Destiny

Director: Robert Carsen
Musical direction: Marko Ivanović
Conductor: Tomáš Hanus
Scene: Radu Boruzescu
Costumes: Annemarie Woods
Lights: Robert Carsen
Choreography: Lorena Randi
Choirmaster: Pavel Koňárek
Dramaturgy: Ian Burton, Patricie Částková

Cast:

Živný, composer – Enrico Casari & Mark Le Brocq
Míla Válková – Alžběta Poláčková
Míla’s Mother – Eliška Gattringerová
Dr. Suda – Vít Nosek
Lhotský, painter – Jan Šťáva
Konečný – Igor Loškár
Miss Stuhlá, teacher – Daniela Straková
Doubek, child – Hugo Poláček
Poet – Michael Robotka
First Lady, Miss Pacovská – Andrea Široká
Second Lady, Mrs. Majorová – Tereza Kyzlinková
Student – Michael Robotka
Old Slovak Woman – Jitka Zerhauová
Mrs. Radová – Jana Hrochová
Young Widow – Hana Kopřivová
Engineer – Pavel Valenta
Verva, drama student – Lukáš Bařák
Součková, drama student – Marta Reichelová
Kosinská, drama student – Alžběta Symerská
Doubek – TBC
Cellarman – Martin Novotný
Hrázda – Ondřej Koplík

Seventeen years ago the composer Živný had an aff air with Míla. Míla’s mother disapproved of Živný and separated the lovers by arranging for her daughter to marry a richer man. The plan came to nothing because Míla was already pregnant with Živný’s child, but Živný believed that Míla left him for a richer man. He has poured out his bitter feelings into the composition of an opera…

Act I
Fifteen years ago
Živný and Míla meet again in the same spa. They are surrounded by guests from all walks of life, among them three men who are attracted to Míla: Dr. Suda, Lhotský and Konečný. Živný comes to realise that he has accused Míla unfairly of leaving him and begs for forgiveness, off ering to take her and their child back. Míla’s mother is horrifi ed to learn that her daughter has returned to the composer.

Act 2
Eleven years ago
Míla and Živný are now married and living with their little son Doubek. Živný has been unable to fi nish his opera, but the bitter dramatization of the past has driven a wedge between husband and wife. At the piano Živný repeatedly plays and sings the “Fate” motif which Míla’s deranged mother is heard repeating from her room. Míla begs her husband to abandon the work aft er little Doubek tells her that she does not know what love is. When Míla’s mother attacks Živný, accusing him of trying to steal her money and jewellery, Míla tries to restrain her. To Živný’s horror, both mother and daughter fall to their death.

Act 3
The present, eleven years later
In the music conservatory where Živný teaches, students are sight-reading the storm scene from their professor’s strange unfinished opera, due to receive its premiere that night. Two students, Verva and Hrázda, sing solo scenes from the work. Verva believes that Lenský, the composer in the opera, must be Živný himself. To the embarrassment of the real Doubek, now also a student at the conservatory, Verva sings the scene where Doubek tells his mother that she does not know what love is. As the students continue to mock Živný’s work, the composer appears. He describes Lenský as a lonely composer whose music did not meet with success until he fell in love with Míla. But it was too late: their love was doomed to fail and die. The stormy emotion of reliving events from his own life overwhelms Živný. He collapses when recounting Míla’s death and imagines the sound of his dying wife’s voice. Verva suggests that this could be a possible ending to the opera, but Živný rejects the idea, insisting that the fate of the fi nal scene must remain in God’s hands.