Thu, 23. 10. 2025, 19.00 hrs

A2 TCHAIKOVSKY JANÁČEK MARTINŮ

Venue: Zlín Congress Centre  |  Organizer: Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinů, o.p.s.  |  Price: 390,- 330,- 280,-

Tchaikovsky wrote his D Major violin concerto, one of the most frequently performed concertos with its thrilling virtuoso finale, in March 1878 when he was staying in the village of Clarens on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, recovering from depression. The work, with its beautiful melodies that permeate the whole of its running time of almost 40 minutes, is far from gloomy however, as it captivates the listener with its extraordinary tunefulness, fiery passion and technical brilliance. This magnificent work, which offers the soloist a unique opportunity to demonstrate their virtuosity and depth of musical expression, is played for us tonight by Pavla Tesařová, one of this country’s most talented violinists, currently concertmaster with the PKF-Prague Philharmonia Orchestra and winner of the 20th season of the Václav Hudeček Academy in Luhačovice.

Before Tchaikovsky’s sparkling violin concerto we will hear a work by Leoš Janáček, who had connections not only to Luhačovice, but also to the art of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, whom Janáček himself once called the most modern composer of his time. The work is the prelude to his seventh opera, The Cunning Little Vixen - a work which may never have seen the light of day were it not for an unexpected turn of events.  This happened one day when Janáček heard his housekeeper Marie Stejskalova laugh out loud at a piece in Lidové Noviny in which an editor, Mr Těsnohlídek, wrote verses to drawings by Stanislav Lolek showing tales of animals speaking. She showed the composer the paper and Janáček read it, letting out a laugh. “You could write a fine opera about that,” his housekeeper said, and she was right. 

We then hear a suite from the ballet comedy Who is the Most Powerful in the World? by Bohuslav Martinů, who began composing it in 1922, before leaving for Paris. Martinů wrote the libretto himself, based on an English fairy tale of Indian origin. The story follows the fate of a mouse whose parents try hard to find  the most powerful groom in the world for her to marry. This playful dance comedy with its whimsical music was primarily intended as an entertainment piece. Martinů himself described it as a ballet revue in which he could freely use the dances of the time, so the characters perform their moves to the rhythms of  a serenade, minuet, waltz, polka, march, foxtrot, the Charleston and the Boston.