• Jenůfa


    1. 12. 2018, 7 pm, Janáček Theatre

Teatr Wielki im. Stanislawa Moniuszki w Poznaniu

coproduction of Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie and Teatro Comunale di Bologna

author Leoš Janáček

conductor Gabriel Chmura

director Alvis Hermanis


Tickets

  • Synopsis

    Act 1
    The beautiful Jenůfa waits, fearing that her beloved Števa has been taken off to join the army. She is expecting his child and his departure would jeopardise the forthcoming marriage. Števa’s stepbrother Laca also carries a flame for Jenůfa and asks her about Števa. The delighted Števa arrives with his friends and musicians at the mill – he had not been taken away and, together with the other recruits, celebrate their fortune with drink. Jenůfa’s strict guardian Kostelnička sees the riotous company with Števa in front of them all she announces that she would only give her consent for a marriage between Jenůfa and Števa after a probation year, during which Števa would not be allowed to drink. Laca convinces Jenůfa that Števa loves her only because of her beauty, and during the argument he cuts her face with a knife.

    Act 2
    In fear of disgrace Kostelnička hides Jenůfa in her home and claims to everybody that she has left for Vienna. In the meantime Jenůfa has given birth to a son. Whilst Jenůfa is sleeping, Kostelnička humbles herself before Števa and begs him to marry Jenůfa. For Števa, however, Jenůfa’s scarred face has rendered her ugly and besides, he is already engaged to the daughter of the Mayor. Laca arrives and asks Kostelnička to hand over Jenůfa to him. When Kostelnička gives away the secret to him that Jenůfa had given birth to Števa’s child, he is shocked. Seeing his doubts, Kostelnička in desperation lies that the child had died immediately after the birth. As soon as Laca leaves, Kostelnička drowns the child in an icy river and convinces Jenůfa that she had slept for several days in a fever and the little boy had died in the meantime. The devastated Jenůfa agrees to a marriage with Laco.

    Act 3
    During the preparations for the wedding between Jenůfa and Laca the news breaks out that a dead child had been found in the river. Jenůfa recognises her little boy’s bonnet and the suspicion of murder falls upon her. Kostelnička admits her crime in front of the assembled guests. Before the Mayor leads her off to court, Jenůfa forgives her, for she understands that she did it out of love for her. Jenůfa does not believe that Laca would still want her and sends him away. Laca however wants to stay by her side and promises that he would be with her even in the bad times. Jenůfa realises that she has found her true love „and God is pleased with it“.

  • Opera cast lists


    conductor: Gabriel Chmura
    director: Alvis Hermanis
    set design: Alvis Hermanis
    costumes: Anna Watkins
    choreography: Alla Sigalova
    lighting design: Gleb Filshtinsky
    projections: Ineta Sipunova
    choirmaster: : Mariusz Otto

    cast
    Jenůfa: Ilona Krzywicka
    Laca Klemeň: Titusz Tóbisz
    Števa Buryja: Piotr Friebe
    Kostelnička Buryjovka: Eliška Weissová
    Grandmather Buryjovka: Olga Maroszek
    Stárek: Rafał Korpik
    Reeve: Tomasz Mazur
    Reeve´s wife: Sylwia Złotkowska
    Karolka: Barbara Gutaj-Monowid
    Pastuchyňa: Magdalena Wilczyńska-Goś
    Barena: Natalia Puczniewska-Braun
    Jano: Agnieszka Adamczak
    Tetka: Elwira Radzi-Pacer
    GŁOS: Piotr Bróździak, Romuald Piechocki

The festival will this time present Jenůfa in a production by a group from Poznan’s Teatr Wielki, one of the leading Polish opera ensembles with more than one hundred years of history behind it. The performed work is a famous version originally created for La Monnaie in Brussels by Lithuanian director and playwright Alvis Hermanis, who is one of the leading personalities of the contemporary European theatre scene. The impressive production is artistically inspired and stylized in the 1st and 3rd acts into opulent scenes á la Alfons Mucha, with a choir in rich folk costumes. This makes the contrast presented by the second act all the greater, with spectators being carried back to the 1960s and the communist era, where the lavish stylization is abandoned for realistic acting in the moments of culminating tragedy.

Jenůfa is one of Janáček´s most famous works. It has its roots in a realistic drama by G. Preissová (1862–1946), which Janáček adapted himself into the form of an opera libretto. Even though he had to shorten the text of the drama significantly, he managed to heighten the impact of this tragic story from rural Moravia. The protagonists include wasteful and unstable Števa, fierce Laca, who hides a heart of gold, and most of all the unrelenting Kostelnička, whose efforts to maintain her position and respect in the village community lead her to murder the child of Jenůfa. Janáček (1854–1928) captured the individual characters in a masterful, condensed drama that sends chills down one´s spine while simultaneously awakening compassion and understanding within us. It took Janáček nearly nine years to create Jenůfa. He finished the first act of the opera in 1897, while the second and the third were created under circumstances that were extremely tragic for the Janáček family. In 1902, the composer´s daughter Olga became seriously ill during a visit to Janáček´s brother in Saint Petersburg. Janáček completed the second act of the opera after Olga´s return home, and the third immediately before her death in February 1903. He dedicated Jenůfa to the memory of his daughter. Janáček wanted the premiere of the opera to be at the National Theatre in Prague, but he was refused with the explanation that the opera wasn´t suitable for performance on a leading Czech stage. The premiere thus took place in Brno on 21st January 1904, and it was an incredible success. It took until 1915 to persuade the management of the Prague theatre and the conductor Karel Kovařovic to perform Jenůfa. However, after the very successful Prague premiere on 26. 5. 1916, Janáček finally because successful as a composer not only in the Czech environment but also world-wide.

Patricie Částková