Storm and Peace, melodrama based on Ema Destinnová´s poetry - Otomar Kvěch
Kvěch’s (b. 1950) melodrama Storm and Peace (Bouře a klid) brings back to life the forgotten poetry that Ema Destinnová (1878-1930) wrote in the first years of her career as an opera singer. The idea to compose a melodrama based on the poems came from the opera singer and actress Soňa Červená, who assisted the translator of the poems to select some of them for the purpose. Otomar Kvěch then chose sixteen pieces, and by setting them to music he managed to create a unified and inspiring whole.
In the composition he made use of a distinctive creative technique applied in the poems: topics known from before are turned into a new experience under new circumstances. For instance, in the score there are to be found three themes from Bizet’s Carmen that belonged among the crucial roles of both Ema Destinnová’s and Soňa Červená’s careers. The chain of events has been rounded up and the barrier of venues and time has been destroyed. A new compact and ample work has emerged. The piano version was premiered on 23rd October 2005 as part of the International Festival of Concert Melodrama, the orchestral version was written for Emmy Destinn Music Festival in 2010.
Other compositions by Otomar Kvěch published in Czech Radio:
Cassandra and the Trojan Horse
Concerto idillico for Tuba and Orchestra / piano score
Expiatio
instrumentationrec, vno solo, 2fl, 2ob, 2cl, 2fg, 2cor, 2trb, timp, 3perc, arp, archidescriptionscorepubl.NoR 208price180,- CZK
Parts only for hire at nakladatelstvi@rozhlas.cz