Boris Godunov (opera) ("Flow, flow, bitter tears!") of the arrival of the enemy and of woe to Russia. Russian opera of the early 1870s was dominated by Western European works—mainly Italian. The domestic product was regarded with skepticism and sometimes hostility. The playwright Tikhonov wrote in 1898: As the most daring and innovative member of the Mighty Handful, Mussorgsky frequently became the target of conservative critics and rival composers, and was often derided for his supposedly clumsy and crude musical idiom. After the premiere of "Boris Godunov", influential critic Herman Laroche wrote: Reviews of the premiere performance of "Boris Godunov" were for the
The Cunning Little Vixen to contain similarities to the music of French composer Claude Debussy. At Janáček's request, the final scene from " The Cunning Little Vixen" was performed at his funeral in 1928. Ursula Dubosarsky's 2018 novel for children, "Brindabella", is based on Rudolf Těsnohlídek's "Vixen Sharp Ears", the source story of the Cunning Little Vixen, relocated in the Australian bush, with the role of the Vixen played by a kangaroo. Broken down from the original Czech, the title is There is no mention in the Czech of a diminutive ("little"), although this idea is included in both the German "(Das schlaue Füchslein)"