Her Godmother

Jenůf pastorkyňa is one of Janáček's most famous works and is a permanent part of the Brno Opera's repertoire. It began as a realistic drama by Gabriela Preissová, which the composer himself adapted into an opera libretto. Although he had to shorten the text of the drama significantly, he managed to deepen the effect of the tragic story from the Moravian countryside. The prodigal and unstable Števa, the violent and yet at heart kind Laca, and above all the relentless Kostelnička, whose efforts to maintain her position and respect in the village community lead her to murder the child of her ward Jenůfa. Janáček (1854–1928) captured the individual characters in a masterful dramatic short story that is chilling, yet at the same time arouses compassion and understanding in us. The final form of the work, marked by the death of the composer's daughter Olga, was a long and thorny path. After its successful premiere in Brno in 1904, Jenůfí pastorkyňa had to wait twelve long years before Janáček's efforts were crowned with well-deserved success on other domestic and foreign stages.