Jenůfa

Jenůfa is one of the most overwhelming of Janáček’s operas, acclaimed all over the world. The heroine, a village girl gradually loses everything – her beauty, her child, her honour and the man she loves. Yet she finds hope and the reason to live on.

After a very long and complicated genesis, the opera ultimately triumphed at Czech and foreign theatres. Jenůfa was the piece that gained Janáček global acclaim and renown as an opera creator. With his profound sense for earthy drama, as well as immense compassion, the composer depicts human relationships formed by the harsh milieu of a self-contained rural community, with its inhabitants’ lives being exposed to the constant gaze of others. This conservative environment affects the fate of the young Jenůfa, and above all governs the behaviour of her stepmother Kostelnička, who at any cost strives to retain her reputation as a virtuous, moral woman and the villagers’ respect. Paradoxically, she does so by secretly murdering Jenůfa’s extramarital child.

At the present time, Jenůfa is a staple of the repertoire of numerous opera houses worldwide.