JanáĆek’s Success

During an intermission feature in a January 2000 Metropolitan Opera broadcast of Rigoletto, participants were asked what names they would remove from, or add to, the pantheon of opera composers once enshrined on the facade of the old Met. The eliminations were fairly predictable, with Gounod taking a particular beating (the Met is clearly the “Faustspielhaus” no longer). The proposed additions were more surprising. One participant nominated Strauss, Puccini—and Leoš JanáĆek. A long-obscure Moravian with a name bristling with diacritical marks, born in a town too small to be listed in most atlases, may seem an unlikely candidate for the company of Mozart, Wagner, and Verdi.

In fact, though, it can be argued that JanáĆek is one of the most successful opera composers of the twentieth century. While none of his works is as famous and beloved as, say, Madama Butterfl y or Rosenkavalier, Jenůfa is now a repertoire staple, and Káťa Kabanová, The Cunning Little Vixen, The Makropulos Case, and From the House of the Dead are standard fare in the world's great opera houses. In the 2007–8 season, for instance, there were ten productions of Jenůfa in America and Europe—including productions in Los Angeles, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Cologne, and Prague—and eleven productions of Káťa Kabanová, The Cunning Little Vixen, The Makropulos Case, and From the House of the Dead, stretching from Toronto to Berlin and from Vienna to Sydney. Even the once hopelessly obscure The Excursions of Mr. Brouček was produced twice, in Geneva and Frankfurt. American audiences have been able to choose from productions in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle, Cooperstown, Dallas, Portland, Philadelphia, San Diego, Long Beach, and Charleston. All of the operas have been recorded, all but the early folksong pastiche The Beginning of a Romance more than once. Five have been recorded in English. Five of JanáĆek operas are available on DVD, including competing versions of Jenůfa and The Cunning Little Vixen. JanáĆek has also made inroads into other realms of Anglo-American culture. The Cunning Little Vixen, despite the death of the title character (much in the manner of Bambi's mother), is included in a children's book of opera stories and is the subject of a BBC animated film (albeit one that significantly abridges JanáĆek's score).