Village Scenes

The Elegy for choir, tenor and piano occupies a special place in the work of Janáček. First, there are the tragic circumstances surrounding its creation, after the death of his daughter Olga, who succumbed to typhoid fever at the age of 26 after a long and painful illness. In the following weeks, on a text written by a friend of his daughter, he wrote this brief but intensely moving score. Having just completed Jenůfa, the composer shows the full mastery of his unique and inimitable musical language, serenely breaking with all prior tradition, liberated from inherited forms and clearing new paths closer to his own truth. Around this precious piece, Anass Ismat and the Dijon Opera Choir draw a portrait of the vagabond humour of village life in central Europe.