Jenůfa

In the organizer's words:

Opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček

Text by Leoš Janáček after the drama (1890) by Gabriela Preissová / in Czech with German surtitles
[Recommended for ages 16 and up]

Superficial love, jealousy and false morals lead Jenůfa's fate down a tragic path. She is loved by Laca, but she herself loves Števa, from whom she is expecting a child. Furious at Jenůfa's rejection, Laca injures her face, which is disfigured from then on. Jenůfa is no longer attractive to Števa and he abandons her. Single with an illegitimate child, Jenůfa is threatened with exclusion and ostracism from village society. The sexton, Jenůfa's foster mother, kills the newborn, but tells Jenůfa that the child died while she was in a fever ...

Society's outcasts were always at the center of the stories that the composer Leoš Janáček (1854-1928) told on stage. "Jenůfa" premiered at the National Theatre in Brno in 1904 and has since been one of the most frequently performed operas in the Czech repertoire worldwide.