Leoš Janáček · aftercurtain

Shows & credits

Destiny

Music and Libretto · Opera · 1934

Composer Živný and Míla were once lovers, but Míla’s mother separated them. They meet again at a spa and rekindle their relationship. Four years later, they are married and reading Živný’s unfinished opera, which portrays Míla as unfaithful. Her mother, whose mental state has deteriorated, rushes toward a balcony; Míla tries to restrain her, and both fall to their deaths. Eleven years later, Živný rehearses the still unfinished opera with his students, relives his love for Míla, and collapses before the ending is written.

From the House of the Dead

Music and Libretto · Opera · 1930

In a Siberian prison camp, political prisoner Goryanchikov is flogged and befriends the young Alyeya, whom he teaches to read and write. The prisoners recount episodes from their pasts and stage plays; Goryanchikov is eventually pardoned and released.

Jenůfa

Music and Libretto · Opera · 1904

Jenůfa is secretly pregnant by Števa, who is to inherit the mill. Her stepbrother Laca, who loves her, slashes her cheek after she defends Števa. After the child is born, Števa refuses to acknowledge him and becomes engaged to another woman. Jenůfa’s stepmother, the Kostelnička, tells her that the baby died and drowns him. When the child’s body is found, the Kostelnička confesses. Jenůfa forgives her, and Laca promises to remain with Jenůfa.

Káťa Kabanová

Music · Opera · 1921

Káťa lives under the control of her mother-in-law Kabanicha and her husband Tichon. Secretly in love with Boris, she meets him while Tichon is away. When Tichon returns, Káťa confesses their affair in front of the townspeople and flees during a storm. Boris is sent away, and Káťa throws herself into the river. Tichon tries to help her but is restrained by Kabanicha; he blames his mother for Káťa’s suicide.

The Beginning of a Novel

Music · Opera · 1894

Village girl Poluška, engaged to Tonek, flirts with Baron Adolf. When the gamekeeper exposes them, her parents try to arrange a match with the baron’s family, but the plan fails. Poluška returns to Tonek, while Adolf finds happiness with a countess; the characters reflect on the folly of mismatched social unions.

The Cunning Little Vixen

Music and Libretto · Opera · 1924

A forester captures a young vixen, who later escapes and lives in the forest with a fox. After a poacher kills her, the forester encounters a young frog, continuing the opera’s cycle of life and renewal.

The Excursions of Mr. Brouček to the Moon and to the 15th Century

Music · Opera · 1920

Prague landlord Matěj Brouček, drunk after an evening at a tavern, dreams of a more comfortable life on the Moon. He encounters avant-garde lunar artists, whose art and flower-scented meal displease him; after he is caught eating sausage, he flees on Pegasus and wakes in a barrel. In a second excursion, Brouček travels to Prague in 1420 during a Hussite siege. He convinces the rebels he is on their side but flees battle, is accused of treason, and sentenced to be burned in a beer barrel. He wakes back in his own time and boasts that he liberated Prague.

The Makropulos Affair

Music and Libretto · Opera · 1926

Opera singer Emilia Marty reveals her interest in a century-old inheritance case and directs the Gregor family’s lawyer to a missing will. In pursuing a document that holds the formula for eternal life, she exposes that she is Elina Makropulos, born in 1575 and kept alive for more than three centuries by her alchemist father’s potion. As the potion wears off, she refuses another dose, and Kristina burns the formula.

Šárka

Music · Opera · 1925

After Libuše’s death, women revolt and form an army led by Šárka. As the male troops’ morale declines, Ctirad guards Libuše’s tomb. The women swear vengeance when he frightens them from the tomb. Šárka is tied to a tree as bait; Ctirad frees her, and they fall in love. As they sleep, she remembers her plan and signals the maidens, who kill Ctirad and his warriors. At Ctirad’s funeral, Šárka throws herself onto his pyre and dies.

All shows

Loading credits…