The

woodwind Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and Ree ...

sextet ''Youth'' (

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

: ''Mládí''), (1924) is a chamber composition by

composer

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, Music theory, music theorist, Folkloristics, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian folk music, Moravian and other Slavs, Slavic music, includin ...

. It was composed for

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

horn Horn may refer to: Common uses * Horn (acoustic), a tapered sound guide ** Horn antenna ** Horn loudspeaker ** Vehicle horn ** Train horn *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various animals * Horn (instrument), a family ...

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

and

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

Background

The first impulse to compose a woodwind sextet came into Janáček's mind during his visit of the festival of the International Society of Contemporary Music in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

in August 1923.

Albert Roussel Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel (; 5 April 1869 – 23 August 1937) was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. His ...

´s ''Divertimento for Wind Quintet and Piano'' was performed here, and it is possible that this composition motivated Janáček's interest to create a similar work. Another important impulse came to Janáček with a short piece called ''March of the Blue-Boys'' for piccolo, bells and tambourine (or piano). It was written in May 1924 as a reminiscence of Janáček's youth in the Old Brno Monastery. He had probably already decided to write a more extensive work. The composition was created during Janáček's three weeks stay in

Hukvaldy Hukvaldy () is a municipality and village in Frýdek-Místek District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,200 inhabitants. The municipality is known for the ruins of the third-largest castle in the Czech Republic, ...

in July, 1924. At the beginning of the autumn 1924, during the rehearsals, Janáček made a number of changes to the score. The premiere took place on October 21, 1924, in ''Besední dům'' in

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. The players consisted of the

Brno Conservatory The Brno Conservatory, also Brno Conservatoire (), was established in Brno on 25 September 1919 by Moravian composer Leoš Janáček. History Leoš Janáček attempted to establish and improve high musical education in Brno from his early age. ...

teachers Josef Bok (flute and piccolo), Matěj Wagner (oboe), Stanislav Krtička (clarinet), František Janský (horn), and the members of the Brno National Theatre Orchestra František Bříza (bassoon) and Karel Pavelka (bass clarinet). Unfortunately, the performance wasn't very successful. The oboist finally managed to repair a defect of his instrument, but the clarinettist, because of a broken key spring only pretended to be playing. Janáček was very angry. However, the work was performed in

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on November 25, 1924, this time with members of the

Czech Philharmonic The Czech Philharmonic () is a symphony orchestra based in Prague. Its principal performing venue is the Rudolfinum concert hall. History The name "Czech Philharmonic Orchestra" appeared for the first time in 1894, as the title of the orche ...

, and the performance was received with great success. A pocket score, parts and piano arrangement by Břetislav Bakala were published in January 1925 by Hudební matice. ''Youth'' in 1925 was awarded the Prize of the

Czech Academy of Sciences The Czech Academy of Sciences (abbr. CAS, , abbr. AV ČR) was established in 1992 by the Czech National Council as the Czech successor of the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and its tradition goes back to the Royal Bohemian Society of Sc ...

Structure

The composition consists of four movements: # Allegro # Andante sostenuto # Vivace # Allegro animato A considerable part of Janáček's chamber music was created in his later years and is considered as an outgrowth of his "youthful mood".Score, p. XVI. The work is example of virtuoso use of a woodwind instrumental ensemble, but it was not only a "technical task" for Janáček. It also contains interesting musical ideas, characteristic of the composer's later style. Janáček used the main theme from the ''March of the Blue-Boys'' in the third movement.

Notes

References

* Janáček, Leoš: Youth. Score. Urtext. Editio Bärenreiter: Prague, 2001. H 7388. ISMN M-2601-0116-6 * Janáček Leoš: ''Pochod modráčků'' (The March of the Blue-Boys). Flauto e piano. Editio Supraphon: Prague, 1985. H 4876

External links

*
English info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Youth (Wind Sextet) Chamber music by Leoš Janáček 1924 compositions Compositions for sextet

Background

Structure

See also

Notes

References

External links