sources - Nottingham eTheses - The University of Nottingham

Ex. 3.11
That Janáček was concerned in these revisions with removing such musically and
dramatically tangential moments is further suggested by his cutting of a short passage
for Jenůfa in Act 3 Scene 4. Just after Karolka has warned her against telling Števa
how handsome he is, because it makes him conceited (III/iv/74), Jenůfa, accompanied
by a disarmingly simple idea in the strings, appears to reflect on her own earlier, naïve
belief in a superficially perfect wedding (see Ex. 3.12 below): ‘Oh, I also once thought
that two beautiful, nicely dressed people could go to the altar alone in happiness’.
Whether this cut was motivated by the ambiguity of Jenůfa’s reflection (is she merely
thinking of her own youthful naïvety, or are her words directed also at Karolka and
Števa?), the musical material (relatively unrelated to the passages either side of it) or
simply the fact that these eleven bars detract somewhat from the dramatic flow, the
decision seems again to be a well-judged one, however affecting in its simplicity the
music itself may be.
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