THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN

Leoš  Janácek
Opera in three acts, 1924.
Libretto by the composer: adapted from a serialized daily comic by
Rudolf Těsnohlídek and Stanislav Lolek
Première in Brno, on 6 November 1924.

CHARACTERS

Vienna State Opera Chorus & Bratislava Children’s Choir
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Sir Charles Mackerras
Broadcast by 5MBS: 24 November 2010

ACT 1

In the forest, the animals and insects are playing and dancing. The Gamekeeper enters and lies down against a tree for a nap. A curious Vixen Cub (usually sung by a young girl), inquisitively chases a frog right into the lap of the surprised Gamekeeper who forcibly takes the vixen home as a pet. Time passes (in the form of an orchestral interlude) and we see the Vixen, now grown to a young adult (and sung by a soprano), tied up in the gamekeeper’s yard with the conservative old dachshund. Fed up with life in confinement, the Vixen chews through her rope, attacks the chickens, and hops the fence to freedom.

Act 2

The Vixen takes over a badger's home and kicks him out. In the inn, the Pastor, Gamekeeper, and Schoolmaster drink and talk about their mutual infatuation with the gypsy girl Terynka. The drunken Schoolmaster leaves the inn and mistakes a sunflower behind which the Vixen is hiding for Terynka and confesses his devotion to her. The Gamekeeper, also on his way home, sees the Vixen and fires two shots at her, sending her running. Later, the Vixen, coming into her womanhood, meets a charming boy Fox, and they retire to the Badger's home. An unexpected pregnancy and a forest full of gossipy creatures necessitate their marriage, which rounds out the act.

Act 3

The poacher Harašta is engaged to Terynka and is out hunting in preparation for their marriage. He sets a fox trap, which the numerous vixen cubs mock. Harašta, watching from a distance, shoots and kills the vixen, sending her children running. At Harašta's wedding, the Gamekeeper sees the Vixen's fur, which Harašta gave to Terynka as a wedding present, and flees to the forest to reflect. The Gamekeeper returns to the place where he met the Vixen, and sits at the tree grieving the loss of both the Vixen and Terynka. His grief grows until, just as in the beginning of the opera, a frog unexpectedly jumps in his lap, the grandson of the one who did so in act one. This reassurance of the cycle of death leading to new life gives his heart a deep peace.