBM Kmš 872.

3 Šafránek, Divadlo Bohuslava Martinů, Editio SupraphonPraha, Prague, 1979, p. 121. Martinů does not name theballet, but refers to his ‘little work’ — far more likelyto be The Shadow than Night.

4 Held at the Bohuslav Martinů Centre in Polička.5 The whole document is reproduced in Šafránek, op. cit.,

p. 119. 6 PBM Kmš 872 (loc. cit.).

martinůrevue22016 | 15

after one hundred years of solitude is at last in the spotlight

Bohuslav Martinů in 1919, Polička

intervie

w

/ ANNA MATOUŠKOVÁ

At the time we met, he had just given a per -form ance in the UK of Schumann’s celloconcerto, conducted by Jakub Hrůša, finisheda season in Japan, and returned to Prague fromBerlin, where he had missed a bus. I caught therenowned Czech cellist Tomáš Jamník, a PragueSpring laureate, prior to his appear ance ata concert on Wenceslas Square. At the Lucernacafé, we talked about his beginnings, successesand disappointments, his variegated artisticactivities, about competitions, and about howwe are learning to listen to music anew.

Tomáš, what do you actually like playingthe most?More contemporary music, which ironically makesme feel more at ease. The older the music, themore I struggle with it. I strive to grasp all theaspects of authenticity and the period, as it is notin my nature to take a piece by, for instance,Schumann and simply play it. I must know thecontext within which it was written, and forwhom, for what purpose it was written, becauseI think that the greatest power of classical musicrests in that which is concealed behind it… Thetheatre in the foreground is nice, it allures audi -ences. But I particularly enjoy the moment whenpeople realise that they are hearing somethingthat has been here for centuries. And while Bohu -slav Martinů’s music is not yet excessively bur -dened by tradition, I think that in two centuries’time we will look at it quite differently. I’m notusing Martinů as a random example: he has longbeen my personal favourite. But I gradually seekto explore less frequently performed music. At themoment, I am discovering Paul Hindemith andArvo Pärt. What is more, each season I haveincluded new pieces in my repertoire, preferablythose written for me (laughs).

What is the difference when it comes to per -forming older and newer music? I personallyhave always found contem porary art musicmore complex as regards melody and rhythm.Contemporary music endeavours to stretch thetechnical possibilities of instruments, to shift thelimits of perceiving music, which is closely relatedto the complexity of the score. But writing a scoreis simple. It is a manual matter, which you canlearn, just as you can learn how to carve some -thing from wood. For me, it is more difficult to

tion — let us say thatit was the E in thecellos and the F inthe double-basses.In the subsequentdebate, the musi cianstook two differentstances — one groupstrictly adhered tothe notation, theother simply couldnot cope with thesecond, find ing itunbearable to theear. Hoping to settle the disagreement, they askedthe conductor, but he did not have the answer, andthus failed to resolve the situation. Nevertheless,a decision had to be taken, and the ultimate verdict

/ TOMÁŠ JAMNÍK

IT HAPPENED four years ago, when I was studyingin Berlin as a scholar of the Karajan Academy andwas afforded the opportunity to play with theBerliner Philharmoniker. I was pleased wheneverthe renowned orchestra included Czech worksin its programme, particularly those by BohuslavMartinů. In June 2012, they chose to perform Mar -tinů’s second violin concerto, conducted by MarissJansons, with Frank-Peter Zimmermann as soloist.During the rehearsals, disputable passages werediscovered in the score, where dynamics andarticulation were often open to debate. One placewas completely tangled: the cello and the double-bass parts contained minor second intervals thatmay have been correct, but were likely erroneous.I no longer precisely remember the notes in ques -

16 | martinůrevue22016

the tale of a corrected note

…with tomáš jamníkthe dvořák trio was brought together by the bohuslav martinů competition

new logic… In the 20th century, actually startingat the end of the 19th, musicians had a penchantfor adding octaves, flageolets, resolutions, and thelike to old compositions. Serving as a prime exam -ple in this respect is an old edition of a Haydn cello concerto, with wantonly modified harmonies,whole passages even. Today, we may find it ratherquaint, yet at the time the most likely problemwas that the audience was not yet ready to em -brace the music in the way it was actually written.It is wonderful that today people have an appetitefor hearing music precisely in that manner. On theother hand, it is wrong to remain entrapped in

approach works by Schumann, Brahms or Dvořák,and comprehend their context. The way in whichto interpret them, to pass them on to today’saudiences. The performers act as translators ofthe composer’s idea, they have to take it andtranslate it. If I put in it something of my own,it is the same as when a translator inserts his/herideas and fantasies in the novel being translated.Another aspect is that the music must be trans -lated in a way that is comprehensible to the con -temporary listener, much like updating Shakes -peare for today’s reader. There are new instru - ments, a new psychology of the world and its

Trio Concertino (now The Dvořák Trio) at the Bohuslav Martinů Competition in 2004

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is always the key factor with competitions, asmere hard work may totally swallow you up anddiscourage. Ever since I was a child, my parentshave always motivated me by something, whichnow, in retrospect, I consider to have been ofgreat importance. Prior to my very first competi -tion, when I was very, very young, my motivationwas a camera. At the time, it was a big deal, soI diligently rehearsed, with a photo of the cameradisplayed in front of me. Then I won the competi -tion. But I did not receive the camera; there wereseveral first prizes and the terms did not specifythat the winners of all the categories would notget the camera. Well, it was a great disappoint -ment, and I burst into tears right there, on thestage (laughs)! Yet the chairman of the jury,Profes sor Petráš, took pity on me and bought methe camera. And before the Martinů Competition,I chose a mobile phone. It half functioned asa games console, it supported 3D graphics, it waspossible to play FIFA on it. The telephone’s pricewas equal to the competition’s prize money.A great motivation indeed!

What do music competitions representfor you?An agreement between musicians, who gettogether and clearly say to themselves: let’s gofor it. A union of young musicians, whose perfor -mances are objectively assessed by a jury ofseasoned experts. There aren’t that many objec -tive elements to assess, with intonation being thefirst and foremost. Then there is imbalance, orvacillation, in time, for instance. Actual perform -ance is more or less a subjective matter. Into na -tion is the most essential aspect, which some -times even degrades the perception of music. Soeveryone pursues the goal of perfect intonation.Unfortunately, I have observed this tendency withmyself too — I get really annoyed when someonesits down and plays something out of tune three

times in a row. I am trained to perceive it and justcan’t ignore it. When it comes to interpretation,one should be restrained. Not that you shouldkowtow to the jury and conceal your opinion, butyou have to acknowledge that you simply cannotput so much of yourself into the performance.Today, there are many superb, singular musiciansproducing a singular sound or tone, yet they maycome across as overly exotic at a competition.The jury thus finds it difficult to mark them, asthey don’t conform to the prescribed criteria.It is then very hard to evaluate them.

Did you then have to keep a low profileat competitions?My tactic was to not totally go under, but to takethe boldest way, which entailed focusing on per -fect intonation, unwaveringly convincing tone,a sort of showcasing. If I were asked by someoneto give advice on how to succeed in a competition,I would recommend perfect preparation in termsof intonation. As regards interpretation — in thespring there was a heated debate concerningAnne-Sophie Mutter, who had performed a Dvořákconcerto in Prague. Sometime previously, I hadheard her in Berlin, where she too was criticisedby some, while others were enthusiastic abouther. The two groups viewed her account in totallydifferent ways. In Prague, she was quite severelyupbraided, yet people did not see why. Her per -form ance was amazing and, most significantly, theaudience roared! That, however, means nothing.That the audience gives someone a standingovation, that there is a nice atmosphere in thehall, does not necessarily have to have anythingin common with whether the piece has beeninterpreted in the right way. I myself truly admireAnne-Sophie Mutter and consider her an extra -ordinary musician, yet when it comes to inter -pretation, it is not entirely my cup of tea.Nonetheless, she is an astonishing figure.

martinůrevue22016 | 17

overture of Smetana’s The Bartered Bride, I rumi -nated over whether I could have done somethingbetter, yet I knew that the musicologist and I reallyhad done our best. Then we started to play Mar -tinů’s violin concerto. I was awaiting the incrimi -nating passage as though an execution. Just a fewseconds… three, two, one… and lo! The cello anddouble-bass sections rang with a single note, in anabsolute and wonderful intonational symbiosis!I was so startled that my bow almost fell out of myhand. I glanced over at the double-bass concertmaster who, just as inconspicuously, winked at me.It had turned out well! He had made it!

The music flew on by, yet my mind was up in theclouds. There… somewhere with Bohuslav himself,who may well have been delighted by our heroicdeed, perhaps even given a chuckle.

Written by Tomáš Jamník on the occasion of the celebrations marking the 20th anniversary

of the Bohuslav Martinů Institute (1995–2015)

that the issue wasn’t at all easy to resolve — theautograph showed both of the possibilities. But hewouldn’t give up and would seek further. A fewhours later, he called me again, this time announc -ing that he had cracked it — another autographsource, a piano reduction, clearly revealed that theminor second was wrong and that it should be oneand the same note. I thanked him warmly, put downthe phone and looked at my watch — just an hourleft prior to the beginning of the concert! So I tookoff and rushed to convey the news to the orchestra.

That which followed, I remember only vaguely,rather like a film speeded up. I ran into the double-bassists’ dressing room and sought out their con -cert master. In one breath, I told him about theinaccuracy identified in the part. The concertmaster wrung his hands and exclaimed with horror:“Too late! The concert will start in a few minutes!”I felt frustrated. All my efforts had been to no avail.Low-spirited, I returned to my dressing room. Heart -broken, soon after I went on stage. Throughout the

was to abide by the score. Some of my colleagues,however, could not make their peace with it, soI promised to ask the most competent authorities.The resolve to abide by the notation was taken atthe final morning rehearsal, just a few hours priorto the first performance. I found the telephonenumber of the Bohuslav Martinů Institute but, as itwas a Friday afternoon, I wasn’t overly expectantthat any musicologist would be there to pick up thephone.

Yet pick it up one did! On the other end of theline, I heard a young male voice asking how hecould assist me. I explained the problem and thetwo of us agreed that the situation was serious. Theyoung musicologist, Marek Pechač, promised to tryto seek out all the available materials and providethe right answer as soon as possible. In the mean -time, I went home so as to prepare myself for theconcert and thoroughly warm up. About an hourlater, my phone rang. Marek Pechač told me that hehad delved into the first part of the sources, adding

mere interpretation and theory. I can observe thiswith myself too — sometimes I am absorbed intheory and, as a result, when I am on stage, I amnot able to mediate the impulses that were therein the past. At that time, they did not speculateabout it: they played the music in the contem -porary way, highly instinctively, and, quite likely,they improvised, and this aspect simply has to bein it today. It is, in fact, an insane task.

How do you recall the Bohuslav MartinůCompetition?Very fondly indeed — I bought a phone with theprize money (laughs)! But seriously — motivation

Tomáš Jamník

review

sorrow and, worse, a desperate fear of mortalityand the obscurity that follows. Although The Epicof Gilgamesh was not written with staging inmind, Martinů did express certain requirementswith regard to the scenic component, not want -ing the singers to stand inertly but to produceallusive gestures, com municating with oneanother, with the chorus reshuffling. […]

[…] I was truly enraptured by the performancegiven by the orchestra, conducted by MarkoIvanović, and the choir, under the chorus masterPavel Koňárek. Ivanović conceived the score asa great drama in bright colours, as a pathos thatdoes not stifle but invigorates. Many a time, heembraced slow tempos, which, in my opinion,when compared with the existing recordings,revealed new dimensions of Martinů’s piece.Ivanović sharpened the contrasts, enhancedthe drama by means of emphatic articulation,and made the lyrical passages simple and bare.The baritone Jiří Hájek portrayed the lead rolemajes tically, while all the other singers, DavidNykl, Václav Čížek and Andrea Široká, splendidlyperformed their parts in line with the oratoriovocal style. As a whole, The Epic of Gilgameshcame across with incredible intensity.

“It’s dramatic, haunting me in my sleep,” Mar -tinů commented on his work on the Babylonianmystery. Upon seeing the Brno production, youmay well say the same […]

Reprinted from the musical magazine HarmonieNo. 6/2016, with their kind permission, abridged

/ MICHAELA VOSTŘELOVÁ

THE PROGRAMME of the forthcoming opera sea -son of the National Theatre in Brno is agree ablybold, and its current season too was rounded offwith a certain measure of dra matur gical libertyand a sound self-confidence. Within a singleevening, the final premiere coupled a work that isneither an opera, nor a cantata — nor an oratoriofor that matter — with a Baroque opera. “It’ssimply an epic,” said Bohuslav Martinů of one ofhis greatest works, the one-hour-long opus fornarrator, solos, chorus and orchestra The Epic ofGilgamesh, which constituted the first half of thenight. The second half consisted of Henry Purcell’sopera Dido and Aeneas, which has been per formedmore frequently on concert stages and which isnowadays expected to be undertaken by special -ists in early music.

The two seemingly incongruous works do notactually make an incoherent pair. […] The coresubject matter of both of them is death and theloss of a beloved person — themes based onAncient mythology. Nonetheless, the questionremains whether two weighty and formallyunique pieces can be combined in a single cogentproduction? And if so, in what order should theybe performed?

The stage director Jiří Heřman opted for theEpic — Dido sequence; accordingly, the first halffeatured the Old Babylonian rite of passage thatbrings Gilgamesh, the ruler of the city of Uruk, toEnkidu. The death of Enkidu arouses in Gilgamesh

The Supraphon CD you recorded with Ivo Kahá -nek was branded by Harmonie magazine as the“debut of the decade”. Last year, Ivo Kaháneksat on the jury of the Bohuslav Martinů Foun -dation Competition. How did you get together?We were introduced to one another by the violinistJan Fišer, who had just returned from his studiesin the US and wanted to work within a piano trio.At the time, he and Ivo Kahánek were already per -forming together, but they were seeking a cellistto join them. Jan’s father taught at the grammarschool where I studied, so he mentioned my name.One of the reasons might have been my successat the Martinů Com peti tion. So the guys put methrough my paces — at the time, I addressedthem by their surnames, as they struck me asbeing much older than me. We hit it off immedi -ately and began playing together. One of our first aims was to participate in the Martinů Com -peti tion in the chamber music category. So wewere actually brought together by the Martinůcompetition.

What it is like performing Martinů’s music to anaudience who may still harbour some doubts?I also have in mind your home concert series,Serious Interest. Can you imagine visiting theuninitiated and playing Martinů to them?Martinů’s music is amazing for home music-mak -ing! Let’s take the flute trio, for instance. I canvery well imagine playing it in a garden, at four ona Sun day afternoon, with people listening to thewon derful flute solo. Within the home concertsproject, we aim to make people realise what theconcert hall stands for. We are so accustomed tothe every day ritual, to the hurtling of the metro,to planes taking off and landing, and the like, thatwe no longer regard it as out of the ordinary. Andit is the same in the case of the concert hall. Wehave be come so used to attending concerts thatwe no longer understand that it actually concernsa gath ering of people, which is a very delicatecontext. A concert should be about all the peoplethere being actively present in the right sense ofthe word.

What is awaiting you in the near future?In the season 2016/2017, I am scheduled toappear at some exciting concerts and face newchallenges in the form of new repertoire pieces.I will play Bohuslav Martinů’s second cello con -certo, and I will give my first performance ofDmitry Shosta kovich’s wonderful Concerto forCello and Orchestra No. 1. Furthermore, I’ll keepon pre sent ing contem porary music, so I havebeen in ever closer contact with composers,“hatching plots”. Of late, I have been workingwith the Bären reiter publisher. New titles shouldappear soon on which I will co-oper ate to varyingde grees. ❚

18 | martinůrevue22016

dido and gilgamesh:it’s dramatic, haunting me in my sleep

/ OLGA JANÁČKOVÁ

[…] THE LARGE, open, wide stage at the JanáčekTheatre in Brno; the expanded sets, designed byDragan Stojčevski. Love, friendship, the im mor -tality of God and the mortality of man. Perpetualoscillation between the positive and the negative,joy and despair; ruminations about the sense ofexistence, about that which is inessential andthat without which life cannot be. The particularform of the playing field, fixed into the entirelyspecific architecture of the Janáček Theatre. The

scenography links the performance space and theelevated orchestra pit, which is accessible fromthe stage. The dominant colour is white, another,anticipated, space is on the left side and in thebackground of the stage. On the left, a stairwayinto the rooms of a multi-storey Shakespeareansetting; in the rear, a wide flight of steps leadingto a closed, semi-transparent wall. […]

[…] The choir and the orchestra clad in black,conducted by Marko Ivanović, in grey (the cos -tumes designed by Alexandra Grusková), whopresents the music of The Epic of Gilgamesh

an elaborate premiere in brno:gilgamesh and dido, an odd couple indeed

consistently with the composer’s idiom. Ivanović’saccount of Martinů’s piece is breezy, compact,dramatic, passionate, and tragic in the pure,linear even, full sound of the orchestra, choir andsoloists. The charismatic Gilgamesh is portrayedby the engrossing baritone Jiří Hájek, Enkidu bythe bass David Nykl and the tenor Václav Čížek,the lyrical soprano of Andrea Široká. The musi callyand expressively communicative choir, demon -strating impeccable intonation, was led by thechorus master Pavel Koňárek. And all in wellco-ordinated, precisely phrased choreographyby Jan Kodet. […]

[…] The dramaturgical pairing of the oratorioThe Epic of Gilgamesh and the Baroque opera Didoand Aeneas is innovative indeed. Dido itself con -tains the contrastive form of the quasi-comicalintermezzo that used to be placed between theacts of tragic operas and was recast into thewonderful concluding elegy of Dido’s aria and thechorus, as though being a return to the worldof tragic opera. This harks back to The Epic ofGilgamesh and the immensely emotional farewellto someone who is no more. All this imaginativelyinterwoven in the dramaturgy and staging.Heřman’s inner theme […]

The article is reproduced from the internet portalOpera Plus — www.operaplus.cz, abridged

martinůrevue22016 | 19

[ 1 ] Jakub Liška (Enkidu – Dancer)

[ 2 ] Kateřina Kněžíková (courtesan),

Václav Čížek (Enkidu)

[ 3 ] Jiří Brückler (Gilgamesh)

[ 4 ] Jan Březina (Hunter)

[ 1 ]

[ 3 ]

[ 4 ]

[ 2 ]

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