The Cunning Little Vixen
The Cunning Little Vixen (original title Příhody lišky Bystroušky or Tales of Vixen Sharp-Ears in English) is a three-act Czech-language opera by Leoš Janáček completed in 1923 to a libretto the composer himself adapted from a novella by Rudolf Těsnohlídek.
Movements
Act I
- Prelude
- “Going to be a storm soon”
- “Come on, old lady, and let’s get the show started”
- “Mummy! Mummy! What is that?”
- Pantomime #1
- Interlude #1 (Na dvore jézerské myslivny)
- “Look at how big she’s grown!”
- “I’m just the same too”
- “Look what we’ve got down ’ere”
- Pantomime #2
- Interlude #2 (Svitáni)
- “You should take a lesson from me!”
- “Sisters! Comrades!”
- “Come on then, don’t be frightened”
Act II
- Prelude
- “Ah! Who’s that out there screaming?”
- Interlude (Proměna) 2
- “In my new parish things have got to be better!”
- “Once long since, long ago”
- “Home now?”
- Interlude (Proměna) 3
- “Something is wrong with my equilibrium”
- “Staccato! Flageoletti!”
- “So remember to be a good man!”
- “Memnestho aner agathos einai”
- Interlude (Proměna) 4
- “O my God! He’s so handsome!”
- “One dark night”
- “Fox Goldenstripe”
- “Can it be that I am lovely?”
- “Let me go! I am afraid of you!”
- “If you had only seen what I saw just now”
- “That’s how it is!”
Act III
- Prelude
- “In the month of May”
- “Hey there, Harasta”
- “Little foxes running fast”
- “How many children do we have?”
- “Put it down fast! Harasta, Harasta! Hurry get your gun!”
- Interlude #1
- “Where is Old Man Pasek?”
- “Well I’m damned!”
- Interlude #2
- “Spring is here at last”
- “When evening arrives, I welcome the rays”
- “Hey! But I can’t see the Vixen there!”
- “Tha–that wasn’t me”
Recommended recordings
- Wiener Philharmoniker · Charles Mackerras YouTubeSpotify (subscription)
- Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra · Rafael Kubelík YouTubeSpotify (subscription)