Jenůfa, Opera by L. Janáček
A powerful and often darkly dramatic opera by the renowned Czech composer, Leoš Janáček, Jenůfa brings themes of jealousy, rage and murder to the stage of Venice's La Fenice Opera House. Janáček's third opera, Jenůfa took a considerable amount of time before it gained the widespread acclaim it so richly deserves. It was first performed at the National Theatre in Brno on 21 January 1904, but audiences in Prague had to wait until a 1916 production, staged in a substantially revised version, to see it. At this point in his career, Janáček's international reputation as a serious opera composer was finally made.
Janáček wrote both the score and libretto for Jenůfa. He adapted the opera in three acts from a stage play written by Gabriela Preissová. Her play - Její pastorkyňa, known as Her Stepdaughter in English – is set in a rural Moravian village where the locals have their own code of honour and where established traditions generate a rather regimented way of life. Janáček seized on these dramatic ideas, writing a libretto in prose that would draw out the somewhat stifling atmosphere the main characters exist in.
The title character, Jenůfa, is in the middle of a love triangle. In the first act, we discover she is secretly pregnant with Števa's child. Števa's half-brother, Laca, is in love with Jenůfa, unaware she is expecting his baby. Laca and Števa have also been in a dispute over a property inheritance, adding to their jealous rivalry. In a rage at Jenůfa's lack of interest in him, Laca lashes out and cuts her face, thereby disfiguring her. Unfortunately for Jenůfa, Števa spurns her to the extent that he even seems to be contemptuous of her. At this point, the village church elder, Jenůfa's stepmother, realises something must be done. Otherwise, Jenůfa risks having to bring her baby up alone. She hatches a shocking plan with potentially dramatic consequences for all involved. Can she persuade Števa to take some responsibility for his child? If not, will she convince Jenůfa and Laca to patch things up?
Today, Jenůfa is most often performed with Janáček's original score rather than the revised version made for its Prague debut. Audiences at Venice's Gran Teatro La Fenice can expect a masterpiece of dramatic opera, one that, at times, depicts horrific events with humanity and empathy for the characters involved.