FULL EVA abridged (Foerster) Czech TV-Opera 1974 Indřich Jindrák, Ivo Žídek, Libuše Márová, Eva Šenková
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Eva
- Composer: Foerster Josef Bohuslav
- Libretto: Josef Bohuslav Foerster based on Gabriela Preissová
- Venue & Opera Company: Czech TV studio
- Recorded: 1974
- Type: Movie
- Singers: Indřich Jindrák, Ivo Žídek, Libuše Márová, Eva Šenková, Blanka Vítková, Dalibor Jedlička
- Conductor: E Krepelka
- Orchestra: Orchest Narodniho Divadla
- Stage Director: Zdeněk Kubeček
- Stage Designer: Vladimír Tůma
- Costume Designer: L, Novotna
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Česká televize
- Date Published: 1974
- Format: Broadcast
- Quality Video: 3 Audio:3
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: ok FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Quote from Wikipedia:
Eva is the most famous opera (Op. 50) in three acts by the Czech composer Josef Bohuslav Foerster to his own libretto based on the play by the writer Gabriela Preissová from 1889. It was first performed on January 1 , 1899 at the National Theater in Prague .
Gabriela Preissová’s ground-breaking naturalistic drama The Servant caught the attention of Josef Bohuslav Foerster when it premiered in Prague’s National Theater on November 7, 1889. At that time, Foerster worked as a theater critic for Národní listých and wrote a critique of this drama. Soon after, he started working with Jaroslav Kvapil on an opera on another, also realistic theme ( Debora ) , but for a long time he also thought about setting Eva to music . Later in his memoirs ( Pilgrim abroad) wrote: “The liveliness of the characters, the straightforwardness of the plot, the dramatic conflict and above all the character of Eva, captivating with pure emotionality, directly called for a musical interpretation, which must be, especially from the emotional side, the fulfillment of what can only be hinted at in words, but never spoken.”
In the summer of 1894, Foerster went to Slovácko with his brother Viktor to get to know the life of the people there. Among other things, he participated in folk weddings in Velká nad Veličkou, and Slovakia’s “tender songs captivated him” (however, they did not leave a mark on the musical material of future operas). Based on his experiences, he created the Tragic Overture op. 67 and the first sketches for Eve . He definitively returned to the subject in 1895, already during his time in Hamburg , where he allegedly found inspiration for the character Samko in a watchmaker.