 
Jenufa
Così fan tutte
Don Carlo, Falstaff
Die Fledermaus
Concert 2001
Narrated Music
Shir Ha Shirim
Notes
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who am i...?
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Bob Swaim
A TRIP TO THE CZECH REPUBLIC
Jenufa - the opening production of the Salzburg Festival 2001
Jenufa, Leos Janácek's masterpiece, with which he made his breakthrough
as an opera composer, opens this year's Salzburg Festival on 23 July 2001.
For American film director Bob Swaim Jenufa will be the first ever opera
he has staged. Swaim has been living in Paris for 32 years and caused
a furore with his films La Balance (awarded several Césars), Mascarade,
Half Moon Street (with Michael Caine and Sigourney Weaver), L'Atlantide
(filmed in Cinecittà and in Morocco) and The Climb (UNICEF prize
for the best film at the Berlin Film Festival in 1997).
Bob Swaim said he had been waiting thirty years to be made an offer to
direct opera. Gerard Mortier invited him to direct this new festival production
as a result of his great enthusiasm for Swaim's film The Climb. Sir John
Eliot Gardiner will conduct the Czech Philharmonic; Karita Mattila, Hildegard
Behrens, Jerry Hadley and David Kuebler will be heard in the main roles.
Bob Swaim:
I approach opera in much the same way I prepare a film. I do research
from real life, not from books. So I decided to go looking for Janácek's
world. I went to the Czech Republic accompanied by my production designer
and dramaturge. 
It
is important for me to understand something about Janácek's universe
and the people who inhabit it.It's by understanding the essence of this
world that we can transmit to the audience these "intangibles"
which make up the soul of a work. The questions I asked were:What is the
Czech soul, the Czech culture, and how does this affect my perception
of what I am hearing?
Everyone
sees the world differently
Directing is for me a way of discovering different ways of seeing the world and the way that different worlds see us. It's a process of learning and continual revelation ... not just about others but also about ourselves. It was an incredible experience to go to Janácek's house, sit on his bed, in his chair, read his letters ... Not only did I begin to understand a composer that I originally knew little about but I also discovered a culture.
Dramatic truth
"Dramatic truth" is a concept we throw about a lot when working
with actors. What exactly does it mean? To start with, it's not to be
confused with "realism". Whether Jenufa is in an authentic peasant
costume or a mini-skirt is irrelevant. It has more to do with the quality
or state of an actor being true. The issue here is, do you believe it?
Do you "feel" the emotional, dramatic and psychological truth
of these characters? Does it touch you?
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| Gérard Uféras, Grand Théatre de Genève, 1990 |
Jenufa, like all good tales, works on several levels. On one level, Jenufa
is about the social and political conflict in this village. Because of
Janácek's political beliefs the opera has overtones of Czech nationalism.
Later, particularly during the communist era, some people even saw the
opera as being about class struggle.
This aspect of the opera may be present in the sub-text but it certainly
is not the most important theme. Steva's mill dominates this society and
all the villagers work directly or indirectly for this mill. The whole
social structure revolves around this mill which is one of the reasons
why I've made the mill so visually important. The wheel is huge, the wheel
is always moving: it dominates the peoples' lives, it determines everything
they do.
Jenufa - a human drama
But the essence of this opera is in its human drama. Janácek has
given us a story of passion, jealousy, violence and reconciliation. We
have the Kostelniska, the step-mother who is strong, righteous and pious.
And very ambiguous. How could such a woman commit such a horrible crime?
Although the Kostelnicka is a key character, this is Jenufa's story. Drama
is about change, about conflict, about growth. Because she goes through
psychological and emotional changes, Jenufa is the emotional centre of
the dramatic arc of this piece. Jenufa is a woman who has loved, who has
given her body to a man, who has become pregnant, who has been betrayed.
So this is a story of a naive innocent girl who, during the course of
the opera, becomes a mature young woman who has learned to love, learned
about life, and learned to forgive.
Recorded by Ulrike Kalchmair and Margarethe Lasinger
Leos Janácek – Jenufa
sung in Czech
with supertitles in German and English
Conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Stage director Bob Swaim
Stage design Ferdinand Wögerbauer
Costume design Chloe Obolensky
Dramaturgy Alain Patrick Olivier
Chorus master Donald Palumbo
Old Buryja June Card
Laca Klemen Jerry Hadley
Stewa Buryja David Kuebler
The Kostelnicka Buryja Hildegard Behrens
Jenufa Karita Mattila
Karolka Martina Janková
Jano Gaële Le Roi
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Concert Association Vienna State Opera Chorus
Felsenreitschule
New production: 23 July 2001
26, 29 (at 5 p.m.) July, 1 and 4 August 2001
Performances begin at 7.30 p.m. unless otherwise stated.
Jenufa
Tickets are still available from the Ticket Office for the premiere on
23 July in the categories ATS 2,600 and 3,600, for the performances on
26 and 29 July and on 4 August also for ATS 4,200 and on 1 August in the
categories ATS 3,600 and 4,200.