Věc Makropulos Pilsen 2021
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Věc Makropulos aka The Makropulos Case
- Composer: Janacek Leos
- Libretto: Leos Janacek
- Venue & Opera Company: DJKT, Divadlo J. K. Tyla, Plzeň, Czech Republic
- Recorded: May 15, 2021
- Type: Concert Semi-staged
- Singers: Ivana Veberova, Philip Castagner, Tomas Korinek, Zuzana Koprivova, Jiri Kubik, Amir Khan, Frantisek Zahradnicek, Jan Hnyk, Ivana Sakova
- Conductor: Norbert Baxa, Jiří Štrunc
- Orchestra:
- Stage Director: Martin Otava
- Stage Designer: Daniel Dvořák Costume: Dana Haklová Light Design: Antonín Pflege
- Costume Designer: Dana Haklová
- Lighting Designer: Antonín Pflege
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Divadlo J. K. Ty
- Date Published: 2021
- 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
Leoš Janáček belongs to the most respected composers of the previous century. His works are presented by leading opera houses worldwide. Janáček shocked his contemporaries by the themes he selected for his operas, including the Makropulos Affair, a 1922 text by Karel Čapek.
He was surely attracted by the character of the mysterious Elina Makropulos, a daughter of court physician to Rudolph II. The emperor feared death and ordered his physician to prepare an elixir of eternal youth and immortality. Once the potion was ready the emperor ordered the physician to test it on his daughter Elina who then lived over three hundred years long. In the opera we see Elina at the end of her existence, exhausted by the excessive length of her life and wishing for death that she fears at the same time. The philosophical message of the theme – “you fools, you are so happy to be dying soon” – is still valid today. In Plzeň it will be the first time that the Macropulos Affair will be staged as opera.