OF CZECH OPERAS
LEO JANÁČEK (1854-1928)
- THE OPERA JEJÍ PASTORKYŇA
COMMEMORATIVE POSTAGE STAMP
L. Janáček had long to struggle for a recognition of his artistic creations. The peculiar way of expression, the pithiness of musical speech and its intonation, the novelty and original harmony as well as an extraordinary power of emotions penetrate all his compositions. Today they are played and published both in the Czech Republic and abroad where they enjoy a great reputation.
The opera Její Pastorkyňa, Janáček's major work, with a libretto according to a drama from the rural life in Moravia written by G. Preissová, was first performed in January 1904 in the National Theatre Brno. The National Theatre Prague waited 12 years before performing it; Janáček was then over 60. This opera brought him directly into the advance group of composers seeking to create new modern music; after 1918 he became the greatest representative of the contemporary Czech music worldwide. The most essential contribution made by Její Pastorkyňa is the deep human engagement with an apprehension of the fortunes and misfortunes of men as well as of the fact that men are formed by the entire environment and society. The whole opera has a passionate dramatic character finally opening into a purgatory hymn.
