The Makropulos Aair (opera)

2 Performance history

The Makropulos Aair (or The Makropoulos Case, or

The Makropulos Secret or, literally, The Makropulos
Thing; Czech Vc Makropulos) is a three-act opera by
Czech composer Leo Janek. The libretto, based on a
play of the same name by Karel apek, was written by
the composer between 1923 and 1925.

Two years after its premiere, the opera was given in

Prague, and also in Germany in 1929, but it did not become really popular until a production by the Sadlers
Wells company in London in 1964. While performed
The Makropulos Aair was his penultimate opera and, with some regularity, it has not become part of the core
like much of his later work, it was inspired by his in- opera repertory in the same way as have Jenfa, Ka Kafatuation with Kamila Stsslov, a married woman much banov or The Cunning Little Vixen.
younger than himself.
In 1966, the San Francisco Opera gave the rst perforThe world premiere of the opera was given at the National mances (in an English translation) of the opera in the
Theatre in Brno on December 18, 1926, conducted by U.S. with Marie Collier in the lead role. Other notable
sopranos who have performed the opera include Anja
Frantiek Neumann.
Silja, Maralin Niska (in Frank Corsaro's production),
Karan Armstrong, Jessye Norman, Elisabeth Sderstrm,
Catherine Maltano, and Karita Mattila.
On January 5, 1996 the opening night of a Metropolitan
Opera production ended prematurely only a few minutes
1 Composition history
into Act 1 when tenor Richard Versalle, 63, suered a
heart attack while climbing the 20-foot ladder which was
part of the set, fell, and died on stage immediately afJaneks operatic version was written between 1923 and
ter singing Viteks line: Too bad you can only live so
1925. He had seen the play early in its run in Prague
long.[1]
on 10 December 1922, and immediately saw its potential. He entered into a correspondence with apek,
who was accommodating towards the idea, although legal problems in securing the rights to the play delayed 3 Roles
work. When these problems were cleared on 10 September 1923, Janek began work on the opera straight away.
4 Synopsis
He wrote the libretto himself, and by December 1924 had
completed the rst draft of the work. He spent another
year rening the score, before completing it on 3 Decem- 4.1 Act 1
ber 1925.
Musically, much of the piece has little in the way of the- Kolenat's law oce, Prague, 1922
Vitek, Kolenat's clerk, notes that the probate case of
Gregor v. Prus has been going on for almost a century.
Kolenat represents the middle-class Gregors against the
wealthy and aristocratic Prus family. Albert Gregor
comes in asking about the case, Kolenat has taken it to
the Supreme Court, but has not returned because he is
expecting the nal resolution. Viteks daughter Kristina,
enters. She is a young singer, and praises Emilia Marty,
It is often argued that Emilia Marty, like the other female a famous singer she has seen rehearsing and admits that
heroes in Janeks later operas, stands for one of the as- she will never be the artist Emilia Marty is.
pects of Kamila Stsslov, the woman with whom he was Kolenat returns, accompanied (surprisingly) by Emilia
in love for the last decade of his life. Marty, with a clever Marty, who reviews the case with her. Baron Joseph Ferand manipulative exterior hiding a core of vulnerability, dinand Prus died in 1827, leaving no will or legitimate
is a 'snapshot' of Stsslov, like the coquettish and shy children. His cousin claimed the estate, but so did AlCunning Little Vixen and the tragic Ka Kabanov.
berts ancestor, Ferdinand Gregor, who asserted that the
matic development, instead presenting the listener with
a mass of dierent motifs and ideas. Janeks writings
indicate that this was a deliberate ploy to give musical
embodiment to the disruptive, unsettling main character Emilia Marty/Elina Makropulos. Only at the end of
the nal act, when Makropulos vulnerability is revealed,
does the music tap into and develop the rich lyrical vein
that has driven it throughout.

4 SYNOPSIS

Baron had promised the estate to him both presenting

dierent evidence to their case but no actual will. Here
Emilia interrupts. Speaking with unusual familiarity of
these long-ago events, she states that Ferdinand Gregor
was the illegitimate son of Baron Joseph (who was a very
centered and diligent man, contradicting Dr. Kolenat's
description of the man) and opera singer Ellian MacGregor. Kolenat says that the case seems to be on the side
of the Prus family, because there is no will. Emilia asks
what would be required for Albert Gregor to win, and
Kolenat says the missing will. Emilia says that there is
in fact a will and proceeds to describe an old cupboard
in the Prus mansion where important papers were kept
where he will nd the document they need.
Kolenat thinks Emilia is making up stories, but Albert
insists he investigate at once and even threatens to take
the case to a rival lawyer. Kolenat leaves, and Albert
tells Emilia that if he does not get the estate, he will be
penniless and shoot himself. He is already infatuated with
Emilia, and tries to make love to her. But Emilia, bored
and indierent, coldly refuses him. However, she asks his
help in retrieving a document that will be found with the
will.

and Albert leaves. Janek returns, and Emilia asks him to

get the document for her. Jaroslav overhears this, and orders Janek to leave, then agrees to provide the document
himself if Emilia will spend the night with him.

4.3 Act 3
Emilas hotel room the next morning
Emilia and Jaroslav have spent the night together. Though
Jaroslav was disappointed by Emilias coldness, he gives
her the envelope containing the document. They are informed that Janek has committed suicide due to his infatuation with Emilia. Jaroslav grieves, but Emilia is absolutely indierent. Jaroslav hardly has time to express
his anger at her reaction before Count Hauk-endorf enters, he has left his wife and plans to elope with Emilia to
Spain. Albert, Kolenat, and Kristina enter, with a doctor who takes Count Hauk-endorf away. Kolenat has
noticed that Emilias handwriting matches that of Ellian
MacGregor and suspects her of forgery. She leaves the
room to get dressed, and says that after she has had her
breakfast, she will clarify everything.

Kolenat returns with Jaroslav Prus. They found the will

where Emilia said it would be, and Jaroslav congratulates
Albert on his victory if he can prove that Ferdinand The rest of the party begins to search her papers and beGregor was the Barons illegitimate son. Emilia says she longings. The searchers nd many documents and keepsakes, all bearing names with the initials E. M., Jaroslav
can prove that.
says that the handwriting of Elina Makropulos (on Ferdinands birth certicate) also matches that of Emilia.

4.2

Act 2

The empty stage of the opera house

A stagehand and a cleaning woman discuss Emilias
extraordinary performance. Jaroslav enters, seeking
Emilia, accompanied by his young son Janek, and
Kristina.

Emilia comes back, drunk and with a pistol, but Albert

disarms her. Emilia at last decides to tell the truth: she is
Elina Makropulos, born in 1585, daughter of Hieronymus
Makropulos, an alchemist in Emperor Rudolf II's Court,
who ordered him to prepare a potion that would extend
his life. When it was ready, the Emperor ordered his alchemist to test it on her. She fell into a coma, and Hieronymus was sent to prison. After a week, Elina woke
up and ed with the formula, and now she has lived an
itinerant life for three centuries, becoming one of the
best singers of all time. To conceal her longevity, she
has assumed many identities: Eugenia Montez, Ekaterina
Myshkin, Ellian McGregor, and others. She conded her
secret to Baron Joseph and gave him the formula, which
he attached to his will for his son.

Emilia enters, but spurns them all, including Janek, who

falls under her spell, and Albert, who brings her expensive
owers. Old (and by now senile) Count Hauk-endorf
enters, and thinks he recognizes Emilia as Eugenia Montez, a Romani woman with whom he had an aair in
Andalusia half a century before. Emilia tells him Eugenia is not dead, and in Spanish, calls him by a pet name
and asks him for a kiss.
The potion is nally wearing o. Elina wanted the forAll except Jaroslav leave. He demands an explanation mula to gain another 300 years of life. As the potion
of her strange interest in his family, and reveals that wears o and the rst signs of old age appear on her face,
the mother of the Barons child was recorded as Elina they come to believe her. Elina has realized that perpetMakropulos, who might be the same as Ellian MacGre- ual youth has led her to exhausted apathy and resolves to
gor, whose love letters he has read, Prus describes her as a allow death to come naturally to her, understanding that
passionate woman with probably exible morals, to which a sense of transcendence and purpose come from a natEmilia takes oense. He continues saying that only a de- urally short span of life. Aging rapidly before the eyes
scendant of Ferdinand Makropoulos can claim the estate. of the astonished onlookers, she oers Kristina the forEmilia oers to buy a mysterious document found with mula so she now can become a great artist herself, but she
the will, but Jaroslav refuses and leaves. Albert returns burns it in a candle ame. Elina expires as she recites the
and again pleads his love, but Emilia merely falls asleep, rst words of the Lords Prayer in Greek.

Recordings

References in literature

The Makropulos Case forms the center of a classic article

by Bernard Williams, in which he argues that a person
never has reason to live an immortal life.[2] The novel is
referenced in the details and title of Matthew Gallaways
novel The Metropolis Case (2010).

References

Notes
[1] Holloway, Lynette (7 January 1996). Richard Versalle,
63, Met Tenor, Dies After Fall in a Performance. New
York Times. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
[2] Bernard Williams, The Makropulos Case: Reections on
the Tedium of Immortality, Problems of the Self, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973.

Sources
Freeman, John W. Synopsis of The Makropulos
Case
Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera
Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. ISBN
0-14-029312-4
Programme for English National Opera's performances of The Makropoulos Aair, May 2006
Tyrrell, John. Janeks Operas, A Documentary Account, Faber and Faber, 1992, ISBN 0-571-151299, Ch. 8 (p. 304325)

External links
Gavin Plumleys Leo Janek site, information on
The Makropulos Case
The Makropulos Case returns to Pragues National
Theatre Czech Radio

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