Opera
Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden | DE
Die Sache Makropulos
The Makropulos Affair
Leoš Janáček (1854 – 1928)
Opera in three acts
Sung in Czech, with German surtitles.
Libretto by the composer, based on the play by the same name (1922) by Karel Capek
Premiere: 1926 in Brno
Leoš Janáček's penultimate opera "The Makropulos Affair" is a Kafkaesque metaphor, a meta-opera and a parable about the value of life and the longing for immortality. At the beginning of the 17th century, Emilia Marty took an elixir that extends life by 300 years. But apparently this long life does not make her happy: after this time she has nothing but contempt for life and the living. Nevertheless, she does not want to die. When the effect begins to wear off, she tries to get the potion back by any means necessary.
With Janáček's last two operas, "The Makropulos Affair" and
"From a House of the Dead", the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden brings an as yet unprecedented and intriguing double bill to the stage. "To experience these two operas interwoven with each other is an exciting journey beneath the skin of human existence." – Director Nicolas Brieger
PREMIERE: 30 April 2023