Prélude [H 86bis] testifies that in the neighbourhood of quasi-impressionistic and supposedly refined scores, reveling in rich and changing sound, pentatonicism and harmonies based on the whole-tone scale, Martinů was able to compose music that was very clear and transparent and, paradoxically, more resistant to time than his first Debussy opuses, on which he once took great pride. The first of the two ideas in this three-part work is clearly linked to the Czech musical tradition as it was understood in the late 19th century. At the same time, however, it demonstrates that Martinů in 1913 was far from having embarked on the difficult journey towards music that “will be new and yet will be Czech” (to paraphrase his later statement). The contrasting, sing-song second idea of Prélude is actually a variant of the opening motif of the Waltz of the Sentimental Puppet from the first booklet of the Piano Puppets (published as Puppets III [H 72]), composed to coincide with Prélude. The motivic affinity of the two aforementioned pieces and the similar stylization of the eighth-note accompaniment in the left hand attest to the young composer's preoccupation with his Melancholy Puppet Songs, as the first Puppets were originally called.
Iša Popelka, Bohuslav Martinů: skladby pro Poličku. Praha: Supraphon, 1973, s. 4.