Listen to Dvořák's opera "The Jacobins" (sung in English, excerpts)
Dvořák (Dvořák) Opera "The Jacobins" op. 84
About the opera The Jacobins
A)
This opera, set in Bohemia at the end of the 18th century, was first performed in Prague in 1898. It was performed by the Dresden State Opera (Semperoper) in 1943. It depicts vivid rural life, lyrical love scenes, and a dramatic climax.
Dvořák's work expresses these with breathtaking contrasts. Dvořák composed 11 operas during his lifetime, but they were essentially Czech operas, and except for "Rusalka", the ten works are unfortunately not performed very often today. The Jacobins', which consists of three acts, is one of those operas rarely served. This 1943 performance in Dresden was achieved with a German chorus.
Roles:
Count Vilém of Harasov bass
Bohuš, Harasov's son baritone
Julie, Bohuš's wife soprano
Benda, the schoolmaster and choirmaster tenor
Terinka, Benda's daughter soprano
Jiří, a young gamekeeper(in love with Terinka) tenor
Filip, the Count's Burgrave (chief-of-staff) bass
Adolf, the Count's nephew, baritone
Lotinka, the keeper of the keys at the castle contralto
B)
Synopsis:
1)
The setting is a rural Bohemian village at the end of the 18th century.
Bohuš, the son of the Bohemian Count Harasov, elopes with Julie and goes to Paris against his father's wishes.
But when the French Revolution broke out, he returned to his home town. But his mother had already died.
2)
Count Harasov disowned his son. He then names his nephew Adolf as his successor.
Adolf joins forces with Filip, the head of the court, to control power as he pleases.
On his return from Paris, Bohus was falsely accused of being a member of the Jacobin party.
And he ended up in prison.
3)
His wife, Julie, tried everything to get closer to Count Harasov.
Julie then sings the lullaby that Bohusz's mother had sung to him when he was a child, and Count Harasov is moved enough to forgive his son.
Count Harasov also learns that Bohuš has been imprisoned. And he, in turn, banishes Adolf and Filip.
4)
With the help of Benda, the village schoolmaster, and the villagers, his wife Julie exposes her nephew Adolf's tricks.
Julie restores the honour and status of her husband, Bohuš.
C)
The Jacobin Party was led by Maximilien Robespierre and is famous for leading the French Revolution, but suffered a backlash for suppressing opponents with harsh measures such as imprisonment and murder and conducting a so-called Reign of Terror.
He was executed in the Thermidorian Reaction, and the Jacobins were purged from power. The opera's plot is essentially a simple story, and it is said that the reason it is often not performed as an opera is not only because it is written in Czech but also because of the simplicity of the opera's plot.
Listen to Dvořák's opera "The Jacobins" (sung in English, excerpts)
http://www.andiemusik.jp/classic/takemi/jakobiner.html
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THE JACOBIN Dvořák — National Theatre Brno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1dAEQc981g
‘We are from Bohemia, and you ask if we can sing?’ An unknown couple arrives in a small Czech village from abroad, and most locals are suspiciously watching them. Only the old teacher, Benda, a music lover, opens his door to them, only to find that the strangers are closer to them than one might think.
It is music that has the leading role; that is one way to sum up Dvořák’s opera "The Jacobin," as it changes the fate of all the characters in the opera.
At the same time, Dvořák has created a charming picture of a Czech town from the Enlightenment era populated with the peculiar figures of the music-loving teacher Benda, his stubborn daughter Terinka, who is in love with the young teacher Jiří or the Count’s conceited steward Filip.
Perhaps it was the fond recollection of his own youth learning music that brought so many charming, rich melodies, both exuberant and melancholic, into Dvořák’s music, whether it be the famous school cantata scene, the duet ‘We have wandered in foreign lands’ or Julie’s Lullaby.
National Theatre Brno offers the opening night of "The Jacobin" live on OperaVision at the start of the Year of Czech Music, Dvořák’s fitting tribute to Czech music and the people who love it above all else.
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The Jacobin (Jakobín in Czech) - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jacobin
Synopsis
Place: a small country town in Bohemia
Time: 1793
1)
Act 1
Bohuš has returned to his hometown, incognito, with his wife Julie. His mother is dead, and his father, Count Harasov, has disowned him and has become a recluse.
Meanwhile, Count Burgrave pays court to the schoolmaster Benda's daughter, Terinka, who loves Jiří.
The Count Vilém of Harasov is suspicious of Bohuš and Julie, especially as they have come from Paris, where the Count's son is said to be allied with the Jacobins.
2)
To everyone's surprise, Count Harasov appears, confirming that he no longer regards Bohuš as his son and that his heir will be his nephew Adolf. Adolf and the Burgrave rejoice, while Bohuš and Julie, hidden among the crowd, are horrified at the events' turn.
3)
Act 2
In the school, Benda rehearses a chorus of children and townsfolk, together with Terinka and Jiří as soloists, in a cantata which will celebrate Adolf's new position.
After the rehearsal, Terinka and Jiří declare their love, but her father, Benda, returns and announces that his daughter must marry the Burgrave. An argument develops, but suddenly, the people return, alarmed at the rumour that sinister Jacobins have arrived in the town.
4)
The townsfolk run away from Bohuš and his wife Julie in terror. And they asked Benda if we could accommodate them for a few days. He is inclined to refuse, but when they reveal that they are Czechs who have sustained themselves in foreign countries by singing the songs of their native land, he, Terinka and Jiří are overcome with emotion and are happy to shelter them.
5)
Count Burgrave comes to woo Terinka, but she rejects him.
When Terinka defies him, Count Burgrave threatens to force Jiří into the army, but suddenly, Adolf enters to find out if the "Jacobin" (Bohuš) has been arrested.
Count Burgrave prevaricates, but Bohuš himself arrives and reveals who he is. He and Adolf quarrel, and Adolf orders Bohuš's arrest.
6)
Act 3
At the castle, Julie tries to see Count Harasov to tell him that his son has been imprisoned but is arrested at the behest of Adolf and Count Burgrave. Lotinka, the keeper of the keys at the castle, admits Julie and Benda and goes to fetch the Count.
Julie hides, and Benda tries to prepare the older man for a reconciliation with Bohuš. The Count, however, is still angry with his son for marrying and leaving Bohemia and for his alleged Jacobin sympathies.
7)
Benda departs, and Count Harasov laments his lonely life and wonders whether he has, after all, misjudged his son. Offstage, Julie sings a song that the late Countess used to sing to Bohuš when he was a child, and the Count, recognising it and overcome with emotion, asks Julie where she learnt it.
8)
Once he discovers that his son taught it to her, his anger returns, but Julie can convince him that Bohuš, far from being a Jacobin, supported the Girondins and had been condemned to death by the Jacobins. She now reveals that Bohuš is in prison and that she is his wife, but the celebrations are about to start, and she leaves.
9)
The children and townsfolk rejoice, and the Count announces that he will present his successor to them. Adolf is overjoyed, but the Count first enquires of him and the Burgrave whether there are any prisoners he can pardon as part of the festivities.
10)
They reluctantly admit that they are, and Bohuš and Julie are summoned. Count Burgrave realises that the game is up as Count Harasov denounces the scheming Adolf and embraces Bohuš and Julie. Bohuš praises the loyalty of Jiří and Terinka, and Count Harasov joins their hands.
Benda gives them his blessing, and the opera ends with a minuet, a polka and a chorus praising Count Harasov and his new-found happiness with his son and his family.
The Jacobin (Jakobín in Czech)
https://operavision.eu/performance/jacobin
