Janacek's operas

[Belle]

Yesterday our music group was fortunate to have a "Conjoint Professor", who retired in 2011, present a program on Music and Drama; a scene from "Don Giovanni" and one from Janacek's "Káťa Kabanová". Our Professorial presenter has written several books, one of these is "Janacek's Tragic Operas". Yesterday's program was a fusion of music and drama and it concentrated on the scene were Káťa sings a long monologue recounting her childhood 'visions' and the fact that she'd recently 'fallen into sin' - the early signs of her developing madness.

I was completely overwhelmed by the scoring for this opera, thinking it unlike any I had heard before. Thought it was only a small scene, I'm keen to know more about these operas by Janacek - and so was the rest of the audience. In a conversation before the program started (I had organized this speaker) I told him about how I worked for our national broadcaster and that, shortly after the opening of Sydney Opera House, I had worked on a documentary about the making - and behind the scenes - of "Jenufa", saying I couldn't quite remember the cast. To my amazement he knew conductor, singers...everything right down to the smallest details I had long forgotten.

[John F]

"Jenufa" is Janacek's most performed and best known opera, and if you responded to that selection from "Kat'a Kabanova" I'm sure you will take to "Jenufa" even more. There are two versions, one as completed by Janacek and the other as revised by Karel Kovařovic to make it more accessible to the opera audiences of 1904 - something like what Rimsky-Korsakov did with "Boris Godunov." The Kovařovic version is still the most often performed, it's the one I know, and except for the recording by Charles Mackerras, it's what you'll hear on records.

This is the final scene (the Kovařovic version) in a Glyndebourne Festival production, with Roberta Alexander as Janufa, Anja Silja as Kostelnicka, and Philip Langridge as Laca, Andrew Davis conducting.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QQyKa8c4ak

[barney]

Janacek is not performed nearly often enough. I've had the opportunity in Australia to see only two that I am aware of, both of which I took: Jenufa in 1998 and the Cunning Little Vixen in 2017. The latter had the same impact on me that you describe. I thought it was wonderful, rushed out and bought the opera on CD (with JohnF's favourite conductor, Simon Rattle), listened a few times, and also watched on YouTube. I recommend it as strongly as I can.

[lennygoran]

Janacek is not performed nearly often enough.

Barney we've gotten to see nearly all his operas over the years-thank you Met Opera-like him very much-we'll see Kata May of 2020-it's part of the 2 flex subscriptions we bought for next season-12 operas in all. Regards, Len

[John F]

"The Cunning Little Vixen" is a special favorite of mine too. I couldn't find a complete video on YouTube with English titles, but here's the opening - insects, squirrels, other forest creatures - as done at the Theatre du Chatelais conducted by Charles Mackerras.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WmyPJy96Sk

Both New York City Opera and the Metropolitan Opera have begun to do justice to Janacek's operas, or City Opera had begun before it went out of business. Memorable productions include "The Makropoulos Case" in both houses, at the Met with Karita Mattila; "Vixen" with designs by Maurice Sendak at City Opera, which was televised; and "From the House of the Dead" in a brilliant Patrice Chereau production at the Met.

Fortunately, a great performance of the role of Emilia Marty in "Makropulos" can be had on DVD. At the Glyndebourne Festival (and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music) the ageless Anja Silja who somehow seemed to be channeling Marlene Dietrich. And I hope that one or another of the productions with Karita Mattila as Emilia may find its way to DVD, possibly this one from San Francisco Opera:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcReU-pb5lQ

[Belle]

The good Professor expressed the opinion that it was the Czech language itself which had resulted in Janacek's operas languishing away from more regular performances. He made the point that earlier performances (from the 70s) had mostly been in English but that in recent years Czech was becoming a more representative opera language that singers had to be able to manage and refine. What a formidable task for opera singers not only to REMEMBER these foreign libretti but also to sing them convincingly!! Doubtless most of them just choose to specialize in their preferred languages.

Thanks for the links provided here; I'll take a listen this weekend.

[maestrob]

The 2 CD set pictured above features Gabriela Benackova in the title role and was recorded live in 1984(?) in Carnegie Hall. We were there, and it was one of the most profoundly moving concert experiences I've ever enjoyed (Eve Queler conducted.). The ovation went on for over 20 minutes! As in all of Queler's performances, the audience was provided a libretto, so we could follow the drama.

There are used copies available on amazon for a few dollars: I'm not giving mine up now or in the future. Highly recommended.

FWIW: James Levine once admitted in a radio interview that he would not conduct Janacek, and he never did.

[John F]

For many years, outside Czechoslovakia Janacek's operas were performed in German when they were done at all. The Metropolitan Opera staged "Jenufa" in 1924-5 with Maria Jeritza in the title role, yet even with this star power they didn't revive the opera until 1974 (in English). I saw "Jenufa" in Nürnberg and Hamburg in German, and even "The Cunning Little Vixen" in Hannover and "The Excursions of Mr. Broucek" in Berlin also in German. No, your professor is mistaken. It wasn't the language barrier that stood in the way of Janacek's operas, it had to be the operas themselves, with his quirky musical language and perhaps also his unconventional choice of subjects.

As a matter of perspective, in most opera houses in the world, and except for Italian operas in the 18th century, operas were done in the language of the audience. The Metropolitan Opera was a very rare exception. The Vienna State Opera, Covent Garden (except for a few special German seasons), and the Paris Opéra only abandoned their local-language policies in the 1960s in order to have casts of international celebrity singers instead of the local product. In these and other large cities including New York, a second "people's" opera house continued to perform operas in the audience's language.

As for "Jenufa," Benackova and Leonie Rysanek performed their roles at the Met as well. We were stunned by Rysanek's identification with her character, Kostelnicka - one of the great acting performances in opera that I've ever seen. At the end the audience gave a Vienna-type ovation that lasted forever, or until the Met brought the fire curtain down to chase us out of there. Even so, some of us remained applauding for a few minutes anyway, to show anyone behind the scenes who was still listening what we thought of the performance.

[Belle]

It might have been my fault because the Professor meant that not having the operas performed in their own language was a significant reason for their languishing, compared to other great theatre composers. (He mentioned English because we were talking about Australia, in particular.) Also, I understand there were other issues - with people tampering with the scores being just one of these.

I'll see him again next semester when he presents a program on Music and Drama (opera) again. But, as he's written tomes on the subject of Janacek and could remember exact details of the first production of "Jenufa" at SOH in 1974 I take his authority seriously - as does the academic world. He knew and worked (in a scholarly capacity) with Charles Mackerras who, as you know, was an international authority on Janacek. Here is his book (aside from research papers, conferences etc.) - one of about 8 books on the theatre that he's written:

https://www.amazon.com/Janaceks-Tragic- ... 0571109594

I would take his scholarship as the first point of departure. No academic gum-shoe, he earned his PhD at Cambridge after completing his previous studies at Oxford. He is an English immigrant to Australia.

You might be interested in his opinions on the greatest ever opera composers:

Mozart
Puccini
Verdi
Wagner
Strauss
Janacek

The Professor has his PhD in classical civilization - the theatre in particular. His love of opera and the nexus between performance and text grew from that.

[John F]

the Professor meant that not having the operas performed in their own language was a significant reason for their languishing, compared to other great theatre composers. (He mentioned English because we were talking about Australia, in particular.) Also, I understand there were other issues - with people tampering with the scores being just one of these.

Is there a reason why all through this thread you have withheld your professor's name? Don't be so coy!

Not having operas performed in their own language has never been a cause of their "languishing." As I said, up to World War II and for some time after, it was normal for operas to be performed in the language of the audience, which was also the predominnate language of the singers in the opera company. When Mahler conducted Mozart's operas in Vienna it was as "Don Juan" and "Figaros Hochzeit." I don't see why not having Janacek's operas performed in Czech, which very few audiences around the world can understand, would inhibit their reception; to the contrary, surely it should help.

[Belle]

I didn't want to put his name in only for him to Google it and find me writing about him!! That's the trouble with the internet.

I think the language was a barrier since most singers are not trained to perform in Czech; I would have thought Russian was difficult enough (and most of those singers who do this seem to be - to me at least- Russian themselves). For this reason I think it was held back from becoming more standard repertoire - which is where it belongs. As I said, Mackerras is largely responsible for putting Janacek in his rightful place.

Listening to that 10 minute scene from Act 1 of Katya I was trying to place the musical influences. For me they go back to Berlioz, with some of the orchestrations of Mahler and Bruckner playing a role. It certainly is very wonderful music. And "the good Professor" said the arrival of surtitles in opera houses CHANGED EVERYTHING!!!

[John F]

I didn't want to put his name in only for him to Google it and find me writing about him!! That's the trouble with the internet.

Without knowing who he is, I can't take your word for it that he's such an expert, especially since his reasons (as you cite them) for the previous neglect of Janacek's operas are uninformed and mistaken. So forget about him and just speak for yourself.

I think the language was a barrier since most singers are not trained to perform in Czech; I would have thought Russian was difficult enough (and most of those singers who do this seem to be - to me at least- Russian themselves). For this reason I think it was held back from becoming more standard repertoire - which is where it belongs. As I said, Mackerras is largely responsible for putting Janacek in his rightful place.

Russian operas too were performed in translation outside Russia until well after World War II. When I saw "Boris Godunov" at the Paris Opéra in 1956 it was sung in French. At the Met and Covent Garden it was done in Italian until the 1940s, though when Chaliapin or Kipnis took the title role he sang in Russian, creating a strangely bilingual performance. Here's the death of Boris recorded at Covent Garden in 1927; at 8:18 the tsar's son Fyodor sings "Padre mio!" to which Boris replies "Nyet, sin moi." (What a stunning performance, by the way.)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oMzeaOVLCc

When Ezio Pinza sang the role of Boris at the Met he did it in Italian: "Dio! Che suon funebre."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr-yZgMnNOo

After the War, the Met replaced the standard Italian version with a new translatoin in English; "Boris" wasn't performed here in the original Russian until 1974. It was partly for this reason that Boris Christoff, the greatest Boris of our time, never sang his signature role at the Met. San Francisco Opera was more obliging and though it usually gave the opera in Italian, it performed it in Russian for Christoff's American debut. There is no reason to believe that performing "Boris" in languages other than Russian, from Diaghilev's Paris production in French to the Met's in English, have hindered its growing popularity and acceptance into the standard operatic repertoire - to the contrary. No more the operas of Janacek.

It's tiresome to repeat the same argument again and again, but as long as you cling to your mistaken belief I'll have to respond.

[maestrob]

If I may step in here........

Janacek's operas (as well as his Msa Glagolskaja and other choral works) were written specifically to follow the rhythms of the Slavic languages they're written in, making it difficult for translations into other languages to work, so I suspect few bothered to do that. Also his musical language is highly personal and not immediately appealing, the way Mussorgsky's Boris catches the ear, not to mention Verdi and Puccini. As a linguist (that's my degree from Villanova: French, Education double major with a Russian minor) I find operas translated from their original language awkward and slightly offensive: composers knew how the voice worked, and placed certain vowels on certain notes accordingly. Translations rarely do that as well as the original language.

I once coached a lovely young soprano in my competition who sang "The Song to the Moon" from Dvorak's Rusalka (the piece that Renee Fleming used to win the MET competition), in Czech, naturally. Operatic Czech is full of subtle pitfalls and odd sounds that created difficulties for my singer: I finally had to give her a tape of Benackova and told her to imitate that. Even so, I still had to make corrections in every rehearsal, including the dress, but she sang gloriously in her Carnegie Hall performance, making her audience and me quite proud.

My point is that, given the unique properties of the Czech language and Janacek's response to that in his music, I can agree more with Belle here than I can with you, John. Until Mackerras came along to champion Janacek, and opera houses began to open up to performing works in the original language, well my feeling is that the two trends coincided fortuitously, and now Janacek is performed regularly in the original tongue, which is as it should be.

[John F]

German singing translations of Janacek operas were by Max Brod, Kafka's friend and executor, who was bilingual in Czech and German. I doubt anyone could have done it better. As for matching the accents of the Czech language in German or any other language, that's a counsel of perfection which in principle applies to all literary translation, but it can hardly ever be attained; even Andrew Porter's English version of the Ring operas, probably as close to perfect as possible, is by no means perfect. But at least it enabled the English-speaking audience to get what the characters are talking about.

Performing operas in the original foreign language can only have been an obstacle to their understanding and appreciation by those who aren't already dedicated enough to have learned the libretto in advance from recordings. This is less so today because of projected translations in the opera house. Which gives rise to another objection based on the counsel of perfection, that the audience should not be reading the words but responding to them as sung while looking at the characters on the stage. Of course this is true but for most people it's not possible.

It's either/or, most people can't have it both ways, unless they're Czech. What matters more, the nuances of the composer's word-setting as the performance progresses or actually understanding the words the characters are uttering? That depends. Listening to a recording, when there's nothing to look at but the words on the page, a bilingual libretto makes the original language as accessible as possible, though I doubt that many such listeners will pick up those nuances or even look much at the original text, just the English version. In the opera house, watching a live dramatic performance, is a different matter.

[Belle]

If I may step in here........

Janacek's operas (as well as his Msa Glagolskaja and other choral works) were written specifically to follow the rhythms of the Czech language, making it difficult for translations into other languages to work, so I suspect few bothered to do that. Also his musical language is highly personal and not immediately appealing, the way Mussorgsky's Boris catches the ear, not to mention Verdi and Puccini. As a linguist (that's my degree from Villanova: French, Education double major with a Russian minor) I find operas translated from their original language awkward and slightly offensive: composers knew how the voice worked, and placed certain vowels on certain notes accordingly. Translations rarely do that as well as the original language.

I once coached a lovely young soprano in my competition who sang "The Song to the Moon" from Dvorak's Rusalka (the piece that Renee Fleming used to win the MET competition), in Czech, naturally. Operatic Czech is full of subtle pitfalls and odd sounds that created difficulties for my singer: I finally had to give her a tape of Benackova and told her to imitate that. Even so, I still had to make corrections in every rehearsal, including the dress, but she sang gloriously in her Carnegie Hall performance, making her audience and me quite proud.

My point is that, given the unique properties of the Czech language and Janacek's response to that in his music, I can agree more with Belle here than I can with you, John. Until Mackerras came along to champion Janacek, and opera houses began to open up to performing works in the original language, well my feeling is that the two trends coincided fortuitously, and now Janacek is performed regularly in the original tongue, which is as it should be.

Excellent comments. And this is precisely what the good Professor was driving at. I've never liked translations of operas myself, ever. As he said, projected surtitles and the ability of increasing numbers of singers to perform in the Czech language opened up Janacek's work to the wider world. I accepted his comments as those from an internationally recognized academic on this topic; the tragic operas of Leos Janacek.

[John F]

As he said, projected surtitles and the ability of increasing numbers of singers to perform in the Czech language opened up Janacek's work to the wider world.

Does this purported expert of yours know anything at all about operatic performance practice in the 20th century? Here we have another mistaken belief, about projected titles. They were first used as late as 1983 by the Canadian Opera Company. By then, Janacek's operas had long since been "opened up to the wider world," almost always in languages other than Czech.

By the way, you need not post the professor's name publicly. Classical Music Guide enables private messages too. On the home page click on Private messages in the upper right corner, then click on New PM. Only you and I will see your message - not even Lance can.

[Belle]

The Professor has written the book on Janacek as well as many books on and about performing opera.

I'm leaving my comments at that as it's a topic I'm not at all knowledgeable about so I leave it to the experts.

[John F]

Fair enough! It's perhaps not of earth-shaking importance, but in matters of historical fact it's as well to get it right if we can.

P.S. I'm at the library and have just come across Charles Susskind's "Janacek and Brod," about the relationship and collaboration between the composer and his biographer and translator. In the foreword Charles Mackerras says:

Max Brod became so possessed by Janacek's work that he determined it should be performed in Vienna, then still the capital of the Hapsburg empire, and succeeded in helping Janacek to that end, not only by his recommendations but by actually translating his operas into German... It was the Viennese first performance in Brod's German translation that really put "Jenufa" on the map, from where, still in Brod's translation, it spread over Europe and as far away as the New York Met...

Brod's translations provided the channel for the international recognition of Janacek's operas, because most of the important opera houses between the two world wars were German. The interest shown in Janacek's works by famous German conductors such as Otto Klemperer, Erich Kleiber, and Bruno Walter gave them a certain cachet. It is safe to say that if the first German translations of Janacek's operas had been of lower quality, the operas themselves would not have attained such wide recognition...

My preface ends with the same words of Firkusny's as Susskind's book: "Without Max Brod, Leos Janacek's world reputation would not have arrived for many more years." Perhaps never.

[Belle]

As I did originally write in my comments, the operas were "mostly" performed in English from the Czech. I'm presuming the Professor was referring to the post-war period, when these works really got wider recognition beyond Europe - but still not regularly scheduled until quite a bit later. He also said that in-house 'surtitle' translations facilitated singers performing in Czech, enabling the composer to be heard in his own language.

[THEHORN]

Maestrob, the Slavonic Mass is actually a setting of the Mass in old Church Slavonic, which is actually an old form of Bulgarian which became the liturgical language of Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and Bulgaria as they were orthodox Christians . Modern Bulgarian has diverged a lot from the old language .

[John F]

Here you go again.

As I did originally write in my comments, the operas were "mostly" performed in English from the Czech.

Only in England and maybe some of the commonwealth. In England after the war, all operas were sung in English, at Covent Garden as well as at Sadler's Wells and the English National Opera. (The exception was the Glyndebourne Festival, which used the original languages from the beginning in the 1930s.) When I saw "The Trojans" at Covent Garden in 1957, it was sung in Edward J. Dent's English version - not because "The Trojans" was a special case but under the Royal Opera's policy applying to all operas in all foreign languages. That Janacek's operas too were done in English is no more significant than that "The Marriage of Figaro" and "The Valkyrie" were. Whatever point you or your professor are trying to make, it won't do.

As I wrote in my comments, and as Charles Mackerras says in the passage I quoted and I hope you bothered to read, outside Czechoslovakia Janacek's operas were mostly performed in Max Brod's German version, and not just in German-speaking countries. Why must we go over this again and again? It's a matter of historical fact.

If you really think it's worth while trying to get your professor's opinion straight, if only to rescue his credibility from this mess, don't tell us what you think he meant, ask him what he did mean and quote exactly what he says. Sheesh!

[Belle]

I don't feel I need to 'rescue his credibility from this mess'; as I said, the mistake may have been mine. In any case I'm going to be talking to him about it in the near future. And "mostly" in English means "not all the time"!

[John F]

"mostly" in English means "not all the time"!

Again, to get the facts straight. If Janacek's operas or any operas were to be performed in ENgland at all, they were always (not just "mostly") done in English. However, Janacek's operas were also performed in many other countries and cities, where they were never ()not "mostly") done in ENglish but mainly in German. So your "mostly" is mistaken, whether you're talking about England or worldwide.

Do you really not get this, or are you just being stubborn?

[Belle]

I've just emailed the Professor to ask him for clarification. I put in another question/observation about "Aus dem Totenhaus" as well, as we had discussed that after his presentation.

I'm not stubborn by nature and I don't think I come across this way on CMG, always being ready to admit when I might be wrong. In any case, I've sent you a private message on what Michael had to say - for privacy reasons! It appears I did misunderstand.

[maestrob]

Maestrob, the Slavonic Mass is actually a setting of the Mass in old Church Slavonic, which is actually an old form of Bulgarian which became the liturgical language of Russia, Ukraine, Serbia and Bulgaria as they were orthodox Christians . Modern Bulgarian has diverged a lot from the old language .

Yes, thank-you Robert: I knew that. I should have been clearer in my original post and said "Slavic" instead of "Czech." The fact remains that Janacek wrote rhythms in his music that reflected the rhythm of the spoken language used in the text, which is not in dispute here.