Writing techniques in the 1st Movement (Fanfare) from Leoš Janáček’s Sinfonietta
Writing techniques in the 1st Movement (Fanfare) from Leoš Janáček’s Sinfonietta

Summary/Abstract: Sinfonietta is one of the most eloquent examples of the compositional mastery that Leoš Janáček had reached in 1926, when his art was finally acclaimed on a national and international level. The 1st movement, much like the entire work, illustrates as convincingly as possible the symbiosis between the musician’s theoretical concepts and his orchestral writing. Presupposing that a researcher of this work does not know about Janáček’s studies of harmony, rhythm and metre, (s)he would nevertheless observe in the score a few techniques and expressions inexistent with other composers. What the Czech musician succeeds in almost fully not only in the 1st movement but in the entire Sinfonietta, I would say in all his great compositions of his last years, is the way in which expression subjugates, transcends the techniques. Thus, Janáček reaches the nearly absolute simplicity to which any composer aspires, conveys a lot intensely with the help of long-perfected tools, which evince harmonic, melodic, rhythmic and metric layers.

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