Opera in 3 acts(1924)
revised version by Jir Zahrdka

Universal Edition continues its new study score standard. These completely redesigned scores offer an unparalleled insight into the music of the last hundred years. Great care has been taken to select the best available content for this journey through music history, and every score has been edited according to the latest quality standards.

This edition ofDas schlaue Fchslein(The Cunning Little Vixen) has been made by comparing all the relevant surviving sources and establishing a version of the work that comes nearest to the composers intention.

The new edition, which was edited by Ji? Zahrdka, is thus based above all on of the version given at the premiere in Brno in 1924, including Frantiek Neumanns (the conductor) fully elaborated, detailed dynamics. In cases where several minor changes in the Prague version appear to be justified, they were considered in the new edition. The New Critical Edition of the opera includes the full score, the complete orchestra material, as well as the piano vocal score and choir score.

The tale of the free-thinking and crafty vixen Bystrouka goes back to the 1890s. In the beginning were the tiny sketches of the painter and forester Stanislav Lolek (18731936), a distinguished landscape artist. The story of Bystrouka was serialized inLidov novinyfrom 7 April to 23 June 1920 and had a huge success. The merry and immediately accessible drawings with a witty and topical text found a readership throughout the entire social spectrum. It is certainly true that Jan?ek began considering composing an opera on this theme since he acquired cuttings of all the episodes inLidov noviny. And in fact, as soon as Jan?ek completed the work onKatja Kabanowahe immediately started onDas schlaue Fchslein. The dates on the autograph show that he began composition as early as January 1922. The author of the literary model T?snohldek got the news only indirectly that Jan?ek wanted to compose an opera on his text. The composer himself invited him to come and see him at the time when he was already working on the opera.

Meanwhile Jan?ek composed, and started out on his study of nature to a whole series of bird notations of thrushes, sparrows, finches and blackbirds. He wrote down notations for doves, a little toad, and a frog with the instrumental comment like a xylophone. He also noticed animals and took down in his notebook his impressions of walks in the game reserve, where the forester even tracked down a vixens den with young so that the composer could observe and study them. No wonder that several of Jan?eks newspaper reviews inLidov novinyin the years 1921 1922 had animal motifs.

Meanwhile frantic negotiations broke out over who would publish the composers latest work. As in the case ofJen?fa,Die Ausflge des Herrn Brou?ekandKatja Kabanowa, interest was shown essentially by two publishers: Hudebn matice in Prague and Universal Edition in Vienna. The first to approach the composer was Hudebn matice, but, as before, Jan?ek used this offer rather as a tactic to firm up his dealings with Universal Edition. The contract with Universal Edition was signed between March and April 1924.

The celebrated world premiere of the operaP?hody liky Bystrouky (Die Abenteuer des Fchsleins Schlaukopf)took place in the Brno theatre Na Hradbch on 6 November 1924. The reception was tremendous and the composer himself was happy with the staging by Ota Ztek and the set design by Eduard Miln (who also designed the cover of the piano vocal score).

The composer himself characterized the opera as a forest idyll, one that would awaken the notion of the unity of life both human and animal.