In Slavic mythology, Polednice, the Noon Witch, is a demonic figure who is known to emerge in the middle of the hottest summer days, causing farmers working in the fields to suffer heatstroke or insanity.
The poem, Polednice, by the Czech folklorist, Karel Jaromír Erben (1811-1870), tells the story of a mother who, while preparing lunch, is desperate to quiet a young child who screams for attention. She warns her son that if he does not behave, she will summon the Noon Witch who takes away naughty children. The clock strikes noon, and the horrifying figure of the Noon Witch emerges in the doorway. Terrified, the mother grabs the child as Polednice approaches, arms outstretched. Grasping her son, the mother faints. Later in the day, the father arrives home to find the dead child, accidentally smothered, in his wife’s arms.
This gruesome story forms the basis of Antonín Dvořák’s tone poem, The Noon Witch, Op. 108, which the composer sketched over the course of three days in January of 1896, and completed a month later. The work unfolds in four sections which resemble a condensed version of the traditional four-movement symphonic structure. As with many horror movies, the tone poem begins on a seemingly ordinary day. The C major domestic tranquility is interrupted by the first cries of the child, heard in the flute and oboe. An almost comic Beethoven-like fury erupts as the mother scolds her son (Poco più animato). The sudden appearance of the Noon Witch can be heard in slithering muted strings and bass clarinet (Andante sostenuto). A wild and ghoulish scherzo in 3/8 time erupts. As the clock strikes noon, the struggle subsides. The tone poem concludes with the return of the unsuspecting father. Sneering, grotesque laugher rings out in the final moments.
Leoš Janáček commented that Dvořák’s setting of The Noon Witch is “so faithful that one could actually touch that terrible shadow in those strange, limping, extraordinary and unimagined harmonic steps.”
Recordings
- Dvořák: The Noon Witch, Op. 108, B. 196, Sir Charles Mackerras, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Amazon
Featured Image: A screenshot from Czech television depicting Polednice