Three Songs for the Cabaret “Red Seven”, H 129, fall into the category of occasional music, and show that the composer, having allowed himself to be enticed into the sphere of light music, was equally happy to experiment there. His reasons for taking on this task were of a purely prosaic nature: he needed the money.
Martinu composed all three songs in 1921 in response to a commission from Jiří Červený (1887–1962), the founder and leading spirit of the famous satirical cabaret group Červená sedma [Red Seven]. […] According to an article by Jiří Červený, the composer himself called them chansons. After all, the songs were originally intended to be sung with in the context of a cabaret, and this is reflected in their character.
The authors of the texts were writers, journalists and poets who were in close contact with Červená sedma and had a hand in shaping its repertoire: Jiří Dréman (the pen-name of Josef Nerad, 1892–1946) was the author of several plays and became known for his charming performances as a member of the Červená sedma ensemble. František Gellner (1881–1914) began his literary career as a journalist. He was an editor on the Brno paper Lidové noviny and made a name for himself as an ironic commentator with an anarchist view point and as a writer of sentimental verses. Some of his verses were set to music by Jiří Červený for Červená sedma, including three poems from the collection Radosti života [Joys of Life]. Jiří Herold (the pen-name of František Sadecký, 1895–1966) worked as an editor for Lidové listy and Tribuna. He was also known as a writer of one-act plays and cabaret songs.
From the formal point of view, these compositions belong to the kind of cabaret song in which the music is developed out of a text that is rich in ideas and expression. In them, Martinů succeeded in giving a variety of texts a truthful musical characterisation. His musical language may not be complicated, but it is melodically, harmonically and rhythmically resourceful; nor is it lacking humour and an element of satirical exaggeration.
Kateřina Maýrová, Bohuslav Martinů: Tři šansony pro Červenou sedmu. Prague: Tempo, 1993.