View source for A Summer's Tale (Suk)

'''''A Summer's Tale''''' ({{lang-cz|Pohádka léta}}), Op. 29 is a [[tone poem]] for large orchestra by [[Josef Suk (composer)|Josef Suk]].<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/aug/30/suk-summers-tale-prague-belohlavek |date=30 August 2012 |author=Andrew Clements |title=Suk: A Summer's Tale; Prague – review}}</ref><ref name=arg/>

It is scored for a large orchestra of piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 cors anglais, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 6 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, tam-tam, bass drum, piano, 2 harps, celesta, organ (ad lib) and strings.

The work was composed between 1907 and 1909 and was premiered in Prague on 26 January 1909, by the [[Czech Philharmonic]] conducted by the dedicatee [[Karel Kovařovic]].   It was initially coolly received—–several critics charged it with being impressionistic.<ref name=aspects>{{cite book |author1=Aleš Brezina |author2=Eva Velická |title=Aspects of music, arts and religion during the period of Czech Modernism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84VGc_i9lsEC&pg=PA165 |year=2009 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-3-03910-856-5 |page=165}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Michael Kennedy |author2=Joyce Kennedy |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Music |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XX2sAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA825 |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-957854-2 |page=825}}</ref>

== Structure and character ==

There are five [[movement (music)|movements]]:

#Voices of Life and Consolation
#Midday
#Blind Musicians
#In the Power of Phantoms
#Night.<ref name=arg>{{cite journal |author=Don O'Connor |journal=American Record Guide |volume=76 |issue=1 |title=Suk: A Summer's Tale |page=158}}</ref>

A performance typically takes one hour.<ref name=bbc>{{cite web |title=Josef Suk Prague / A Summer's Tale (BBC Symphony Orchestra; conductor: Jiří Bělohlávek) |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/z9gw |type=Review |author=Graham Rogers |year=2012}}</ref>

[[Rob Cowan]] has described the work as [[Alexander Scriabin|Scriabinesque]] and found in it a foreshadowing of [[Shostakovich]]'s orchestration.<ref name=cowan>{{citation |publisher=Gramophone |author=Rob Cowan |url=http://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/suk-a-summers-tale-prague |title=SUK A Summer's Tale. Prague |accessdate=10 July 2015}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Summer's Tale, A}}
[[Category:Compositions by Josef Suk]]
[[Category:1909 compositions]]
[[Category:Symphonic poems]]


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