Leoš Janáček
Große Suite
Short instrumentation: 4 3 3 3 - 4 3 3 1 - timp, perc(2), hp, cel, str
Duration: 30'
Bearbeitet von: Jakub Hrůša
Instrumentation details:
1st flute
2nd flute
3rd flute (+picc)
4th flute (+picc)
1st oboe
2nd oboe
cor anglais
1st clarinet in Bb
2nd clarinet in Bb
bass clarinet in Bb
1st bassoon
2nd bassoon
3rd bassoon (+cbsn)
1st horn in F
2nd horn in F
3rd horn in F
4th horn in F
1st trumpet in F in (+tpt(C))
2nd trumpet in F in (+tpt(C))
3rd trumpet in F in (+tpt(C))
1st trombone
2nd trombone
3rd trombone
tuba
timpani
percussion(2)
celesta
harp
violin I
violin II
viola
violoncello
double bass
Janácek - Suite for orchestra
Printed/Digital
Translation, reprints and more
Leoš Janáček
Janácek: Füchslein-Suite (Hrúša)Orchestration: for orchestra
Type: Dirigierpartitur
Sample pages
Work introduction
The impulse for compiling this new “grand suite“ from the Cunning Little Vixen was, in addition to my innermost relationship to the music of Janácek´s opera which takes place where I grew up, the awareness gained from my conducting experience that in the case of Janácek his unique compositional genius is still insufficiently known in concert halls and moreover that the existing suites from the Vixen which are occasionally played do not allow the listener to hear the larger arc of the opera’s music and by no means all the beauty of its music.
For a long time I have conducted, and still do conduct, the existing suites by Václav Talich (or later in an orchestration adapted from the original form by Charles Mackerras), and by František Jílek (in this case it is more accurately the “entr’acte music“. Both forms have their own meaning and rightly enchant concert audiences. However, in my opinion both are also unfortunately incomplete. The Talich/Mackerras Suite presents only music from the first act, at some length. Jílek's “entr’acte music”, in its turn, begins more or less incomprehensibly in the middle of this act and then presents only a few more symphonic-sounding sections (of which the work’s hymn-like conclusion itself is certainly the most valuable passage in dramatic terms); however, it does not neglect the sections in which voices feature in the original, although its aim was to concentrate on the instrumental part. For a very long time I have dreamed of combining the best of both concepts in one concert programme. Having thoroughly familiarized myself with the whole opera (which I have rehearsed several times), I also felt a longing to enrich the concert world with further beautiful music, which had not yet been used in suites.
At the same time, however, a potential question arose about length. Given that Janácek already works with “symphonic logic” on the one hand (as a certain aspect of his opera work has been described by František Jílek, the creator of one of the suites), on the other hand however, he works just as successfully with a working style that is able to combine organically shorter and highly contrasting musical expressions, it is ultimately possible to compile several possible selections of the extracts used in the suite, while maintaining the musical logic of the entire arc. However, in order to make sense of the overall musical story of the opera, it is essential that the sequence of the selected musical sections is used strictly chronologically. This is exactly how the “grand suite” is designed. At the same time, however, interpreters are offered the choice of various cuts. By means of a considered system of several optional cuts (“vide”), it is always possible to use a quasi-collage approach (which nevertheless remains logical) to compile an original form of the whole piece, according to the wishes of the conductor. Of course, the entire suite can also be played without a single omission. In this way, the effect of the suite in concert is very similar to the feeling of experiencing the complete opera.
I am convinced that such a "grand suite" from the Cunning Little Vixen, a masterpiece of theatrical composition, forms the necessary basis for another major work of Leoš Janácek appearing on concert platforms, as a complement to such masterpieces as the Sinfonietta, Taras Bulba or the Glagolitic Mass.
Jakub Hruša