Bamberger Symphoniker (Janáček Brno 2026)

ABOUT

The composition of Leoš Janáček’s (1854–1928) opera Jenůfa occupied the composer for more than eight years. At the very outset of this work, in February 1895, he composed a symphonic prelude under the title Jealousy. Rather than writing a traditional overture, Janáček conceived this short work as a kind of introductory motto or meditation on one of the opera’s central motifs. As a program he used the text of the Moravian folk song The Jealous Man, which he had already set some years earlier as a male chorus. In Jealousy Janáček’s distinctive style – marked by brevity and dramatic tension – fully crystallizes for the first time. The work was first performed on 14 November 1906 in Prague by the Czech Philharmonic under conductor František Neumann.

Antonín Dvořák’s (1841–1904) symphonic poem The Wild Dove, Op. 110, was written less than two years after Janáček’s Jealousy, in the autumn of 1896, as the last of the composer’s four symphonic poems based on Karel Jaromír Erben’s Bouquet. The cruel plot of Erben’s ballad, centered on murder and the weight of guilt, bears many similarities to the subject matter of Jealousy and Jenůfa. It is therefore no surprise that the work quickly caught Janáček’s attention – so much so that he persuaded Dvořák to allow the premiere to take place in Brno, where Janáček himself conducted it on 20 March 1898. In his symphonic treatment of the tragic story, Dvořák combined hauntingly beautiful melodies with a colorful palette of inventive tone-painting effects.

Anton Bruckner’s (1824–1896) Symphony No. 4, to which the composer himself attached the epithet “Romantic,” is among his most frequently performed works. The enchanting descriptions he appended to the movements suggest inspiration drawn from the world of medieval towns surrounded by magical forests populated with knights and hunters. Bruckner composed the symphony in 1874 and substantially revised it several times in subsequent years. At the time of its creation, Bruckner’s monumental musical language – deeply influenced by Wagner – found little understanding among performers, and the work had to wait for its premiere. It was finally performed in 1881 by the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Hans Richter. In the Czech lands, the symphony was introduced in Brno on 21 April 1893 by Bruckner’s friend and teacher, conductor Otto Kitzler.

Text: Ondřej Pivoda

Programme

Leoš Janáček: Jealousy (Prelude to Jenůfa), JW VI/10
Antonín Dvořák: The Wild Dove, Symphonic Poem, Op. 110, B 198
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major “Romantic”, WAB 104

Performers

Conductor: Jakub Hrůša

Bamberg Symphony