Káťa Kabanová
by Leoš Janáček

Set in a small town along the Volga River in Russia around 1860, as a merchant class is emerging against an ancient feudal system, the score of Káťa Kabanová is extremely rich while also managing to be concise and dramatic. It makes a powerful first impression and maintains a haunting tension throughout.

Each character is sharply delineated by both words and music. The title character is a clash of emotional eruptions: sustained lyricism suddenly interrupted by brash chords suggests the intervention of fate, or the fear of it. The storm music in Act III is really an extended expression of Káťa’s internal state - one of the greatest examples of the well explored notion of storm-as-psychological-metaphor in all opera.


Start time: 10:00am on Capital Public Radio.
Approximate running time 2 hrs 15 mins.


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