In today’s music feature, we offer you the fairytale opera “The Cunning Little Vixen” suitable for children and adults alike.
The opera “The Cunning Little Vixen” was inspired by a serialized comic strip first published in the Czech newspaper “Lidové noviny” at the start of the previous century. The opera tells the story of a vixen cub trapped and raised by a Forester. Fed up with life in confinement, the Little Vixen runs away into the woods where she meets her great love – the Boy Fox. They raise a family and have a lot of children. At the end of the opera, however, the Vixen gets shot and dies. In the opera’s epilogue, the Forester has a vision of a little vixen, one of her daughters, or the never-ending cycle of life and death is triumphant at the end.
The author of the opera’s music and libretto is the Czech composer Leoš Janáček. From its very first performance on stage in 1924 in Brno, The Little Cunning Vixen has won the love of the audience. “I met the vixen in the woods in the sunset of my life. This is a comic opera with a sad ending”, says composer Leoš Janáček.
The premiere performance of the opera in Bulgaria was on February 24, at the chamber stage of the National Theatre for Opera and Ballet in Sofia, under the conductorship of Martin Klepetko, ambassador of Czechoslovakia to Bulgaria. In an interview for Radio Bulgaria, he told us more about his conducting career:
“As a student in conducting in the Prague Music Academy, I fell in love with Leoš Janáček’s works in general. The Cunning Little Vixen is my favourite opera by Leoš Janáček. I used to dream of being given the opportunity to conduct it one day. In the meantime, I took up a different profession and became a diplomat. When the director of the Sofia Opera Theatre Plamen Kartalov invited me to stage a Czech opera, it turned out that the Czech composer Leoš Janáček is completely unknown to the Bulgarian audience. At Plamen Kartalov’s suggestion, we chose the opera “The Cunning Little Vixen” in its abridged version. The original version of this adaptation is in German and we made a translation. Here the opera will be sung in Bulgarian, which will be good for our youngest spectators. To all of us, this will be a grand opening night”, conductor Martin Klepetko said.
The director and the stage and costume designer in the Bulgarian production of “The Cunning Little Vixen” are also of Czech origin.
The whole life of opera director Ludek Golat has been dedicated to music. As a child, he played the piano, the violin, and the guitar. Later, he graduated the Music Academy as an opera singer and studied theatre direction. He has long been working as director in the Theatre House in the town of Ostrova, Czechoslovakia. Here is more from him on the forthcoming premiere:
“When I first came across this version of the opera, I got really worried. How was I going to direct it, how would I choose the best singers for the parts… The love of the vixen is at the core of the work. The opera, however, perpetuates the idea of the eternal repetition in nature. As if Leoš Janáček has written the opera describing his own life. Animals are personified and exhibit human feelings and emotions. This version has a different sound – the orchestra consists of only 12 musicians. According to me, it will touch children on the emotional level. What is more, 32 children take part – children’s choir and ballet. We have been working together for more than 3 weeks now and at certain moments they completely forgot they were on stage. They listen enthusiastically and perceive with open hearts and minds what is happening. The scenery and costume design of the show belongs to Yaroslav Malina – the most celebrated Czech scenery and costume designer of world repute, but carrying the soul of a child inside. We found the right approach to this opera together. I am happy that your theatre has found such marvellous actors and as a result, a very beautiful opera will come to life”, the production’s director Ludek Golat says.
The part of the “The Cunning Little Vixen” is performed by the young Bulgarian opera singer Antonia Pavlova. She graduated the National Music Academy in 2006 and since last year, she has been singing in the choir of the Sofia Opera Theatre.
In an interview for Radio Bulgaria, she told us more about her portrayal of the character of the Cunning Little Vixen:
“It is hard for me to draw the line between myself and the little vixen. This is my first opportunity to play in such an opera, and I am quite at a loss. It is a marvellous experience for me. This is a complex character – first, she is a child, then her wild nature takes the upper hand, she runs away, falls in love, gives birth, defends her children, and eventually dies… She has a rebellious spirit, a lot of vigour and passion. It is not an easy task for me to portray this complex nature, but still, it is a unique experience. I am happy to be able to work with such professionals and with a director who managed to make me discover the little vixen inside me”, young opera singer Antonia Pavlova says.
Last in today’s TOM on Radio Bulgaria, we bring you a live recording from the opera’s opening night on the stage of the Sofia Opera Theatre. Listen to the love duet between the Little Vixen and the Boy Fox from the Czech opera the Cunning Little Vixen by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček.
Translated by: Rossitsa Petcova
