Leoš Janáček (1854-1928)

Slezské písně (ze sbírky Heleny Salichové), 1918

Silesian Songs (from Helena Salichové’s Collection)

X. V černým lese (In the Black Wood)

Of all the Czech composers I have featured thus far, Leoš Janáček may, arguably, be considered the most individualistic. He was not of the Nationalist school of Smetana, Dvořák, and Fibich, but he can hardly be lumped into the Modernist school of Novák, Foerster, et al, despite being modern — albeit in his own way.

Janáček was known for using unequal rhythms (quadruplets, quintuplets, etc.) to ensure the most natural declamation, as evident in operas such as Jenůfa and Příhody lišky bystroušky (The Cunning Little Vixen), among others. Indeed, I find the effect to resemble lyric recitative, in many ways, immaculately following the natural cadence of the Czech language. He also played with bitonality, but one would be loath to call his music atonal.

He was also an expert folklorist, specializing in the folk music of his native Moravia (though he was from Moravian Silesia), which influenced nearly every aspect of his mature writing style so much so that much of his early operas contain more existing folk music that newly composed material. Today’s post is an example from his oeuvre of folklore material. He spent years traveling around Moravia and transcribing folksongs, many of which he would quote or imitate in his music.

In Slezské písně, Janáček focuses on folk tunes collected by the Silesian ethnographer Helena Salichové, from her Slezské lidové písně svatební a jiné z Kyjovic a okolí (Silesian Wedding Folk Songs and Others From Kyjovice and Surroundings, 1917). Silesia is a historical region that is primarily exists in modern-day Poland with a small part extending into the northeastern Czech Republic and eastern Germany.

Modern Silesia, as seen on a map of greater Europe

According to a foreword in the score (in Czech), Janacek felt Silesian folk song “attracted him with its content, in which it depicted social contradictions and social differences as well as the love of young people.” Indeed, one can find folk songs celebrating love, weddings, funerals, tending to animals, back-breaking work, drinking, and the joy of life.

I am unsure if the ten songs in Slezské písně are set to Salichové’s pre-existing melodies or whether Janáček created his own melodies. The vocal melody is doubled in the accompaniment, but the range consists of an 11th — a larger interval one may not regularly find in folk music due to the greater vocal demand of the lay singer. Though the song is in 3/4 time, I personally feel a somewhat strong accent on beat two, giving an almost dance-like feel to this song. I need to do much more research on Moravian folksong to decipher whether any of the songs in Slezské písně contain any specific traditional dances.

At any rate, enjoy Magdalena Kožená and Malcolm Martineau performing “V černym else” (“In the Black Wood”).

In the black wood, a little bird is singing,

my love is fathering grass there,

she has collected too much,

she couldn’t stop herself.

She gathered, she picked,

she called out to her beau:

come, my swain, come,

I cannot stop myself.