General information
Title CZČeská říkadla
Subtitle CZšest ženských sborů
Title ENCzech Nursery Rhymes
Subtitle ENsix female choruses
Title DETschechische Reimsprüche
Subtitle DEsechs Frauenchore
CategoryVocal Music
SubcategoryChoir a Cappella
Halbreich number209
Author of lyrics/libretto - Lidový text, Folk lyrics
Parts of the composition (movements)1. Final Death
2. Closing of the Forest
3. Shepherdesses profession [I]
4. Morana! Morana!
5. Shepherdesses profession [II]
6. Exaltation of the Death
Textual incipit1. Byl jeden domeček, v tom domečku stoleček
2. Zavírám, zavírám les, aby tam nikdo nevlez
3. Hej! Hej! Helilalou! Hej! Hej! Mářo! Mařenko Zikmundová!
4. Mořena! Mořena! Kam jsi klíče děla?
5. Hej! Hela! Hela! Helilalou! Hej! Anko, Aninko Tomešová!
6. Smrt nesem ze vsi, nové léto do vsi
Durata17'
InstrumentsCoro femminile
Note on the dedicationPěvecké sdružení pražských učitelek
Origin
Place of compositionParis
Year of origin1931
Initiation of composition1930
Completion of composition07/1931
First performance
Performer Vymetal, Metod
Date of the first performance04.04.1933
Location of the first performancePrague
Note on the first performanceMetod Vymětal (cond.)
Ensemble Pěvecké sdružení pražských učitelek
Pěvecké sdružení pražských učitelek
Autograph deposition
Note on the autograph depostitionAutograph missing.
Copyright
CopyrightSchott Music GmbH & Co.
Purchase linkbuy
First edition
PublisherPanton
Place of issuePraha
Year of publication1977
Editions available at the BM Institute
Panton, Prague, 1984
Call number at the BM Institute: 1028
Specification of the edition: 2nd edition, re-edition of the 1st edition (1977) - score
Details of this edition
Panton, Prague, 2002
Call number at the BM Institute: 1028a
Specification of the edition: Re-edition of the 1st edition (1977) - score
Details of this edition
Sources
References Related writings
Related images
Documents in the Library
Note Czech folk poetry (from K.J. Erben's compilation).
About the composition

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.

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