Karina Canellakis & Janáček: Het sluwe vosje
Karina Canellakis, chief conductor of the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, delves again into the operatic oeuvre of Leoš Janáček. This year they tell the story of "Sly little Fox" a heartwarming fairy tale. The story is performed at het Main Hall at the Royal Concertgebouw.
Karina Canellakis & Janáček: Het sluwe vosje
Fairy tale
We can ask ourselves whether the 'youth opera' The sly little fox is actually a fairy tale, and also whether it is a youth opera. All kinds of singing animals figure in the work, but the relationship between nature and man is central. A fox cannot be tamed, which is why it constantly challenges the human world. But the composer's message is that nature, like man himself, is subject to an eternal cycle of dying and being born.
The old Janáček as a modernist
Janáček wrote The Sly Little Fox in 1924, when he was 67 years old. His vocal language is partly based on the Czech and Moravian speech rhythm, a technique that the composer had learned in principle from Wagner and Mussorgsky as well as from Debussy. But despite the dialogue form, the lyrical-dramatic cantabile actually dominates the vocal sound image, with grand symphonic parts. This, in combination with strongly rhythmic passages and surprising changes in time, makes him one of the great modernists of the interwar years. Chief conductor Karina Canellakis continues her Janáček cycle with this heart-conquering Vosje .