Janáček: The excursions of Mr Brouček

 Opera no 34

Janáček: The excursions of Mr Brouček

Soloists

Czech Philharmonic orchestra and chorus

František Jilek

I was lucky enough to have the great Janáćek scholar John Tyrrell as my Ph D supervisor so I learned a lot about the composer from talking to John and reading his books as they came out. I knew the ‘big five’ operas from the Mackerras recordings (for which John wrote the booklet notes) but I had not heard this opera before.

What a strange yet wonderful piece it is. Simon Rattle called it ‘really beautiful and off the charts surreal’ and that sums it up very well. The first part, the excursion to the moon, is dominated by a manic waltz rhythm which crops up time and time again in various guises. The orchestration is wonderfully distinctive and hair-raising lay difficult - one wonders quite how the orchestra coped with it in 1920. The second part is perhaps slightly less inspired thought it does have some extraordinary choral writing, which not surprisingly gave the original performers real problems and required some discrete instrumental doubling. Yet it many ways the highlight is the absolutely gorgeous love duet that forms an interlude between the two parts of the opera. This shows that Janáċek had a melodic gift equal to anybody of his generation.

I can’t believe that it has taken me so long to listen to this peice. I will certainly return to it.

This concludes this series of Czech operas, If you include the Foerster  https://andrew365newpieces.blogspot.com/search/label/Foerster I included in last year’s project I have covered most of the major 19th figures. I’ll return to the Czech lands later in this project to pick up some more 20th century works.

Smetana: Dalibor

Opera no 33

Smetana: Dalibor

Soloists

Prague National Theatre chorus and orchestra

Jaroslav Krombholc

Dalibor is one of the central works in the Czech operatic repertoire, although initially it had little success - Mahler's conducting of the work in Vienna helped to establish its importance. It has been compared to Fidelio in that the plot concerns a political prisoner whose lover disguises herself as a man in order to work in the prison and help rescue him.

I thought that it was a very impressive piece. It is not as overtly melodramatic as the Kovařovic opera (the previous work in this project) but makes a strong impression throughout. Perhaps the high point is the big solo for Dalibor himself in the third act but the duet for the lovers is also intensely moving. 

Last year I was impressed by Smetana's The Kiss https://andrew365newpieces.blogspot.com/2025/10/smetana-hubicka.html and said that I would like to explore more of the composer's operas. Listening to this opera today certainly increases my enthusiasm for Smetana as an opera composer - there's certainly more to go at.

Kovařovic: The Dogheads

Opera no 32

Kovařovic: The Dogheads

Soloists

Prague radio orchestra and choir

František Dyk

Kovařovic is primarily remembered for his connection with Janáček: he conducted the 1916 Prague revival of Jenůfa, which did much to establish Janáček's international reputation. But in doing so he revised and re-orchestrated some of the work and for 60 years or so the opera was almost always heard in Kovařovic's version.

As a composer Kovařovic wrote several operas before his appointment as musical director of the Prague National Opera meant he had no more time to compose large scale works. This opera, about a rebellion against the Hapsburg forces in 1695 was his most popular work and remained on the fringes of the repertoire in the Czech lands for many years.  

It is quite an old-fashioned piece for an opera written at the very end of the 19th century. It feels, and sounds, like something from a generation earlier. It has all the apparatus of a French grand opera with lots of blood and thunder and, to be frank, little subtlety. But on its own terms it was enjoyable and clearly shows a composer who understood the theatre and the power of opera to convey emotion and fervour.

I can't imagine that it could ever make any headway outside the Czech lands, and is really now of historical interest only. But that doesn't make it any the less enjoyable as a one-off experience.

Blodek: In the Well

Opera no 31

Blodek: In the well

Soloists

Prague National Theatre

Jan Štych

This was a delightful work. The obvious point of comparison is The Bartered Bride which was first performed around the same time and indeed has the same librettist. This is a lighthearted story about village life and love - the well is where young girls to to see an image of their future husband and the prospective suitor of the heroine hides in a tree above the well so that it is his reflection that is seen. Inevitably he falls into well, but all ends happily ever after.

The music is very much in the early romantic style of composers such as Lortzing with an overlay of  the Czech style familiar from Smetana and Dvóřak. It is a short piece which places few demands on the performers - John Tyrrell points out that the piece is often performed by amateurs and is still very much in the Czech operatic repertoire.

Fibich: Šárka

Opera no 30

Fibich: Šárka

Soloists

Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra

Sylvain Camberling

Fibich is a name which still has a slight resonance among , at least older, listeners because his poem used to be a staple of the violin recital in an arrangement by  Jan Kubelik.  I don’t think that I have ever heard any more of his music.

I really enjoyed this opera. It was full of drama and strong characterization. The story is a classic of Czech folklore and was also the subject of an opera by Janáček and a tone poem by Smetana but this opera doesn’t suffer by comparison with that august company. Fibich has a real dramatic flare and a gift for melody. Some of the ensembles were really spine tingling. Fibich’s operas have never really travelled outside the Czech lands (unlike those of Smetana and Dvořák) which on the evidence here is a great pity. This piece would certainly command the stage anywhere.  

Škroup: Columbus

Opera no 29

Škroup: Columbus (extracts only)

Soloists

Prague Radio Orchestra and Chorus

František Djk

After a group of French and then Italian operas I am off on my (metaphorical) travels again to listen to some Czech operas. My much missed former Ph.D supervisor John Tyrrell wrote the definitive book in English on Czech opera and I will be using it as a guide for this part of the project.

The first composer he deals in detail with is the rather splendidly named František Škroup, who wrote what is generally considered to be the first Czech opera. He also wrote the Czech national anthem.

This opera, based on the life of Christopher Columbus, is a much later work written when the composer had was working at the German opera in Rotterdam. In fact the work was written to a German text. It was not performed in a Czech version until the 1940s. This recording of extracts was a from a radio performance in the 1960s.

It is no forgotten masterpiece. In fact I thought some of it was absolutely awful. It was grotesquely trivial and uninspired. Now I don’t look for profundity in everything . I enjoy much music which is not of the first rate so long as it has character, but this was just bombastic without any real merit.  Some of the quieter music was a bit more appealing but this was very old fashioned music for 1855 and had no character of its own.  I this that this recording was made as a way of honouring a composer who was important in his day, but his time has long gone and I can’t ever imagine this opera being performed other than as curiosity. I’ve certainly no desire to hear it again. My only relief is that this recording was only of extracts  - at least I didn’t have to endure the whole thing,

Dvořák: The Devil and Kate

Opera no 5

Dvořák: The Devil and Kate

Soloists

Brno Janacek Opera Chorus and Orchestra

Jiří Pinkas

At university we gave the first UK performance of Dvořák's Dimitrij. It was a great experience but it didn't convince me that Dvořák was a natural opera composer. The only other of his operas that I have heard is Russalka.

I have mixed view about Dvořák. I love his music when he is being a native Czech composer: much less when he is trying to be Brahms. Fortunately this opera is very much on the Czech side of the divide - it has lots of really attractive folk-based music which is very reminiscent of the Slavonic Dances. There are some very tuneful arias and ensembles. The music associated with the devil is perhaps a little routine though I can imagine that it would work well on stage. I have seen the opera described as a Czech equivalent of Hansel und Gretel with the Devil taking the part of the wicked witch. Of course all ends happily ever after and there is plenty of opportunity for more Czech dancing.  Overall I enjoyed it a lot even if it didn't quite convince me that Dvořák was born to compose operas.