Festival preview: The Makropulos Case (Věc Makropulos)

The story of the singer Emilia Marty, who has lived for more than three hundred years thanks to the elixir of life… A glimpse into the eccentric world of opera divas, decadent aristocracy, and shallow bourgeois society. In February 2017, Janáček Opera presented this work at the Hong Kong Arts Festival. The production was created in co-production with Gothenburg Opera.

Leoš Janáček (1854–1928) composed his penultimate opera after Karel Čapek’s play about the desire for immortality – but also about the endless fatigue and horror of one who is denied death. Its main character is the opera singer Emilia Marty – Elina Makropulos, daughter of Emperor Rudolf II’s physician – who has lived for more than three centuries thanks to the elixir of life. Life gradually ceases to bring her joy; she becomes exhausted, lonely, and cynical. A mysterious femme fatale, she turns upside down the life of everyone she encounters. Čapek’s fantastic comedy – with its mysterious, partly detective-like plot – offers a view into the eccentric world of opera stars, degenerate nobility, and petty bourgeois society. Janáček transformed the play into a deeply powerful music drama. The premiere took place in 1926 at Brno’s Theatre on the Walls, with the composer himself in attendance. The opera became one of Janáček’s most enduringly popular works and is frequently staged at leading theatres around the world.

The National Theatre Brno has prepared a revival of this production as part of the Year of Czech Music, marking the 160th anniversary of the composer’s birth, and as the festive opening of the Janáček Brno 2014 Festival. For the staging, one of today’s most distinguished Czech directors, David Radok, was invited. It was his first production for NdB and also his first encounter with this opera.