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tenors and basses in ‘Daleko, široko’. In the Act 3 village girls’ song (‘Ej, mamko,
mamko’), he not only lightened the scoring — making it considerably less earthy and
bass-heavy — but also removed Barena’s charming yet fussy descant. 24
Particularly notable are the revisions Janáček made to passages featuring the
duvaj or ‘double-stroke’ style of folk accompaniment. This homophonic, chordal
string figuration featuring offbeat stress patterns ( ) was described at some
length by Janáček himself in his detailed introduction (XV/163) to Národní písně
moravské v nově nasbírané [Moravian folksongs newly collected] (XIII/3; 1901). 25
There he identified it as a typical rhythmic figure of the Starosvětská [old-world]
dance 26 from Slovácko, and emphasised its disruptive and vivifying qualities. Several
of the accompanied dance-songs and melodies included in the latter part of this
monumental volume (in the section devoted to dance tunes) contain examples of the
duvaj accompaniment in context, including the one reproduced on the following page
(Fig. 3.2), showing the beginning of a transcription from Velká nad Veličkou in the
Horňácko district of Slovácko. In the accompanimental chords, each pair of quavers
is slurred in a continuous bow-stroke, with an increase in pressure on the second
quaver (indicated in Janáček’s notation by an accent). In Moravian (and specifically
Slovácko) folk ensemble music this is an idiomatic string accompaniment, typically
using simple diatonic chords and usually taken by the second fiddle (kontráš) and
string bass (bassa) which together support the voice (zpěv) and first fiddle (hudec).
24 Barena’s descant was perhaps influenced by the leader-chorus style of Slovakian female-voice
folksong that also led to Janáček’s Lidová nokturna [Folk nocturnes] (IV/32, 1906). Janáček first
collected the material that gave rise to these nocturnes in September 1901; see JYL i, 343, 345 and
649–50.
25 BJ III, i–cxxxvi.
26 ‘Typická sčasovka Starosvětské’, ibid., cxv.
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