Group of six choruses a cappella for women is published under the artificial name of Czech Nursery Rhymes, H 209, which, however Bohuslav Martinů, never used. The outer impulse for the composition of this group of works was the concert of the Choral Society of Prague Women Teachers, led by Metod Vymetal, in Paris and the composer's contact with this ensemble and its possibilities, the inner impulse being Martinů's need of vocal studies before starting to compose his sung ballet Špalíček, H 214 I, in his creative period devoted to Czech musical folklore.
The work as a whole contains two independent groups of three choruses for women which are, however, considerably related. Martinů wrote the first of them in Paris at Christmas in 1930 and most likely called it “Czech Folk Songs and Nursery Rhymes”. The title page of the original score is missing and this supposition is based on secondary sources […]. Similarly, no proof exists that the group of works in question was dedicated to the Choral Society of Prague Women Teachers, as generally believed, although this was quite probable. It was, however, this ensemble that performed it for the first time in Prague on 5 May 1933 under the baton of Metod Vymetal.
Martinů composed the second group of three choruses before 27 July 1931 in Paris. The composer called these “3 Choruses for Women” – the sub-title of the work –Old Czech Nursery Rhymes […].
Variants of the first and last choruses of the total group of six choruses can be heard in Martinů's ballet Špalíček. The chorus called “Shepherdesses profession [I]” was also used as the finale of Three Part-Songs (1952), H 338, and the texts of both versions were newly set to music by the composer in the “calls” of Katuška in the first act of the opera Theatre Behind the Gate (1936), H 251.
Zdeněk Zouhar. Česká říkadla [score], Panton International, Prague, 2002.