Taking advantage of the final days of my ÖBB special train ticket I went to Brno to see the Welsh National Opera's performance of Janacek's House of the Dead. And that I enjoyed it very much almost goes without saying.
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| Leos Janacek in his garden |
Of ourse there were other things so see and do in the Czech Republic's second largest city (pop: 400,000).
One thing was to visit the Maravska Gallery's exhibition and admire the works by the Czech artist Josef Sima (1891 Jaromer - 1971 Paris). The first two pictures shown here are from the artist's early work.
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| The Train |
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| A person writing on a table |
The cafe' scene painting below is from the artist's Paris period. Id guess it's from the time Sima founded
Le Grand Jeu movement
in 1927 together with young French poets.
In Brno it was already Christmas and the streets were thronged with crowds and seasonal lights, the air was filled with the aroma of hot wine and sounds of jollity:
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| Freedom Square |
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| City Hall |
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| Thomas Edison's Lightbulbs |
The weather was suitably seasonal:
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| The Cabbage Market |
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| Nativity Scene |
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| Central Railway Station |
I had a great time. Thank you Brno!
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| Checking the Score |
Lovely post Gwil, thoroughly enjoyed the tour - and loved the pictures too. I saw From the House of the Dead many years ago in Birmingham. My first husband was still alive and he had been a prisoner of the Japenese on the Death Railway. That opening scene where it is all in darkness and gradually figures rise from the devastation really freaked him out it was so very real. Also if i remember there was a live eagle flew from somewhere down on to the stage at some time during the performance. There was another Janacek opera at the same time (alternate nights) and that was just as stunning but just can't recall what it was.
ReplyDeleteThat first scene is enhanced by the slights and also if you remember there's a metronome ticking as all the prisoners follow the leader to go round circles, which sound and action is repeated at intervals. And yes, you are right about the eagle. They had a live bird perched on a rock in the background and then when the conductor gave the sign as the prisoners were celebrating the release of Dostoyevsky's alter ego it flew out and over the orchestra and then disappeared from view. It was very well done. Janacek's operas are stunning and you can tell whose they are almost from the first note. The definitive book on Janacek by John Tyrell in Czech translation was launched with champagne being poured over it by David Pountney if I'm not mistaken. And with the WNO now having a Czech conductor as well as Sir David Cardiff must be the top address after Brno for Janacek fans!
DeleteHis art reminds me of Otto Dix and Max Beckman. Nice photos, snowy and Christmassy. I like the nativity figures. And you reading the sports paper.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Some of his later work reminds me of some of Magritte's stuff. Unfortunately I don't have a photo, but there are surreal clouds and stringy bits hanging down and islands in the sky and all that. Dave mentioned the Sports too. See below.
DeleteThanks for the tour, great photos wonderful paintings and of course you looking at the football scores and those copious glasses of Czech beers, sigh!😂
ReplyDeleteI was looking at the draw and I remarked to the barman that Czech Republic and England are in the same group. They'll both go through, he said. The 'copious' glass nearest the camera is the beer of my good lady. She has good taste. In beers I mean.
DeleteDave, I forgot to say what that silver thing on the table is. It's a device for warming cold beer. You hang it in your beer with the hook at the top. I believe they are 'banned' these days (EU Rules) but who takes any notice of the EU's nanny regulators anymore? Certainly not the proud Czechs and several other nations with a backbone over here I can tell you.
DeleteI have remembered Gwil = the other Janacek opera was The Cunning little vixen. So very different but equally stunning. I am almost certain that they were done by the W N O and I think the year was around 1988
ReplyDeleteI haven't had the opportunity to see The Cunning Little Vixen. I think my favourite of his is Jenufa which I've seen 3 or 4 times. It's the one where a baby is discovered in a frozen river when it thaws in spring. Tension, drama, great music, it has it all.
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