2. SHARP-EARS IN CAPTIVITY

The orchestral interlude between the scenes, oscillates between a mood of sadness and a mood of restlessness, probably intended to represent the mixed state of mind of the little vixen in captivity. The same theme serves for both: (A) and (B) of 87 generate further motifs.

No. 87

No. 87A

No. 87 is a motif of longing and No. 87A-an impatient version of 87-a motif of rebellion: the repetition of the wailing 3/8 a diminution in an echoed 2/4 version seems to indicate the futility of rebellion-the frustration of an impotent rebel. After some development of this agitated motif there is a pause, and with the notes marked x in No. 87 in triplets, thundering out ever louder and faster in lower strings and winds, the music breaks off inconclusively.

The scene is the yard of the forester’s house by a lake. It is late evening in autumn. Sharp-Ears is lying in front of a dog kennel, side by side with Lapák, the dog of the house. Some hens are scratching about in the yard. The forester steps out of his house for a moment, addressing his dog affectionately. His wife pours milk into a dish for the animals, remarking irritably that the place is simply crawling with fleas. A moment later the animals are alone.

(A of 87-in its triplet form-alternates with the whole of 87.) The young vixen howls (to B of 87) while Lapák tells her he has had enough of her wailing: he, too, is a lonely soul but gives expression to his feelings by singing sad songs of his own making to the moon. His master beats him for this and, he adds regretfully, in spite of his songs he still has had no experience of love. Sharp-Ears confesses that she, too, is innocent though she learned a few things from the chatter of the starlings who nested in trees above their den. The parent birds were either squabbling or talking scandal all the time and the young ones were little better: one was having an affair with a young cuckoo (cuckoo call on a flute), another was obliged to pay a magpie alimony in hazel-nuts, and the eldest daughter-an ugly, dirty creature-was carrying on with a handsome young raven. The vixen’s gossip begins softly with this innocent-of-love four-note motif, taken over from Lapák’s last phrase-

No. 88

which chatters along as a pattern in notes of half value as Sharp-Ears tells of the scandalous family of starlings, accompanied by other delightful orchestral bird noises including a woodpecker theme at the piu mosso on p. 28. Her talk on the amorous goings-on of the birds has excited Lapák and he makes a pass at her. Sharp-Ears, however, knocks him down and the disappointed dog creeps dolefully into his kennel (a repetition of the plaintive No. 87).

The forester’s young son enters with a friend to whom he wants to show off his new pet. The forester’s son catches the vixen and holds her up for inspection: his friend pokes a stick under her nose asking if she bites. Sharp-Ears growls angrily that she is no dog-what do they take her for? The boy hits the vixen on the nose with his stick and Sharp-Ears flies out at them, biting the forester’s son in the leg. She runs towards the wood with the boys chasing after her. The forester and his wife rush in, the wife telling her husband that it is time that they got rid of this smelly brute. The forester deftly catches Sharp-Ears, ties her up, and boxes his son’s ears for teasing the vixen. Sharp-Ears moans again (to C of No. 87) as Lapák follows his master and mistress into the house and the two boys slink away.

When the boys enter, the orchestra plays a skipping two-note figure which contrasts with this curiosity motif-

No 89

an inversion of A No. 86, Act I. The action is swift and the music moves equally speedily to a climax. There is a host of interesting detail: the indignation of the vixen, the blubbering of the boy whose leg she has just bitten, and the loneliness of Sharp-Ears are etched with simple, direct strokes in the voice lines. The pathetic No. 87 wails out as the little vixen gives vent to a howl.

The second orchestral interlude begins quietly with B of No. 87 as an ostinato figure in the bass while the first bar of 87 is heard high up on violins and harp. Night has fallen.

Janáček has indicated in his score that during this interlude Sharp-Ears should be transformed into a beautiful young girl-presumably the gypsy, Terynka, who is spoken of as the femme fatale of the schoolmaster, the parson and the poacher. This is Garnett’s Lady into Fox in reverse. As, however, Terynka herself never appears in the opera, it is very doubtful if this identification of the vixen with the gypsy girl has any real meaning to an audience: in any case, the parallel duality is open to question, Terynka being a wanton and Sharp-Ears a faithful wife and devoted mother.

It is perhaps safer to see in these inspired pages

No. 89A

a glorious hymn to nature-the passing of night, the infinite variety of animal life in the forest, the coming of dawn, the miracle of the rising sun. Janáček once said that his themes grew out of the soil, out of the animals, out of the people and somehow linked themselves insolubly with these objects. "I am astonished at the tens of thousands of the existing phenomena in the world of rhythm, colour, light, sound and touch", he wrote: "when my music fuses with nature it becomes rhythmically alive, eternally young."

3 THE CUNNING SHARP-EARS ENSNARES CHICKENS BY TALKING POLITICS TO THEM

and

4. SHARP-EARS ESCAPES

The scene is the same as before. Lapák tells Sharp-Ears that she should have followed his example and not tried to escape (this bouncing little figure in the orchestra)

No 90

The farmer’s wife appears with food for the chickens. The cock remarks spitefully that at one time little foxy used to chase them, now she is fettered and that’s because she is a useless creature-why, she cannot even lay an egg (chattering, four-fold, rhythmic structure-one being 89)! He turns on his brood and like Chaucer’s Chauntecleer, urges them to keep on working hard at laying eggs. The hens dutifully retort in chorus that they are laying eggs. (A short humorous "ballet" with this clucking chromatic theme on voices and orchestra.)

No 91

Chocholka, the chief hen, encourages her sisters by executing a series of egg-inspiring coloratura trills.

Sharp-Ears swoops in to the attack. "Listen, sisters", she says, darting up, "what good is this cock of yours? You merely serve his pleasure! The existing social order is degrading! Down with it! Let’s build a better world where all are equal, happy and contented!" "But", reply the giggling hens, "how could we manage without .... a cock? ""He grabs the best of everything", argues Sharp-Ears, "and what is left over . . . you get"

No. 92

(and similar chattering semiquaver figures worked up in the orchestra) .

The cock is smart enough to see through the vixen’s plot and warns the credulous hens to keep their distance-a fox is their natural enemy. The hens agree and obey: when the sly vixen, however, pretends to bury herself in sackcloth and ashes-in mourning, she assures them, for their helpless slavery-the innocent Chocholka tells them to "go and look if our wronged sister is dead". As the chickens run up inquisitively Sharp-Ears springs up suddenly and catches the cock. Chocholka screams and the hens scatter. The forester’s wife rushes in and belabours the vixen, exclaiming maliciously that the only use she has for a fox is to make a muff out of its skin. Sharp-Ears tries frantically to break away from the rope with which she is tied up. She screams defiantly that she is not afraid of the forester even if he is twice her size. "Wait till I hit your snout!" the forester retorts angrily: "And I yours, "the vixen screams back at him. She bites furiously into the rope with her sharp teeth, frees herself and makes a mad dash to freedom, somersaulting over the forester and knocking him over.

The vixen’s mock burial, the hens, torn between fear and curiosity, are characterised in music of sly good humour and audiovisual accuracy, as is the resulting confusion with the wife screaming

No 93

"Shoot her, you fool! ", the little vixen laughing derisively and the orchestra playing rushing scales and other excitable sounds. Sharp-Ears escapes to a surging-up of happy chortling music.

The Story and Music of Act II

The four subsequent adventures of our lively little heroine are:

5. Sharp-Ears lays claim to someone else’s property.

6. Sharp-Ears gets herself talked about.

7. Sharp-Ears plays tricks.

8. Sharp-Ears is wooed and won.

5. SHARP-EARS LAYS CLAIM TO SOMEONE ELSE S PROPERTY

The entire first scene of Act II is monothematic, being based on the theme we hear at the beginning of the prelude and its jerky accompanying figure. It begins in a thoroughly business-like manner-in the whole-tone scale-gradually shading off into a quieter presentation of the theme in D flat major,

No. 94

with the four-note figure (marked A in 94) as counterpoint. At curtain rise, these parts are reversed, figure A powerfully declaimed on top with the theme itself in the tenor voice. Later the two perfect fourths at B are woven into a swift demisemiquaver pattern.

We are back in the forest as at the beginning of the opera. Sharp-Ears is looking enviously into the den of the badger. The bad-tempered badger resents her presence, calling her a dirty, flea-ridden tramp. The vixen retaliates by saying he is a braggart, lounging around like a gentleman, taking things easy.

The insects and small wood animals are the vixen’s friends and they back up her attack on the badger. "There’s plenty of room in his den for three", Sharp-Ears continues provokingly, "and here he is wallowing like a cow in clover and resenting anyone even so much as talking to him." "Shame on you! Shame on you! "the animals add reproachfully. Goaded by these unjust taunts, the badger turns angrily on the vixen, telling her to clear off or he will call a policeman, and he aims a few kicks at her. The vixen provokes him still further by telling him he is a miserable old miser, a smelly old reptile, and that it is he-not she-who will end up in prison one of these days! All the animals take sides with Sharp-Ears and harass the poor badger even further by indignantly repeating all her insults. The vixen follows this up by raising her tail and fouling the badger’s den, at which the indignant owner jumps out and saying tearfully that this is no place for decent folk, he shuffles off into the wood with his pipe tucked under his arm.

The vixen is now no longer homeless but the possessor of a fine home which she surveys triumphantly.

The dance-like dotted rhythm of 94 at C continues almost without a break, accompanying-among other things-the first four bars of the principal tune in a compressed version.

As the badger goes off in disgust, the orchestra plays a new allied motif of indignation

No. 95

which continues into and beyond the following orchestral interlude. In a stage direction Janáček asks that typical tavern noises should filter through from the inn, which is the set for Act II, Scene 2. The intermezzo begins with the lively

No. 96

forte on violins, alternating with an embroidered piano variation of the same tune and continues in a brisk prelude pattern until the curtain rises.

 

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