Vítězslav Novák (1870-1949)

8 Notturnos, Op. 39 (1908)

I. Hvězdy ve vlnách (Stars in the Waves)

It is impossible to talk about 20th century Czech art song without mentioning one of its most prolific song composers: Vítězslav Novák.

There is often an autobiographical element to Novák's music, and this piece is no exception. In the summer of 1896, Novák was invited to spend some time in rural Moravia, where he became greatly interested in nature, igniting a creative spark. Indeed, there are countless depictions of nature in his must post-1896, but with a late Romantic tinge. Many other contemporaneous European composers (Debussy, Ravel, Janáček, etc.) were trying to break free from Romanticism, which only adds to the complicated idea of Czech "modernism" (see earlier post for explanation). There is clearly a nature element to this poem, but also a sense of melancholy. There is beautiful text painting here, and one can sense the placid waves breaking ashore at night (left hand of the piano reduction), and the moonlight glittering on the water's surface (right hand of the piano reduction). The lower vocal tessitura gives a sense of personal reflection with moments of heightened emotion. It many ways, I find similarities with Debussy's "Beau soir" — beautiful, serene music with a deep, introspective text.