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ŠVS is copied on twelve-stave pre-printed manuscript paper. Act 1 fol. 1r has
the simple heading: Klavírní výtah. | Jednání I. followed by the general scene
description for Act 1, all in Štross’s hand. In the top right-hand corner, apparently in
the hand of Vladimir Helfert: Opisoval [?]Pštros [sic], člen orchestru divadla (něm?) |
Podle zdělení pí. Janáčkové. V.H. [Copied by Pštros, member of the (German?)
theatre orchestra. According to information given by Mrs Janáčková. V.H.]. 14 In the
bottom left-hand corner, in pencil: Studovat začal dne 12/list. 1903 (indicating that
rehearsals began on 12 November 1903). On fol. 1v, in Štross’s hand, are descriptions
of the situations of the three characters onstage at the beginning of Act 1 (Jenůfa,
Stařenka and Laca; see ŠFS above).
In between this title folio and the first music page (fol. 2r) are three interleaved
folios, all on blank paper. The first contains, on the recto in Janáček’s hand, the cast list
(Osoby) with voice types and (added in the left-hand margin in pencil) the names of the
original singers, followed by a general description of the opera’s setting and the time-scale
of the three Acts (see ŠFS above); on the verso, in pencil: Její pastorkyňa. At the top of
this page, in another hand: Bitte diese Seite recht deutlich abzuschreiben und zwar in der
richtigen Reihenfolge (evidently a note from the Leipzig engravers, unable to decipher
Janáček’s hand in a language with which they were unfamiliar). 15 In response, stuck to
the recto of the second interleaved folio, is the cast list from the printed copy of
Preissová’s drama, with the title — Její pastorkyňa. — added in Janáček’s hand. The cast
14 This note appears to be in the hand of Vladimír Helfert (1886–1945), musicologist, Janáček
biographer and founder of the music archive of the Moravian Museum in Brno, and must date from
after Janáček’s death. Either Zdenka Janáčková misremembered Štross’s name, or Helfert misheard:
‘pštros’ is Czech for ‘ostrich’ (I am indebted to Mgr. Jan Špaček for drawing this to my attention); the
initial ‘P’ appears to have been crossed through. The role of Števa in Preissová’s Její pastorkyňa was
created in 1890 by Adolf Pštross (1851–1903); see Závodský 1962, 139.
15 See JYL i, 686.
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