sources - Nottingham eTheses - The University of Nottingham

Of the various ways used to achieve such a textural transformation, one of the
most obvious is Janáček’s increased deployment of silence as an accompaniment to
the voices. A relatively straightforward example of this comes in Act 3 Scene 4
(Exx. 3.13a and b), a passage following immediately on from Ex. 3.12 discussed
above. Števa tells Laca that he and Karolka are to be wed in a fortnight’s time, to
which Karolka jokingly responds ‘Aha, only if I feel like it!’ In 1904, all this is
accompanied by steady crotchet chords in strings and horns, with bassoons joining in
at Karolka’s high bb'':
Ex. 3.13a
In 1908, Janáček holds back the crotchet chords until the fifth bar, so that the exchange
between the half-brothers comes across more conversationally, while Karolka’s vocally
extravagant — and psychologically ostentatious — tease is gloriously enhanced:
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