The Makropulos Affair by Janáček, Sat 16 Deai 2021, Ó (2021/2022), Faoi stiúir Martin Otava, Seoltóir Norbert Baxa, Jiří Štrunc, Velké divadlo, Pilsen, Czech Republic

Leoš Janáček is one of the most important opera composers of the last century. His opera work has become an integral part of the world's opera scenes. Janáček has already shocked his contemporaries by choosing themes for his operas. It was no different when he decided to set Karel Čapek's play The Makropulos Case from 1922. He must have been attracted by the mysterious woman Elina Makropulos, the daughter of the court physician Rudolf II. The emperor was afraid of death, so he ordered his doctor to create for him an elixir of eternal youth and immortality. When the preparation was done, the emperor ordered the doctor to test it on his daughter. So Elina lived over three hundred years. In the opera, we see her at the end of her existence, tired by an unreasonable length of life and longing for death, who are also afraid. The philosophical message of the work - "you fools, you are so happy that you will die so soon" - is still relevant today. The Makropoulos Case will be performed in opera in Pilsen for the first time.