From the House of the Dead

Not to be confused with Memoirs from the House of The Dead.
From the House of the Dead
Opera by Leoš Janáček

Relief of the composer by Julius Pelikán
Native title Z mrtvého domu
Librettist Janáček
Language Czech
Based on The House of the Dead
by Dostoyevsky
Premiere 21 January 1930 (1930-01-21)
National Theatre, Brno

From the House of the Dead (Z mrtvého domu in Czech) is an opera by Leoš Janáček, in three acts. The libretto was translated and adapted by the composer from the novel by Dostoyevsky. It was the composer's last opera, premiered on 12 April 1930 in Brno, two years after his death.

Janáček worked on this opera knowing that it would be his last, and for it he broke away from the habit he had developed of creating characters modeled on his love interest Kamila Stösslová, although the themes of loneliness and isolation can clearly be seen as a response to her indifference to his feelings. There is only one female character, and the setting, a Siberian prison, presents a large ensemble cast instead of one or several prominent leads. There is no narrative to the work as a whole, but individual characters narrate episodes in their lives, and there is a "play-within-a-play" in Act 2.

From the House of the Dead was virtually finished when Janáček died. Two of his students, believing the orchestration was incomplete, "filled out" large portions of the score and adapted the ending to be more optimistic in tone. In addition to the work of Bretislav Bakala, Ota Zitek made changes to the text and sequence of events in the opera.[1] Decades later, a version closer to the composer's intentions superseded that version, and it is the one most often heard today. Some productions, however, still use the earlier version's ending to lessen the bleakness of the story.

The opera requires a vast orchestra, including chains as a percussion instrument to evoke the sound of the prisoners.

Roles

Role Voice type Premiere Cast, April 12, 1930
(Conductor: Břetislav Bakala[2])
Alexandr Petrovič Gorjančikov baritone
Aljeja, a young Tartar mezzo-soprano
Luka Kuzmič (Filka Morozov) tenor
Skuratov tenor
Šiškov baritone
Prison Governor baritone
Big Prisoner/Nikita tenor
Small Prisoner baritone
First Guard tenor
Second Guard baritone
Elderly Prisoner tenor
Voice (offstage) tenor
Cook (a prisoner) baritone
Priest baritone
Čekunov bass
Drunk Prisoner tenor
Šapkin tenor
Blacksmith (a prisoner) baritone
Prisoner/Kedril tenor
Prisoner/Don Juan/The Brahmin bass
Young Prisoner tenor
Prostitute mezzo-soprano
Čerevin tenor
Male chorus: prisoners (taking silent parts in Act 2 plays); guests, prison guards (silent)

[3]

Synopsis

Act 1

A Siberian prison camp on a winter morning

The prisoners get up, two get into a dispute, as the rumour is spread that a nobleman will be the new arrival ("Přivednou dnes pána"). He is Alexandr Petrovitch Goryantchikov, a political prisoner. The prison governor interrogates him and orders him to be flogged("Jak tě nazývají"). The prisoners have found a wounded eagle and tease the bird until the guards order them to their work ("Zvíře! Nedá se!"). The prisoners lament their fate ("Neuvidí oko již"); one of them, Skuratov, recalls his previous life in Moscow ("Já mlada na hodech byla"). Another, Luka Kuzmitch, tells how he incited a rebellion and killed an officer in his first prison camp ("Aljeja, podávej nitku"). Just as he describes his own flogging, Goryantchikov is dragged in, half dead ("Aljeja! Niti!").

Act 2

Six months later, at the Irtysh river

Goryantchikov has befriended the young tartar Alyeya, asks him about his family and offers to teach him to read and write ("Milý, milý Aljeja"). The prisoners finish work as a holiday begins and a priest blesses the food and the river ("Alexandr Petrovič, bude prazdnik"). Skuratov tells his story: He loved a German girl, Luisa, but when she was to be married to an old relative, Skuratov shot the groom ("Jaj, já pustý zbytečný člověk" – "Přešel den, druhý, třetí"). For the holiday, the prisoners stage a play about Don Juan and Kedril ("Dnes bude můj poslední den") and the pantomime about a beautiful, but unfaithful miller's wife ("Pantomima o pěkné mlynářce"). After the play, a prisoner tries to provoke Goryantchikov, as the nobleman has the means to drink tea even in prison ("Pěkně hráli, co?"). Alyeya gets injured.

Act 3

The prison hospital

Goryantchikov looks after Alyeya, who is happy that he now knows how to read and write ("Isak, prorok boží"). Luka lies dying of tuberculosis and insults Tchekunov for his servile mannerism towards Goryantchikov. Shapkin tells the story of his arrest as a vagrant and how an officer pulled his ear ("Ó, bratři! Ta bolest, to nic!"). Skuratov has gone mad. During the night, Shishkov tells his story, interrupted by the impatient questions of Tcherevin ("Má dět'átka milá"). A rich merchant had a daughter, Akulka, whom a friend of Shishkov's, one Filka Morozov, claimed to have dishonoured ("Ty, pravil Filka" – "A Filka křičí"). She was married to Shishkov who found out that she was a virgin ("A já byl, bratříčku, až do do svatby zpit"). When he discovered that she still loved Filka, Shishkov killed her ("Na druhý den"). Just then, Luka dies and Shishkov recognises him as Filka. A guard fetches Goryantchikov. Second scene. A drunk prison governor apologises to Goryantchikov for the whipping and tells him that he has been pardoned and is free ("Petrovičí, já jsem tě urazil"). The prisoners release the healed eagle before the guard order them back to work.

Recordings

Arrangements

  1. Arrangement suitable for: Opera
    • arrangement for: suite of the opera
    • arrangement by: František Jílek
    • performed by: Brno State Philharmonic Orchestra, co František Jílek

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Hans Hollander, "Janáček's Last Opera" in The Musical Times, 97(1362), 407–409 (1956).
  2. ↑ Simeone N. Bakala: Moravian Conductor. Czech Music, Vol 6, No 3, 1980.
  3. ↑ John Tyrrell: "From the House of the Dead", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed February 17, 2009), (subscription access)
  4. ↑ Winton Dean, "Record Review" of Janáček: From the House of the Dead. The Musical Times, 122(1663), 607 (1981).

External links

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