Arts & Events

Czech composer Leoš Janáček’s opera Jenufa tells a simple story, one set in a Moravian farming village similar to the one where Janáček himself grew up; but it tells this tale in music of searing intensity. As a young composer Janáček traveled throughoutšŠMoravia, studying the folk songs and rhythms of speech among the villagers. From these early years of research, Janáček created a unique musical idiom that is quite different from the musical styles of his fellow Czech composers Antonin Dvořák and Bedřich Smetana. For the opera Jenufa, Janáček wrote the libretto himself based on a play, Jeji pastorkyna – literally, Her Stepdaughter, by Gabriela Preissová. The unnamed Her of the title refers to Kostelnička Buryjovka, sung here by the great Finnish soprano Karita Mattila; and her stepdaughter is Jenufa, sung here by up-and-coming Swedish soprano Malin Byström. Individually and together, Mattila and Bystrom sang resplendently. The third cast member noteworthy of our appreciation was tenor William Burden as Laca, the villager who competes for Jenufa’s love with his stepbrother, the handsome village rake, Števa, sung here by Scott Quinn. 

The plot of Jenufa is a grim, harrowing tale of Jenufa’s unwedded pregnancy by Števa, who abandons her, and the killing of Jenufa’s baby by her stepmother, Kostelnička in an effort to hide the secret of her stepdaughter’s unwedded pregnancy. It is also the tale of Laca’s abiding love for Jenufa even when he learns of the birth of her son by Števa. In the role of Laca, tenor William Burden adroitly handled the vocal changes demanded by the libretto and score, as he used a sarcastic tone for his Act I jibing at Jenufa, then sang with rapturous commitment in Acts II and III. Malin Byström, too, handled adroitly the changes in Jenufa’s character, from bright and cheery in Act I to gloom and doom in Act II, then on to a final mature reconciliation in Act III. Throughout these changes, Byström’s soprano featured lustrously silver high notes and richly burnished low notes.  

As for Karita Mattila, this veteran singer offered a Kostelnička that was larger-than-life. Vocally and dramatically, Mattila was utterly convincing as the steely, proud stepmother respected and feared by all the other villagers. Mattila conveyed all the pride and fear of humiliation Kostelnička felt in dealing with the unwedded pregnancy of her beloved stepdaughter Jenufa. Indeed, Kostelnička’s Act III confession to Jenufa that, “I loved myself more than you,” was very movingly sung by Karita Mattila. The only major character is this opera who does not grow and mature is Števa, who remains vain and superficial from beginning to end, although tenor Scott Quinn did his best to instill some life in this rather wooden character. 

In smaller roles, mezzo-soprano Jill Grove was excellent as Grandmother Buryjovka, bass-baritone Matthew Stump turned in a fine performance as the mill foreman, soprano Sarah Tucker ably sang the role of Jano, and soprano Toni Marie Palmertree was a fine Barena. Act III introduced several new characters: the village mayor and his wife, sung here by Anthony Reed and Zanda Švede; Karolka, the new fiancée of Steva, sung here by Adler fellow Julie Adams; and Kostelnička’s aunt, sung here by Buffy Baggott.  

The staging by Olivier Tambosi was not altogether satisfying, in my opinion. Tambosi made all-too-frequent use of rocks, one a huge boulder, which intruded on the mill in Act I, intruded quite ludicrously on Kostelnička’s house in Act II, and were used as threatening projectiles when the villagers almost began stoning Jenufa in Act III when her dead baby was recovered from the thawing ice in the river. The rocks themselves were designed by Frank Philipp Schlössmann. Finally, Czech conductor Jiři Bělohlávek led the orchestra in a taut, robust performance of Janáček’s score. All in all, this was a Jenufa for the ages, a stunning performance of an opera all too rarely encountered.