Krútňava or The Whirlpool (Suchoň) Bratislava 2019 Jolana Fogasova, Michal Lehotsky, Jozef Benci

• Work Title: Krútňava or The Whirlpool   
• Composer: Suchoň Eugen  
• Libretto: Eugen Suchoň, Štefan Hoza, based on a novella, Za vyšným mlynom (Beyond the Upper Mill) by Milo Urban    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Slovak National Opera SND, Bratislavia, Slovakia  
• Recorded: 2019
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Jolana Fogasova, Michal Lehotsky, Jozef Benci
• Conductor: Ondrej Lenard  
• Orchestra:
• Chorus Master: Pavel Procházka  
• Stage Director: Juraj Jakubisko  
• Stage Designer: Milan Ferenčík  
• Costume Designer: Ľudmila Várossová  

Information about the Recording

• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: nosubs  
• This Recording is NOT AVAILABLE from a proper commercial or public source
•  

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

Prelude
The original version, reconstituted in 2008 (see above) opens with a dialogue between the Poet and his Double. The Double maintains that base human nature will always triumph over conscience. He makes a wager with the poet to write a play in which it will be seen how things turn out.

Scene 1
Jan Štelina is found dead in the woods. The previous night he had been with Katrena. Štelina’s father accuses her of his son’s death.

Scene 2
The police come to investigate the murder but find nothing. Katrena’s aunts persuade her that she should think of marrying now that Jan is dead, and propose Ondrej, who has always wanted her. Old Štelina says she would be better off living alone, and vows to continue his own investigations.

Scene 3
Against her will Katrena marries Ondrej in a full Slovak traditional wedding. At the ceremony Štelina again rebukes Katrena, inciting the fury of Ondrej.

Scene 4
A year later. Katrena has given birth to a boy, but Ondrej is becoming increasingly erratic, drinking and beating her. She confesses to old Štelina that Jan was her only true love. Katrena’s neighbours hint that the baby looks more like someone else than Ondrej. In a rage, Ondrej stalks out to the forest.

Scene 5
This scene is subtitled Catharsis by the composer. In the woods the drunken Ondrej has a vision of the dead Jan and is moved to confess. In the original version, the Double tries to persuade him (in an unusual duet between tenor and spoken voice) that there is no point in giving himself up as no-one knows about the crime; however Ondrej resists this temptation. In the ‘Communist’ version after an internal struggle, Ondrej confesses to an unseen presence that he was Jan’s murderer.

Scene 6
Easter. A shot is heard during the celebrations; the old shepherd is waving the gun he has found, which he saw Ondrej burying. Ondrej confesses; as the police take him away, Katrena assures him the baby is his. In the original version Old Štelina is reconciled to the situation and shows that his concern is to assist Katrena to bring up the child. The chorus sings of the powers of love and song (vindicating the views of the Poet).

In the ‘Communist Party’ version, the baby is asserted to be Jan’s and is given to Old Štelina to raise. In the 1960s version Old Štelina’s dreams of claiming the child are shattered; he vows revenge on Ondrej. The final chorus is a hymn to justice and the restoration of natural order.