Leos Janacek

by Tyrrell, John

• ISBN13: 9780521298537
• ISBN10: 0521298539
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1982-08-01
• Publisher: Cambridge Univ Pr

Summary

Kàt'a Kabanovà is both the first Janàcek opera to have been performed in Britain and the one which has received the most productions in Britain and the USA. In this book John Tyrrell brings together letters, early reviews and other documents (most of them translated from Czech for the first time) on the opera's composition and its early performances. A group of key interpretations of the opera ranges from one by the opera's German translator and Janàcek's first biographer Max Brod to specially commissioned essays by Wilfrid Mellers and by David Pountney, producer of the highly successful Welsh National Opera/Scottish Opera Janàcek cycle.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction John Tyrrell

2. Ostrovsky's play 'The Thunderstorm' Cynthia Marsh

3. The libretto John Tyrrell

4. Synopsis: innocence and guilt in 'Ká

t'a Kabanová

' Wilfrid Mellers

5. Composition and the Brno and Prague premiè

res: letters and reviews John Tyrrell

6. Stage history and reception (i) general survey Svatava Pribá

ñ

ová

(ii) 'Ká

t'a Kabanová

' in the United Kingdom Adrienne Simpson (iii) 'Ká

t'a Kabanová

' in the USA Barbara Hampton Renton

7. Textual problems (i) the interludes Theodora Straková

(ii) orchestration problems and the revised edition Charles Mackerras (iii) Janá

cek and the viola d'amore John Tyrrell

8. Interpretations (i) 'Ká

tja Kabanová

' Max Brod (1924) (ii) les autres oeuvres dramatiques: 'Katia Kabanova' Daniel Muller (1930) (iii) Janá

cek and 'Katya Kabanova' Winton Dean (1954) (iv) Leos Janá

cek K.-H. Wö

rner (1969) (v) producing 'Ká

t'a Kabanová

' David Pountney (1982)

Notes

Productions of 'Ká

t'a Kabanova' Svatava Pribá

ñ

ová

Sources

Bibliography

Discography Malcolm Walker.