Leoš Janáček
Suite
Short instrumentation: 4 3 3 3 - 4 3 3 1 - timp, perc(3), hp, cel (+car), str
Duration: 16'
Einrichtung von: Václav Smetácek
Bearbeitet von: Václav Talich
Instrumentation details:
1st flute
2nd flute
3rd flute (1st picc)
4th flute (2nd picc)
1st oboe
2nd oboe
3rd oboe (+cor anglais)
1st clarinet in Bb
2nd clarinet in Bb
bass clarinet in Bb
1st bassoon
2nd bassoon
contrabassoon
1st horn in F
2nd horn in F
3rd horn in F
4th horn in F
1st trumpet in C
2nd trumpet in C
3rd trumpet in C
1st trombone
2nd trombone
3rd trombone
tuba
timpani
1st percussion
2nd percussion
3rd percussion
celesta (+carillon)
harp
violin I
violin II
viola
violoncello
contrabass
Janácek - Suite for orchestra
Sample pages
Audio preview
Work introduction
The conductor Václav Talich transformed the music of Act One of The Cunning Little Vixen into a suite for orchestra in 1937, to bring the opera’s unique atmosphere into the concert hall. His fellow conductor Václav Smetácek undertook a reworking of the arrangement in 1965.
The two movements, played without a break, correspond to the act’s two scenes. The first scene is about the forest, fauna and nature, disrupted by the forester who captures the vixen Sharp-Ears, while the second scene unfolds on the forester’s farm, where nature domesticated long ago encounters the feral; the captured vixen gives the resident dachshund the cold shoulder, kills the chickens – and flees.