'Ballade' was taken unaltered from Bohuslav Martinu's film opera 'Die drei Wünsche oder Die Wechselfälle des Lebens' - as a quartet like the original with piano accompaniment only. The mainly homophonic and traditionally harmonic piece full of vigour cannot only be sung as a solo, but is also ideal for male choir. In addition to the original French text, this first edition also contains the Czech and German translations. The 28 August 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the Czech composer's death...