Date of composition: 1938
Premiere: 16 April 1939 in Brno with the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Czechoslovakia, conducted by Břetislav Bakala
Duration: 16 minutes
Performances by the Berliner Philharmoniker:
first performed on 4 June 2026, conductor: Jakub Hrůša
After the great success of her Military Sinfonietta, which she herself conducted at the festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music in London in 1937, her publisher, Universal Edition, asked Vítězslava Kaprálová for another orchestral work. In just nine days, the Czech composer and conductor completed the three-movement Suita rustica, for which Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka undoubtedly served as a model. Kaprálová had already become acquainted with Stravinsky’s work as a student in Brno and later studied the score in Prague in depth.
The Suita rustica is based on melodies and rhythms drawn from six folk songs and dances from Kaprálová’s homeland. While the first movement presents traditional tunes from Moravia and Slovakia, the second movement, with its striking Furiant – a dance form that Antonín Dvořák also frequently used in his Slavonic Dances – seems a homage to her great compatriot. The third and final movement, in turn, reveals the affinity with Stravinsky most clearly and culminates in a four-part fugue which – like the often “funky” harmonies – shows that Kaprálová was adept at playing humorously with clichés.