sources - Nottingham eTheses - The University of Nottingham

score. Playing standards have improved over the years and musicians have grown
more used to Janáček’s idiom: in performances of the present reconstruction in
Nottingham (by the University Philharmonia, 4 March 2000, Act 2) and Warsaw
(Warsaw Chamber Opera, May 2004) the original governing key signatures posed no
serious problems for the players. They have therefore been retained throughout. 52
Tied accidentals across systems follow the conventions used by Universal
Edition, which differ from modern anglophone practice.
Time signatures
UE 1969 and 1996/2000 occasionally made changes to the original time signatures,
for instance when consistent use of triplets made re-notation in compound time a
possibility. Here, as with key signatures, Janáček’s original time signatures have been
retained throughout, including his occasional use of multiple (i.e. simultaneous) time
signatures (e.g. Act 2 Scene 5).
Rhythmic irrationals (tuplets)
Janáček is well-known to editors and performers for frequently getting his notation of
rhythmic irrationals (particularly duplets and quadruplets) ‘wrong’ according to what
has emerged as ‘standard practice’; and specifically, for using the wrong durational
unit as the basis for the irrational group. Usually, however, Janáček’s notation is clear
on its own terms (as, for example, with the xylophone’s quadruplet quavers that open
52 Both Paul Wingfield and Thomas Adès have argued persuasively for the retention and — where
necessary — restoration of Janáček’s original key signatures, on both musicological and musical
grounds. Although a consideration of the musical significance of Janáček’s key signatures does not
form part of the present study, such arguments have — along with the practical considerations outlined
above — influenced the decision made here to restore the composer’s own notation. See Wingfield
1995 and Adès 1999.
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