Janáček’s Sinfonietta ⬩ Four Steps to the New World

Programme

“There’s been enough for me to put down my pen – once I finish work on my pretty Sinfonietta with its fanfares! I can remember the fanfares in Písek! That was nice, back then.” The inspiration for one of the most beautiful symphonic compositions of the twentieth century was in fact a wind band that Janáček heard somewhere in southern Bohemia. But the power with which the whole work is charged is not that of wind band music. It is captured by the composer’s words spoken in England shortly after he finished the Sinfonietta. “I come with the young spirit of our homeland, with young music. I’m not the sort of person who likes to look back; I prefer to look ahead. I know that we must grow, and I do not see this growth in pain, in recollections of suffering and repression. Let us cast this off! We are a nation that has a place of importance in the world! We are the heart of Europe! And in Europe, this heart must be felt!”