tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post2956558730739656059..comments2024-03-28T12:59:05.739-07:00Comments on Iron Tongue of Midnight: Musical Invective: JenufaLisa Hirschhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-74886545650740582512013-10-15T21:59:48.808-07:002013-10-15T21:59:48.808-07:00Look up Max Brod, Franz Kafka's old buddy in P...Look up Max Brod, Franz Kafka's old buddy in Prague and Janacek's promoter/translator/fixer. He was part of the German Jewish minority there and the only way something as exotic and provincial as "Jenufa" could be thought to be assimilated by the rest of the world was to put it into a language educated people spoke (German then, English now). Then the Director of the Prague Opera decided to smooth out all the weird dissonances for the world premiere that Janacek had written into the orchestration to make it more accessible to a general public, and you've got a genuinely adulterated masterpiece.<br /><br />Robert Gordon is right. Charles Mackerras was a hero for excavating the original version and shaming the world into playing that henceforth. It's been a touchstone opera for me since the 1970s when I heard it live with Elizabeth Soderstrom and Sena Jurinac in the 1970s at the SF Opera. Wonderful to know that the rest of the world is catching up to its beauty and mastery.Civic Centerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12362422142667230626noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-78236659378122013322013-10-15T17:09:03.553-07:002013-10-15T17:09:03.553-07:00Also, Ernest Newman seems to think that the Krakov...Also, Ernest Newman seems to think that the Krakoviak, Mazurka, and Czardas are Czech dances. Never heard of Dumka and Furiant, I guess. This is another example of one of the points in your original post: in those days Music = German Music, everything else is Other, why worry about distinctions among all that exotica.<br /><br />And most of the time Ernest Newman was one of the good guys.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-20804236706615359442013-10-15T16:07:46.292-07:002013-10-15T16:07:46.292-07:00Thank you, Rob!
K., yes, well, I suspect many peo...Thank you, Rob!<br /><br />K., yes, well, I suspect many people today would be confused by those distinctions too!Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-87941135937906943952013-10-15T15:21:18.031-07:002013-10-15T15:21:18.031-07:00The first reviewer seems confused about the differ...The first reviewer seems confused about the differences among Bohemians, Moravians, and "Checho-Slovakians", a usage (and spelling) I've not seen before.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-83075605807552774922013-10-15T00:57:22.732-07:002013-10-15T00:57:22.732-07:00Here is a discussion of the textual problems of Je...Here is a discussion of the textual problems of Jenufa. As you can see, they had mainly to do with the musical politics around the Prague premiere. It's amazing that this didn't really get sorted out until Charles Mackerras recorded the authentic version and shamed everyone else into dropping the corrupt version.<br /><br />http://www.leosjanacek.co.uk/kovarovic.htmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-69191449042649392342013-10-14T21:58:53.980-07:002013-10-14T21:58:53.980-07:00Now that I did not know! Say more?Now that I did not know! Say more?Lisa Hirschhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014924958428072675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8957911.post-3380651166316897742013-10-14T21:56:55.535-07:002013-10-14T21:56:55.535-07:00In these reviewers' defense it should be noted...In these reviewers' defense it should be noted that early performances of Jenufa were done in a version arranged by someone else.Dr.Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02298893523780056481noreply@blogger.com