Title: Šárka, a Legendary Female Character, in Two Lesser Known Czech Operas. Overtures and Compositional Techniques
Abstract: The lyrical works of Czech composers from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century are very little known, and not just to Romanian musicians. Even when it comes to composers who have gained notoriety, such as Bedřich Smetana, Antonín Dvořák or Leoš Janáček, without consulting a dictionary, we cannot name more than one of their titles: Smetana’s Prodaná nevěsta, Dvořák’s Rusalka and Janáček’s Jenůfa, even though each of them wrote countless other works dedicated to the opera. When we think of composers like Zdeněk Fibich and Otakar Ostrčil, obscurity is almost total. Beyond the fact that this study attempts to make a contribution to the knowledge in this field, other objectives include analyzing the compositional language that two composers embraced in homonymous operas and observing the manner in which they related to the mythology of their people. One of the major characters of the Czech national mythology is called Šárka, a title that both Leoš Janáček and Zdeněk Fibich have attributed to one of their operas. In studying the action of the two stage works, this research also turns to the Czech writers of that period and the manner in which they reflected the fundamental Czech myths in their literary works. Details related to the time of appearance of the operas and, in the case of Zdeněk Fibich, brief but welcome information on his biography and creation are also presented. The original contribution of this study consists in analyzing the overtures of the two homonymous operas in terms of compositional techniques, elements of construction and musical expression and, last but not least, observing the similarities and differences of vision between the two creators.