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\n \n About work:

Eugen Suchoň finished his Balladic Suite in December 1935 as his Opus 9. In Suchoň’s development the Balladic Suite represents the expression of a personal style which in its synthetic whole links construction with an expressive experience of feeling and with a melodic invention with a character of its own. In Suchoň’s first compositions we may follow a certain orientation to German modern music at the beginning of our century: to a melody and harmony mostly chromatically built (even in twelve-tone material) and a rich and complicated polyphony. But, beginning with his Small Suite, Op. 3, French influence is felt in the tendency at sonority, at homophony rather, in which more seizing and individual themes come into existence. Instead of German romantism a transition takes place into some kind of impressionistic plain air represented in Suchoň’s eyes by high mountains and crystallized in popular expression, musical in the first place. Of course, in this sense we may speak here only of tendencies, for the Balladic Suite remains an expressive work, even though it may not be expressionist, built in clear contours and having a strong thematic structure – which certainly was not an ideal of French impressionism. If we wished to classify the Balladic Suite among developing European music, its place would be somewhere on the way from Ravel to Messiaen.

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The expression which German expressionists achieved mostly by chromatization even carried as far as dodecaphony and by a contrapunctal condensation of form (in serial technique), Suchoň in his Balladic Suite sought in melody – at first sight distonic but, in reality, obtained from a twelve-tone scale through a special selection originating from the sound ideal of variously combined pure and extended fourths (something reminding us of Skriabin), from intervals which Suchoň, perhaps unconciously felt to be present in Slovak popular melodies, as their ancient foundation with features of their own. Although several elements used by Suchoň may be found in the works of other composers as well, nevertheless the unity of style and specificity with which they are used in the Balladic Suite testify to an artist who has crystallized in a manner all his own. And what is more important still: the work has the immediate effect of an expression at the back of which we feel a concentrated personality, a musical piece from which it is evident that the author had a message to convey – a message not only artistic but human as well.

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Part one. At the very beginning there is an explosion – fortissimo – an entry in media res, a natural flaming up rising like an exclamation mark. This is typical with Suchoň showing that the author does not approach his creation disinterestedly but is overflowing with passionate music that breaks through and demands to be liberated. It is by no means an idyll, nor is it a victory of passions unbound. There follow several dynamic culminating points like wave crests on a stormy sea. The motives, even in the more moderate parts, especially towards the middle, do not digress into a contrasting mood. They are but a preparation for the wave to come.

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Part two is more regulated in structure, aims at a more clearly defined end. It is not so much broken by waves, being more of a united and steady stream. Gradations do not explode but mature in grandiose melodic arches. These broad arches are of one cast, being almost monothematic, remaining, at the same time perfectly varied thanks to a rich handling of variations and counterpoint. Side by side with the principle of dynamic form a technique of continual thematic development is successfully put into operation. This helps Suchoň to overcome and suppress periodical articulation. While the other parts are rhapsodic this second part is elegiac in character.

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Part three begins with some kind of angry boiling in deep tones out of which a rapidly rising rhythmic theme emerges. Then comes dance music with hints at Slovak folklore music. This is only hinted at, however, even when a regular periodicity comes into play. Semi-demi quavers in the accompaniment derived from the introductory boiling do not permit any merry dance to develop. The entire movement takes the form of a frenzied run to reach a stormy mood reminding us of the first part of the Suite and finally emerges into a frightened question mark in the adagio and piano, anticipating Part four. The third part does not, however, end with this intermezzo rendered pianissimo. Hints of dancing again break into a run and emerge into a typical Suchoň jubilosum that is why this only part ends with a quick movement and fortissimo, as it happens in the finishing stages of musical compositions.

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Part four is a ballad and a meditation in the true sense of the word being thematically built mostly from materials found in the preceding parts. This variety gives a bright colouring stressed by Suchoň’s instrumental and harmonic stylisation, not fearing even diametric contrasts: on the one hand in the singing part by means of sweet parallel thirds, on the other the insistance of hard disonnances and grandiose effect with a pugnacious running movement. But in spite of thematic heterogeneity there dominate uncertain question marks of descending fourths that had been heard already in Part three, in the intermezzo between quicker parts. The author’s concentration has succeeded in producing the organic unity of these heterogeneous elements. The Balladic Suite dies away at last in pianissimo form, having started in fortissimo, still sounding convincingly.

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The thematic whole, but especially the emotional unity of the composition proves that the entire work is not the result of a free combination of four parts (as is the case with suites) but that it is a concentrated expression which sprang from the need of expressing feelings. It is a work perfect not only as to structure but also as to its artistic contents.

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The Balladic Suite has been played many times abroad. It was presented by Karl Böhm (Dresdner Staatskapelle, Wiener Philharmoniker), by Wilhelm Furtwängler (Berliner Philharmoniker). It was heard in Rotterdam, Utrecht, in Basle, Zürich, Budapest, Bukarest and Zagreb. Apart from the conductors mentioned, it was played under the baguette of K. Baranović, E. Flipse, P. Sacher and of many others.

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The Balladic Suite was awarded the Bella Prize in Bratislava in 1938.


\n (Jozef Kresánek, in: foreword to the score, Praha – Bratislava : Štátne hudobné vydavateľstvo, 1965, s. 3 – 4.)
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\n Movements:
\n\n Allegro moderato ma energico\n \n
\n\n Adagio\n \n
\n\n Allegro molto\n \n
\n\n Largo con malinconia\n \n
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First performance in Slovakia

\n \n \n 22.04.1936,\n Bratislava,\n SK\n\n
Performers: Bratislava Symphony Orchestra, Karel Nedbal (dir.)\n
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