Václav Kucera, born in Prague in 1929, is a composer of international stature. After studies in Prague and Moscow, Kucera served several important roles with Czech Radio, the Union of Czech Composers, and the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. In 1975 he was appointed to the chair of composition at the Prague Academy of Musical Arts.

Kucera has made significant contributions to the bass clarinet repertoire, largely through his collaborations with the great Czech bass clarinet & piano duo, Due Boemi di Praga. For them he wrote Duodramma (1967), Invariant (1969), Tabu (1971) and Prague Ritornelles (1986). Metathesis (1998) was dedicated to Michael Davenport.

Metathesis is a single-movement work of about 10-12 minutes in duration. The composer makes frequent use of flutter-tonguing in all ranges of the bass clarinet. This manuscript publication allows the performers to view the composer's original notation, along with explanatory notes.