The Good Soldier Schweik.

About The Good Soldier Schweik

The Good Soldier Schweik is an opera in 2 acts by Robert Kurka with an English language libretto by Lewis Allan based on Jaroslav Hašek's 1921 novel The Good Soldier Švejk. Premiered by the New York City Opera just four months after the composer's death in 1958, the work uses some musical material from Kurka's earlier instrumental piece The Good Soldier Schweik Suite, which was premiered by The Little Orchestra Society in 1952. At the time of his death, Kurka had completed the opera in piano score form but had not fully completed the opera's orchestrations. His friend, the composer Hershy Kay, completed the orchestrations for the last scenes of the opera based on ideas for instrumentation that Kurka had written into the piano score with red pen. The work is scored for a small ensemble of just 16 instruments, which consist solely of woodwinds, brass, and percussion. The music has its roots in Czech folk and dance music with traditional forms like the polka and furiant being developed through a high art classical music lens that eschews lyricism for an edgy tautness.