Eugen Suchoň (1908-1993)KRÚTŇAVA "The Whirlpool"
An opera in six scenes (1949)
Gabriela Beňačková-Čapová, Peter Dvorský
Ondrej Malachovský
Slovak Philharmonic Choir
Radio Bratislava Symphony Orchestra
dir : Ondrej Lenárd
Opus 91 2094-2 stereo - 2 CDs [P] 1989
Currently out-of-print
Recorded Bratislava, 1988
FLAC image files, cuesheets, logs, scans, Slovak/English libretto
Krútňava (abroad staged as The Whirlpool or Katrena after the main female role) is an opera in six scenes by Eugen Suchoň written in the 1940s to a libretto by the composer and Štefan Hoza, based on a novella, Za vyšným mlynom (Beyond the Upper Mill) by Milo Urban. The opera was premiered at the Slovak National Theatre, Bratislava, on 10 December 1949.
Suchoň was invited in 1940 to write an opera for the Slovak National Theatre. In 1941 he read Urban's novella Beyond the Upper Mill, a story of love and murder set in the Slovak countryside in the years after World War I, which immediately inspired him. Urban himself however refused to collaborate on the libretto, writing in 1958 that the dramatization risked losing some of the ambiguities he had deliberately created in the book (e.g. the paternity of the heroine's baby).
Suchoň's original conception was to write the opera using two different styles - a quasi-impressionist style to accompany the thoughts of the characters, and a more realistic, nationalist style to accompany external events. Traces of this dualism remain in the score, although Suchoň realised his original ideas were impractical.
Although the premiere was successful, the governing Slovak Communist Party insisted that the original ending be changed to make it more 'optimistic'. Other serious changes were forced on the composer, involving dismantling the very important 'framework' to the opera which posited the story as the result of a wager between the Poet and his Double (spoken roles), and, inevitably, the toning down of any references to Christianity. At first Suchoň refused to make any alterations; the opera was withdrawn from the repertoire. Pressure from his musical colleagues, who realised the importance of the work, induced him to change his mind, and this 'revised version' was performed in Czechoslovakia and abroad in the 1950s, the original ending only being restored in 1963. Complete reconstruction of the original, including the participation of the Poet and his Double, had to await the composer's centenary in 2008, when Suchoň's work as originally conceived was performed in Banska Bystrica.
Prelude. The original version, reconstituted in 2008 (see above) opens with a dialogue between the Poet and his Double. The Double maintains that base human nature will always triumph over conscience. He makes a wager with the poet to write a play in which it will be seen how things turn out.
Scene 1. Jan Štelina is found dead in the woods. The previous night he had been with Katrena. Štelina's father accuses her of his son's death.
Scene 2. The police come to investigate the murder but find nothing. Katrena's aunts persuade her that she should think of marrying now that Jan is dead, and propose Ondrej, who has always wanted her. Old Štelina says she would be better off living alone, and vows to continue his own investigations.
Scene 3. Against her will Katrena marries Ondrej in a full Slovak traditional wedding. At the ceremony Štelina again rebukes Katrena, inciting the fury of Ondrej.
Scene 4. A year later. Katrena has given birth to a boy, but Ondrej is becoming increasingly erratic, drinking and beating her. She confesses to old Štelina that Jan was her only true love. Katrena's neighbours hint that the baby looks more like someone else than Ondrej. In a rage, Ondrej stalks out to the forest.
Scene 5. This scene is subtitled Catharsis by the composer. In the woods the drunken Ondrej has a vision of the dead Jan and is moved to confess. In the original version, the Double tries to persuade him (in an unusual duet between tenor and spoken voice) that there is no point in giving himself up as no-one knows about the crime; however Ondrej resists this temptation. In the 'Communist' version after an internal struggle, Ondrej confesses to an unseen presence that he was Jan's murderer.
Scene 6. Easter. A shot is heard during the celebrations; the old shepherd is waving the gun he has found, which he saw Ondrej burying. Ondrej confesses; as the police take him away, Katrena assures him the baby is his. In the original version Old Štelina is reconciled to the situation and shows that his concern is to assist Katrena to bring up the child. The chorus sings of the powers of love and song (vindicating the views of the Poet).
In the 'Communist Party' version, the baby is asserted to be Jan's and is given to Old Štelina to raise. In the 1960s version Old Štelina's dreams of claiming the child are shattered; he vows revenge on Ondrej. The final chorus is a hymn to justice and the restoration of natural order.
Eugen Suchoň was born on September 25, 1908 in Pezinok, (Slovakia). His father, Ladislav Suchoň, was an organist and teacher. His mother, Serafína Suchoňová, was a piano teacher, and it was from her that he received his first piano tuition. The house was always filled with music and, as a small child, he would listen from under the piano when his father rehearsed at home with other musicians. In 1920, at the age of twelve, he started taking piano lessons at the Bratislava School of Music with the distinguished musician Frico Kafenda. Later, from 1927 to 1931, he continued his studies with the same teacher at the newly established Academy of Music in Bratislava. His early works include several piano compositions and a choral work Veľky Pôst (The Great Fast). He graduated from his composition classes with the Sonata in A-flat for Violin and Piano and a String Quartet (op. 2, 1931, revised 1939). His two-year studies at the Prague Conservatoire under Vítězslav Novák set the seal on the thorough training he had received from Kafenda.
Compositions from this period include a Piano Quartet (1933), and the song cycle Nox et solitudo for mezzo-soprano and small orchestra or piano (1932) based on a poem by Ivan Krasko, Little Suite with Passacaglia for piano (1930, orchestrated in 1967), Serenade for Brass Quintet and the Burlesque for Violin and Orchestra. All these works show an already distinguished and mature composer. During this time Eugen Suchoň taught music theory at the Academy of Music and Drama in Bratislava (1933). His works from this period are in a late Romantic idiom with elements of folk modality combined with chromaticism. In particular the popular male choral cycle O horách ("Of mountains") was a seminal work which established a Slovak national style. This was followed by his monumental cantata, The Psalm of the Sub-Carpathian Land (1938). Many folksong arrangements date from this period, which culminated in his opera Krútňava (The Whirlpool, 1949).
The success of Krútňava established modern Slovak opera, and drew international attention. From 1948 to 1960 Suchoň was professor and head of the Department of Music Education at the Teacher Training College in Bratislava. Works from this period include the Fantasies for Violin and Orchestra, Metamorphoses for piano, and the Symphonic Suite for grand orchestra. Suchoň became heavily involved in the practical and theoretical aspects of music education. Of particular significance was his second opera Kraľ Svätopluk ("King Svätopluk"), completed in 1959. This historic opera represents the monumental dramatic fresco from the period of the Great Moravian Empire. It is a large-scale work with noble aspirations, displaying Slavic motifs and culminating in the victory of good over evil. The work was premiered in Bratislava in 1960, and performed the same year in Prague and Košice.
From 1959 to 1974 he was professor of music theory at Bratislava University. His style changed as he incorporated serialism into his compositions. Harmonies emphasizing 2nds, 4ths and 7ths led to polymodality. His later output consists predominantly of chamber and orchestral works, e. g., the song cycle Ad astra (1961), based on poems by Štefan Žáry, the mixed choir cycle O človeku ("On Man"), the Poème macabre for violin and piano, Contemplations for narrator and piano, Six Compositions for Strings, the Rhapsodic Suite for piano and orchestra and the Symfonická fantasia na BACH (1971). His piano cycle Kaleidoscope also exists in a version for piano, string orchestra and percussion. His last works include a Concertino for Clarinet and Orchestra, Elegy, Toccata, and the song cycles Glimpse into the Unknown and Three Songs for Bass.
Suchoň died in Bratislava in 1993.
Compositions from this period include a Piano Quartet (1933), and the song cycle Nox et solitudo for mezzo-soprano and small orchestra or piano (1932) based on a poem by Ivan Krasko, Little Suite with Passacaglia for piano (1930, orchestrated in 1967), Serenade for Brass Quintet and the Burlesque for Violin and Orchestra. All these works show an already distinguished and mature composer. During this time Eugen Suchoň taught music theory at the Academy of Music and Drama in Bratislava (1933). His works from this period are in a late Romantic idiom with elements of folk modality combined with chromaticism. In particular the popular male choral cycle O horách ("Of mountains") was a seminal work which established a Slovak national style. This was followed by his monumental cantata, The Psalm of the Sub-Carpathian Land (1938). Many folksong arrangements date from this period, which culminated in his opera Krútňava (The Whirlpool, 1949).
The success of Krútňava established modern Slovak opera, and drew international attention. From 1948 to 1960 Suchoň was professor and head of the Department of Music Education at the Teacher Training College in Bratislava. Works from this period include the Fantasies for Violin and Orchestra, Metamorphoses for piano, and the Symphonic Suite for grand orchestra. Suchoň became heavily involved in the practical and theoretical aspects of music education. Of particular significance was his second opera Kraľ Svätopluk ("King Svätopluk"), completed in 1959. This historic opera represents the monumental dramatic fresco from the period of the Great Moravian Empire. It is a large-scale work with noble aspirations, displaying Slavic motifs and culminating in the victory of good over evil. The work was premiered in Bratislava in 1960, and performed the same year in Prague and Košice.
From 1959 to 1974 he was professor of music theory at Bratislava University. His style changed as he incorporated serialism into his compositions. Harmonies emphasizing 2nds, 4ths and 7ths led to polymodality. His later output consists predominantly of chamber and orchestral works, e. g., the song cycle Ad astra (1961), based on poems by Štefan Žáry, the mixed choir cycle O človeku ("On Man"), the Poème macabre for violin and piano, Contemplations for narrator and piano, Six Compositions for Strings, the Rhapsodic Suite for piano and orchestra and the Symfonická fantasia na BACH (1971). His piano cycle Kaleidoscope also exists in a version for piano, string orchestra and percussion. His last works include a Concertino for Clarinet and Orchestra, Elegy, Toccata, and the song cycles Glimpse into the Unknown and Three Songs for Bass.
Suchoň died in Bratislava in 1993.
Wikipedia