Otcenas (Vater Unser / The Lord's Prayer)

Description

The original score of Janacek's The Lord's Prayer, a workwritten for tenor and mixed choirwith piano or harmonium accompaniment, was completed in 1901. Six years laterthecomposer reworked it with harp and organ accompaniment. This version, containedin ourcatalogue, was first performed as a cantata on 18 November 1906 by the HlaholChoralAssociation in Prague. The composer was prompted to write a musical setting tothe textby a series of paintings by ontemporary Polish artist Josef Mecina-Krzesz, whoinspiredJanacek to create his own interpretation of the prayer with strong socialundercurrents.The melody throughout betrays the influence of the Moravian folk song, withmarkedaccents on the penultimate syllables - as in Lach dialects. The piece incorporatesrichpolymelodic treatment. In terms of expression, the dramatic sequenceanticipates theopera Jenufa. The basis for the edition by Bohumir Stedron was the thirdauthorisedcopy of The Lord's Prayer kept in the Prague Hlahol archive. In contrast withthis copy,the dynamics, phrasing and rhythm were unified and supplied where necessary.Thescore contains a preface, critical commentary and sung text in Czech andGerman.The harp part is issued separately under ed. no. H 3712a.