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Vec Makropulos State Opera Vienna - Wien Sun 30.Nov 2025 replace me !Vec Makropulos State Opera Vienna - Wien Wed 03.Dec 2025 replace me !Vec Makropulos State Opera Vienna - Wien Sat 06.Dec 2025 replace me !At the heart of Věc Makropulos is a recipe for a life-prolonging elixir invented by the doctor Hieronymus Makropulos for Emperor Rudolf II. It was tested on the doctor's beautiful daughter, who has now been on earth for 337 years and has had countless affairs over the generations. In the end, however, the seemingly young woman has to realize that an endless life on this side of the world only brings loneliness...
Věc Makropulos is one of Janáček's late works. Accordingly, the folkloristic element and the speech melodies as micromusical building blocks of the composition are no longer as predominant as in the earlier operas. Instead, Janáčeks experimented with very complex rhythms, sound structures, sound registers and harmonies without throwing classical tonality overboard.
It was also important to him to precisely depict the diverse psychological inner life of each individual character on stage - the orchestra in particular has the function of commentator and revealer of the subconscious and unconscious. Since Janáček's art not only has the task of entertaining or stimulating thought, but also of uplifting, the opera, like all his stage works, concludes on a hymn-like, cathartic note.
The composer Leoš Janáček was in the autumn of his life when he turned to Věc Makropulos(The Makropulos Affair). The model for this opera, which deals intensively with death, dying and the question of the meaningfulness of an infinite life in this world, was the comedy of the same name by Karel Čapek, which Janáček was able to experience in Prague. He enthusiastically acquired the setting rights and also wrote the libretto based on the original text. The work was completed after around two and a half years.
Janáček, then around 70 years old and longingly in love with his much younger muse Kamila Stösslová, had a clear opinion on the subject of infinite life, which he formulated in a letter to this very muse: "We are happy because we know that our lives will not last too long. Therefore, every moment must be used to the full." The state opera premiere of the work, which was first performed in Brno in 1926, took place very late in 2015 as part of a new Janáček cycle and was directed by the legendary Peter Stein.
(Source: wiener-staatsoper.at)
