Jenůfa

It is too narrow in their world. Conventions, maxims, pronouncements, rigid ideas and views everywhere, erected like invisible steel walls, making life impossible for Jenůfa. This is why no one is allowed to know that she is expecting Steva's child, not even her foster mother, the sexton. But if Steva were to be drafted into the army today, her pregnancy would be revealed before the two could marry. Steva must be exempted in order to serve the constricting moral standards. His half-brother Laca wants the opposite: he also desires Jenůfa and claims ownership, which Jenůfa refuses to fulfill. When Jenůfa rejects him once again, he goes to extremes and puts his knife to the beauty of her face, which Steva likes so much. Jenůfa's great longing for independent, self-determined action is unmistakable. And Janáček ensures that it is also unmistakable. The composer captures every little emotion of his characters in music. The unformulated thoughts that never see the light of day exist in his music, as do those who are deprived of their existence as soon as they are born, while still feeling their new surroundings. Like Jenůfa's child. Janáček suffers Jenůfa's incomprehensible loss - and exudes a degree of empathy and sensitivity rarely heard even in emotionally charged opera.