Prom 45: 19.08.16 - Janáček: The Makropulos Affair

[Bryn]

With Mackerras, of course, you can hear the work in both the original Czech (Decca) and English (Chandos).

[makropulos]

With Mackerras, of course, you can hear the work in both the original Czech (Decca) and English (Chandos).

Indeed :) - and, to allude to another thread, BBC broadcasts from 1965 and 1971 from SWO/ENO (both with Marie Collier as Emilia Marty, sung in English), as well as a Met broadcast from 1998 (with Catherine Malfitano as Emilia Marty, sung in Czech).

[Master Jacques]

The crucial change is at the end of the play/opera. In the play, Marty laughs the whole thing off in a slightly whimsical way, whereas in the opera there is an unquestionably tragic conclusion. So you won't be surprised that I don't agree with some of your first paragraph. The cast was terrific, and Mattila very much one of those - were you in the hall? All I can say is that she made a tremendous impact, vocally and dramatically, in the stalls - far from disengaged, I'd say. Agree about the rest of the cast. And I'd also agree that doing the whole thing in English is a good idea, but there was a complete Czech-English libretto in the programme, so the audience could, if it wanted, follow every word.

Yes, Makropulos I was there, at about 9 o'clock in the stalls, so a nice view and good sound. Of course, you are quite right about the change Janacek made at the end of the play, where Elena/Emilia's cries of "Pater Hemon!" point up the sense of last rites and dissolution. However, as ever with Capek (like our contemporary Milan Kundera) we should be wary of taking him at face value. The lightness of his writing doesn't equate to levity: it's impossible to read the last pages of his play - where Emilia's death not shown but clearly in everyone's mind - without being moved by the character's courage in laughing the business off. In other words, Janacek makes explicit what's implicit in the play.

As for Mattila, I am obviously in a small minority of people who found her performance disappointing. Part of the trouble (for me) was her very linear line on the character - she takes one idea and sticks with it. She's clearly taken note of Janacek's early letters about the character to Kamila Stosslova (where he talks of an "ice goddess" and "stone statue" denuded of emotions) but not the later ones, which he wrote when the music took hold of him (where he talks passionately of love, sympathy, and Emilia's immense charm and appeal to everyone around her).

Take the moment where she recognises Hauk. Mattila didn't even look at him, but gave us a pleased, mild surprise, which missed out on the psychological complexity of the moment - other singers (notably Collier) used this one moment to suggest unexpected courtesy, shocked horror at Hauk's age and decrepitude, and yearning for vanished love. In other words, she conveyed Emilia's depth of experience and terminal disillusion. There was a constant stream of such missed opportunities in Mattila's performance, which rendered it comparatively bland and superficial, concerned with expanding the musical line wherever she could, but little concerned with Emilia's "infinite variety" and vulnerability which hypnotise all around her.

This has to be down to her (understandable) lack of engagement with the text, as her voice is still in excellent condition. I thoroughly agree with your perfect assessment of JB's merits, compared against the "vital spark" of CM's unforgettable performances of this Janacek opera above all!