Suk: Meditation on the old Czech Hymn Svatý Václave (St Wenceslas), Op.35a (1914)  

Supraphon/Artaria used to publish a record catalogue entitled “The four great names in Czech music”: Smetana, Dvořák, Janáček, Martinů. This should by rights have been extended to include Suk. Only a lack of interest in both opera and his indigenous folk heritage could be responsible for his omission, since he began his career as a natural successor to Dvořák, whose class he joined at the Prague Conservatoire in 1891 and who thought of him as his favourite pupil. Indeed, Suk married his great teacher’s daughter Otilie in 1898, and these years saw the profound happiness of his domestic life reflected in music of characteristically Czech melodiousness and exuberance: the Fantastic Scherzo of 1903 almost “out-Dvořáks” his mentor in these qualities! Certainly it represents the culmination of this period of his life, which was then cruelly turned on its head by the death of Dvořák in 1904, followed by his beloved Otilka herself the following year, aged just 27. His whole world changed for ever, and the mighty Asrael Symphony (1905-6) – conceived as a tribute to his revered father-in-law, but (in its fourth and fifth movements) metamorphosing into a towering memorial to his wife – saw a radical change in his musical language, where a new, intensely personal commitment gave rise to a harmonic idiom far more akin to his near-contemporaries Schönberg and Mahler (the latter also Czech born, incidentally….).

All this time Suk was leading a double professional life, since from his student days he had been second violinist of the Bohemian Quartet, continuing in this rôle for over forty years, touring extensively and performing more than 4,000 concerts! (it was this very ensemble which commissioned and premièred Janáček’s first quartet). His first violin teacher had been his father and namesake, and a happy tradition has since been continued by his eminent grandson – Josef Suk! His two numbered quartets are each representative of his major periods of composition – ie before and after Asrael. In fact this visionary masterpiece was to initiate a tetralogy of increasingly ambitious and complex orchestral works – continuing with Summer Tale (1907-9), Ripening (1912-17), and Epilog (1920-29). The present Meditation dates from their midst, in 1914, and could be seen as one of his few nationalistic compositions, since its origin in Bohemia’s patron saint clearly underlines his sense of patriotic identity during the first world war. At this time the quartet was naturally unable to travel so extensively, and concerts in their homeland often included this piece, intended as a symbol of hope for the war ravaged Czech people. Most of the work focuses on the strain of the chorale to the words “Protect us and our offspring from destruction”, eliciting an impassioned and fervent response from this deeply inspirational and astonishingly versatile musician.

© Alan George
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