The Cunning Little Vixen
The characters
Learn more about the characters in Janáček's The Cunning Little Vixen
Vixen Sharp Ears
Soprano
- Resourceful
- Brave
- Clever
- Based on a popular comic strip character
- One of a series of female heroines inspired by Janáček’s own love life
- To create this character, Janáček studied animal behaviour and observed a family of foxes
The Fox
Mezzo-soprano
- Romantic
- Chivalrous
- Charming
- Named Gold-Spur
- A ‘trouser role’, in the typical operatic custom of a woman playing the role of a young man
The Forester
Baritone
- World weary
- Short sighted
- Impulsive
- Represents the limited human perspective on nature and life, contrasting with the deeper instincts of animals
- Finally learns a lesson from the animals
- Stanislav Lolek, the artist who created the comic strip on which the opera is based, apprenticed as a forester
Photos by: Richard Hubert Smith