Suite (1877)

The original manuscript of the score has not been preserved, but there is an authorized copy of the score with the title page written by Janáček's hand deposited in the Janáček Archive at the Moravian Museum. It is possible to compare it with Janáček's handwriting thanks The Collection of Compositions from Prague Studies, also on deposit there, in which the composer copied down in fine handwriting all his compositions from the years 1874-75 that he produced at the Skuherský organ school and later. One of these compositions, the Sonnet for four violins, dated November 25, 1875 in Brno, served as a source for Janáček when composing the fourth part of the Suite (then entitled Scherzo) with the prescribed tempo of Presto. He cites the Sonnet almost verbatim, especially in the first nine bars.