Prom 20 (1.08.20) The Makropulos Affair

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Karita Mattila stars in a concert performance of Janáček’s opera The Makropulos Affair, a drama of immortality, death and the purpose of life, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek with the BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Janáček: The Makropulos Affair (concert performance; sung in Czech)

Emilia Marty ..... Karita Mattila (soprano)
Albert Gregor ..... Aleš Briscein (tenor)
Dr Kolenatý ..... Gustáv Beláček (bass)
Vítek ..... Jan Vacík (tenor)
Kristina ..... Eva Štěrbová (soprano)
Baron Jaroslav Prus ..... Svatopluk Sem (baritone)
Janek ..... Aleš Voráček (tenor)
Hauk-Šendorf ..... Jan Ježek (tenor)
Stage Technician ..... Jiří Klecker (bass)
Cleaning Woman ..... Yvona Skvárová (mezzo-soprano)
Chambermaid ..... Jana Hrochová (mezzo-soprano)
BBC Singers
BBC Symphony Orchestra

Jiří Bělohlávek (conductor)

(From the BBC Proms 2016, 19 August)

An all-star cast gathers for Janáček’s late, existential masterpiece, The Makropulos Affair. This tragic satire is powered by a score that contains some of the composer’s most extreme and alluring music, written as Janáček was approaching 70 – and aflame with desire for a married woman less than half his age. The opera’s heroine, Emilia Marty, is part-inspired by his reluctant muse, Kamila Stösslová.

The Finnish soprano Karita Mattila, acclaimed for her ‘electrifying’ portrayal of Marty in a 2012 production at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, is joined by native Czech musicians, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s former Conductor Laureate Jiří Bělohlávek. This is (was) only the second performance of The Makropulos Affair at the Proms – the first being Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s 1995 production under Sir Andrew Davis

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I recall this being a success when originally performed/broadcast four years ago.

[bluestateprommer]

Gave this Prom another listen last night, with the Chandos English-language pdf booklet of the Mackerras English-language recording on hand (unlike the first time that I'd heard this Prom on iPlayer back in the day). Also in the back of the mind was the San Francisco Opera quarantine video stream of Věc Makropulos from earlier this summer, with KM as EM and JB conducting (and knowing, of course, that JB has been gone for 3+ years now). My general impressions from the earlier thread still pretty much hold up, where admittedly the Proms cast roster had the linguistic advantage over San Francisco in having a virtually all-Czech cast (but the Americans did fine back in 2010).

It was a nice touch to have reminiscences from Karita Mattila, where she spoke very warmly of Jiří Bělohlávek. My understanding of the earlier San Francisco Opera production is that after they had cast KM as EM, KM specifically requested JB as the conductor. Thus to paraphrase the old song: "whatever Karita wants, Karita gets". Also, if makropulos reads this, if you didn't already revisit this broadcast, the interval discussion with yourself and Jan Smaczny, moderated by Louise Fryer, is included during the 2nd interval, a discussion that I was very happy to hear again.