New productions

The protagonists of Jules Massenet’s operas and oratorios are mostly female, as is indeed implied already by the names of his works: Thaïs, Hérodias, La Navarroise, Sappho, Ariane, Thérèse, Grisélidis, Cendrillon, Cléopâtre, Manon, Marie-Magdeleine. Setting an exception to the rule, the hero of Massenet’s last opera is a man, after all. Namely, Don Quixote, in the eponymous opera subtitled “comédie héroïque.” Massenet’s librettist, Henri Cain, drew his material from a French stage adaptation of the Cervantes novel, from the pen of Massenet’s contemporary, Jacques Le Lorrain, entitled Le Chevalier de la longue figure. The role of Don Quixote was made to measure for the legendary Russian bass, Fyodor Shalyapin. The latter triumphed in the opera’s premiere, in Monte Carlo, on February 19, 1910, and it was doubtless thanks to him that the work became widely staged and known. He also guest-appeared at the National Theatre in Prague, on June 1, 1934. The premises of today’s Prague State Opera saw one previous staging of Don Quichotte, a production that ran from 1965–1967 on the stage of the then Smetana Theatre under the baton of Albert Rosen and directed by Luděk Mandaus.

“Dangerously fascinating, frighteningly and sweetly infinite,” was how Friedrich Nietzsche characterized the opera, Tristan und Isolde, written by Richard Wagner to his own libretto between 1857 and 1859. He drew inspiration from the epic, Tristan und Isolt, by Gottfried von Strassburg (d. around 1210), who in his turn based it drew on an ancient Celtic legend. The first company to show interest in staging the work was the Court Opera in Vienna. At the end of a string of 70 harrowing rehearsals between 1862 and 1864, though, the work was declared unperformable. Only after the intercession of Wagner’s admirer, Ludwig II of Bavaria, did the premiere take place, at Munich, on June 10, 1865, under the baton of Hans von Bülow. The Prague State Opera building saw four previous productions of Tristan und Isolde, premiered on September 1, 1896, March 31, 1907, March 9, 1912 (by Alexander Zemlinsky), and June 21, 1934. All of these stagings were mounted by the then New German Theatre. This means the anticipated new production will return Tristan und Isolde under this roof after an absence of 76 years!

One of the most successful European choreographers of our time, Yuri Vámos, has won acclaim for his highly individual adaptations of such ballet classics as The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, or Spartacus. In his version of The Sleeping Beauty, he transformed, in close collaboration with the stage artist Michael Scott, the traditional fairy-tale subject into a spectacular ballet drama dealing with the happy life and tragic end of the Russian imperial family. In the ballet’s scenes set at the court, he evokes the figure of Anna Anderson, who spent her whole life in the belief of being the Tsar’s daughter. In Anna Anderson-Anastasia’s recollections, aristocratic scenes in the imperial palace metamorphose into images of an innocent childhood spent amid splendour, as well as into a reminiscence of the classical Russian ballet with all its virtuoso attributes. The production promises a very special experience to look forward to by all lovers of strong story-telling, as well as by aficionados of top-class mastery of the art of ballet.

The Gala Concert marking 50 years from the death of Bohuslav Martinů (b. in Polička, December 8, 1890; d. in Liestal, Augusst 28, 1959) presents a cross-section of Martinů’s output over a period of 43 years (from 1915 – 1958), at the same time aspiring to point out the commitment of today’s Prague State Opera to the glorious history of its premises.

Kudykam, a 1,600 verse-long song text with music by Petr Hapka staged at the Prague State Opera is a theatrical play in verse, part sung, part spoken: a “one-poem play,“ one might label it with a touch of an overstatement.

The story deals with the inner journey of the hero (Martin), who is seen at the beginning in his small room at the “Guesthouse World.” Should he be content with what he has and can take for granted, or had he rather step out into uncertainty and into the maelstrom of opportunities and perils that he rightly assumes lurks behind the door of his lodgings? Ought he to follow in the footsteps of his uncle who is said to have set out on such an expedition a long time ago, and who is believed to have reached up from the fifth underground level to immeasurable heights, perhaps even as high as  the ground floor? And if he chooses likewise, will he know whitherward (kudy kam) to go? As soon as he poses himself these questions, Martin finds himself face in face with the embodiment of his wish, in the form of Kudykam/Whitherward, who instantly offers himself as Martin’s guide. He promises to submit to Martin suggestions of progress at each stage of his journey, yet will leave up to him the choice of specific individual steps to take. Martin agrees and so becomes the disciple of a truly bizarre Master. He will encounter many hurdles on his way, but the hardest battle he is to fight will be with himself.

The musical part of the spectacle is the work of composer Petr Hapka, with orchestration by Ondřej Brzobohatý. In all, the play contains nineteen songs. While some of them   including the opener, V Penziónu Svět / At the Guesthouse World   are the product of earlier collaboration of Michal Horáček and Petr Hapka, most are new. The most prominent new numbers are Hladiny / Surfaces; Tante cose da veder (both Kudykam); and Havrani na sněhu / Rooks on Snow (Martin).