Leos Janácek: Kát'a Kabanová

John Tyrrell (Edited by)

9780521298537, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 17 June 1982

252 pages
21.6 x 13.8 x 1.8 cm, 0.32 kg

Kát'a Kabanová is both the first Janácek 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 Janácek'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 Janácek cycle.

1. Introduction John Tyrrell
2. Ostrovsky's play 'The Thunderstorm' Cynthia Marsh
3. The libretto John Tyrrell
4. Synopsis: innocence and guilt in 'Kát'a Kabanová' Wilfrid Mellers
5. Composition and the Brno and Prague premières: letters and reviews John Tyrrell
6. Stage history and reception (i) general survey Svatava Pribáñová (ii) 'Kát'a Kabanová' in the United Kingdom Adrienne Simpson (iii) 'Kát'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) Janácek and the viola d'amore John Tyrrell
8. Interpretations (i) 'Kátja Kabanová' Max Brod (1924) (ii) les autres oeuvres dramatiques: 'Katia Kabanova' Daniel Muller (1930) (iii) Janácek and 'Katya Kabanova' Winton Dean (1954) (iv) Leos Janácek K.-H. Wörner (1969) (v) producing 'Kát'a Kabanová' David Pountney (1982)
Notes
Productions of 'Kát'a Kabanova' Svatava Pribáñová
Sources
Bibliography
Discography Malcolm Walker.

Subject Areas: Opera [AVGC9]