The first critical edition of Janáček’s opera The Makropulos Case will be used for the new production at the Bayerische Staatsoper in October 2014. Work on the edition presented numerous difficulties, but the result recreates something exceptional.
The Makropulos Case, Leoš Janáček’s penulatimate opera based on Karel Čapek’s brilliant literary model, shows him at the height of his art. The figure of the 300-year-old singer Emilia Marty has an enigmatic fascination, additionally highlighted by Janáček’s skill in musical characterisation. But the work’s performance history is surrounded by numerous distortions in the music text. Drastic interventions were made in the music text even in the first edition, and particularly in the edition dating from the 1970s. Numerous alterations were made in the instrumentation, rhythmic and harmonic notation with the supposed aim of improving the legibility and transparency of the music, which seem incomprehensible and distorting to modern eyes.
The reconstruction of the version of the premiere
The critical new edition of The Makropulos Case, which will be used for the first time in Munich in October 2014, reconstructs the version of the premiere which took place on 18 December 1926, conducted by František Neumann in the National Theatre, Brno. The main source used in the process of “uncovering” the score was the copy made by Jaroslav Kulhánek under Janáček’s supervision, now preserved in the Janáček Archive in Brno. This contains both interesting additions from the time of the work’s composition as well as numerous entries made by later conductors; it was essential to identify and evaluate these separately. The composer’s autograph and the manuscript copy of the vocal score by Ludvík Kundera, as used at the first performance, are also important sources of this version and have been consulted. Alongside the score, a critical edition of the libretto has been created of the first performance version, using musical and literary sources. This offers fascinating insights into the creation of this masterpiece. In the process, numerous mistakes and uncertainties in old editions have been clarified.
A return to Janáček
The renowned Janáček specialist Tomáš Hanus studied the work in detail before conducting it in Paris ten years ago, and has meticulously added the required dynamic markings, clarified tempo transitions and other questions relating to practical performing issues, based on the original sources and respecting the original tonal sound.
For Hanus, the new edition represents a return to Janáček; in the history of the performance of the opera there have been a series of interventions, the great majority of which have a partial, or absolutely no foundation in the relevant sources. For him, The Makropulos Case is a very “difficult score”, with insufficient detail or clear information. This led to many simplifications and adjustments. Hanus hopes that the collective work “offers a true reflection of the composer’s intentions”.
On the difficulties involved in the editorial work, the Czech conductor says: “The composer’s unique (and often illegible) manuscript, and the revisions and additions made during the copying of the work, are two facts which are problematic in themselves, even though they represent the quintessential originality of the creative process. If we take into consideration the fact that Janáček often did not go into great detail, so that in many places where it is necessary there are no performance instructions at all, the result is a relatvely unfinished version. For the edition, which seeks to present the work in its objective purity and at the same time in a practical form suitable for performance, this led to a number of sleepless nights for my colleagues and me ...”
He regards František Neumann’s contribution, and that of the other editors, as extremely valuable, likewise the alterations made by Janáček. Unfortunately there are also some ambiguous markings by Janáček, which partly contradict each other, so that detective work was required here.
But it is precisely the incompleteness and ambiguity of the score and parts which hold a particular attraction for Hanus: “From the very beginning this was a reason why I became involved with The Makropulos Case in a quite unique way. Perhaps, therefore, in this particular case the work of a conductor on the edition can be meaningful, for we’re concerned with making the score as comprehensible as possible and preserving the openness of the work to enable different interpretations by offering sufficient information.” Nonetheless he knows that in such a case it is impossible to get by without editorial interventions (clearly marked, of course), which carefully convey what is not there in full, or is unclear. Tempo indications, information on phrasing, dynamics and articulation have also been clearly added where it was necessary. The exceptional has been preserved.
Johannes Mundry
(translation: Elizabeth Robinson)
(from [t]akte 1/2014)