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Vec Makropulos
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November 2025  | ||||||
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The Makropulos Affair - Leos Janáček | Opera
Synopsis
Act 1
Kolenatý's law office, Prague, 1922
Vitek, Kolenatý's clerk, notes that the probate case of Gregor v. Prus has been going on for almost a century. Kolenatý represents the middle-class Gregors against the wealthy and aristocratic Prus family. Albert Gregor comes in asking about the case, Kolenatý has taken it to the Supreme Court, but has not returned because he is expecting the final resolution. Vitek's daughter Kristina, enters. She is a young singer, and praises Emilia Marty, a famous singer she has seen rehearsing and admits that she will never be the artist Emilia Marty is.
Kolenatý returns, accompanied (surprisingly) by Emilia Marty, who reviews the case with her. Baron Joseph Ferdinand Prus died in 1827, leaving no will or legitimate children. His cousin claimed the estate, but so did Albert's ancestor, Ferdinand Gregor, who asserted that the Baron had promised the estate to him both presenting different evidence to their case but no actual will. Here Emilia interrupts. Speaking with unusual familiarity of these long-ago events, she states that Ferdinand Gregor was the illegitimate son of Baron Joseph (who was a very centered and diligent man, contradicting Dr. Kolenatý's description of the man) and opera singer Ellian MacGregor. Kolenatý says that the case seems to be on the side of the Prus family, because there is no will. Emilia asks what would be required for Albert Gregor to win, and Kolenatý says the missing will. Emilia says that there is in fact a will and proceeds to describe an old cupboard in the Prus mansion where important papers were kept where he will find the document they need.
Kolenatý thinks Emilia is making up stories, but Albert insists he investigate at once and even threatens to take the case to a rival lawyer. Kolenatý leaves, and Albert tells Emilia that if he does not get the estate, he will be penniless and shoot himself. He is already infatuated with Emilia, and tries to make love to her. But Emilia, bored and indifferent, coldly refuses him. However, she asks his help in retrieving a document that will be found with the will.
Kolenatý returns with Jaroslav Prus. They found the will where Emilia said it would be, and Jaroslav congratulates Albert on his victory – if he can prove that Ferdinand Gregor was the Baron's illegitimate son. Emilia says she can prove that.
Act 2
The empty stage of the opera house
A stagehand and a cleaning woman discuss Emilia's extraordinary performance. Jaroslav enters, seeking Emilia, accompanied by his young son Janek, and Kristina.
Emilia enters, but spurns them all, including Janek, who falls under her spell, and Albert, who brings her expensive flowers. Old (and by now senile) Count Hauk-Šendorf enters, and thinks he recognizes Emilia as Eugenia Montez, a Romani woman with whom he had an affair in Andalusia half a century before. Emilia tells him Eugenia is not dead, and in Spanish, calls him by a pet name and asks him for a kiss.
All except Jaroslav leave. He demands an explanation of her strange interest in his family, and reveals that the mother of the Baron's child was recorded as Elina Makropulos, who might be the same as Ellian MacGregor, whose love letters he has read, Prus describes her as a passionate woman with probably flexible morals, to which Emilia takes offense. He continues saying that only a descendant of Ferdinand Makropoulos can claim the estate. Emilia offers to buy a mysterious document found with the will, but Jaroslav refuses and leaves. Albert returns and again pleads his love, but Emilia merely falls asleep, and Albert leaves. Janek returns, and Emilia asks him to get the document for her. Jaroslav overhears this, and orders Janek to leave, then agrees to provide the document himself if Emilia will spend the night with him.
Act 3
Emila's hotel room the next morning
Emilia and Jaroslav have spent the night together. Though Jaroslav was disappointed by Emilia's coldness, he gives her the envelope containing the document. They are informed that Janek has committed suicide due to his infatuation with Emilia. Jaroslav grieves, but Emilia is absolutely indifferent. Jaroslav hardly has time to express his anger at her reaction before Count Hauk-Šendorf enters, he has left his wife and plans to elope with Emilia to Spain. Albert, Kolenatý, and Kristina enter, with a doctor who takes Count Hauk-Šendorf away. Kolenatý has noticed that Emilia's handwriting matches that of Ellian MacGregor and suspects her of forgery. She leaves the room to get dressed, and says that after she has had her breakfast, she will clarify everything.
The rest of the party begins to search her papers and belongings. The searchers find many documents and keepsakes, all bearing names with the initials E. M., Jaroslav says that the handwriting of Elina Makropulos (on Ferdinand's birth certificate) also matches that of Emilia.
Emilia comes back, drunk and with a pistol, but Albert disarms her. Emilia at last decides to tell the truth: she is Elina Makropulos, born in 1585, daughter of Hieronymus Makropulos, an alchemist in Emperor Rudolf II's Court, who ordered him to prepare a potion that would extend his life. When it was ready, the Emperor ordered his alchemist to test it on her. She fell into a coma, and Hieronymus was sent to prison. After a week, Elina woke up and fled with the formula, and now she has lived an itinerant life for three centuries, becoming one of the best singers of all time. To conceal her longevity, she has assumed many identities: Eugenia Montez, Ekaterina Myshkin, Ellian McGregor, and others. She confided her secret to Baron Joseph and gave him the formula, which he attached to his will for his son.
The potion is finally wearing off. Elina wanted the formula to gain another 300 years of life. As the potion wears off and the first signs of old age appear on her face, they come to believe her. Elina has realized that perpetual youth has led her to exhausted apathy and resolves to allow death to come naturally to her, understanding that a sense of transcendence and purpose come from a naturally short span of life. Aging rapidly before the eyes of the astonished onlookers, she offers Kristina the formula so she now can become a great artist herself, but she burns it in a candle flame. Elina expires as she recites the first words of the Lord's Prayer in Greek.
Program and cast
Emilia Marty: Marlis Petersen
Albert Gregor: Pavel Cernoch
Jaroslav Prus: Bo Skovhus
Dr. Knees: Wolfgang Bankl
Conductor: Tomas Hanus
Director: Peter Stein
Stage design: Ferdinand Wögerbauer
Costumes: Annamaria Heinreich
Light: Joachim Barth
Mask: Cecile Kretschmar
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Vienna State Opera
Public Transport
Subway lines: U1, U2, U4
Trams: 1, 2, D, J, 62, 65
Buses: 59A
Local Railway: Badner Bahn
Stops: Karlsplatz / Opera
Taxi stands are available nearby.
Parking
Parking is only € 6, - for eight hours!
The Wiener Staatsoper and the ÖPARK Kärntner Ring Garage on Mahlerstraße 8, under the “Ringstraßengalerien”, offer the patrons of the Vienna State Opera a new, reduced parking fee. You can park in the Kärntner Ring Garage for up to 8 hours and pay only a flat fee of € 6, -. Just validate your ticket at one of the discount machines inside the Wiener Staatsoper. The normal rate will be charged for parking time greater than 8 hours. The validation machines can be found at the following coat checks: Operngasse, Herbert von Karajan-Platz, and the right and left and balcony galleries.
Important: In order to get the discount, please draw a ticket and do not use your credit card when entering the garage!
After devaluing your ticket in the Wiener Staatsoper you can pay comfortably by credit card or cash at the vending machines.
The machines accept coins and bills up to 50.- Euro. Parking time longer than 8 hours will be charged at the normal rate.
History
The structure of the opera house was planned by the Viennese architect August Sicard von Sicardsburg, while the inside was designed by interior decorator Eduard van der Nüll. It was also impacted by other major artists such as Moritz von Schwind, who painted the frescoes in the foyer, and the famous "Zauberflöten" (“Magic Flute”) series of frescoes on the veranda. Neither of the architects survived to see the opening of ‘their’ opera house: the sensitive van der Nüll committed suicide, and his friend Sicardsburg died of a stroke soon afterwards.
On May 25, 1869, the opera house solemnly opened with Mozart's Don Giovanni in the presence of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth.
The popularity of the building grew under the artistic influence of the first directors: Franz von Dingelstedt, Johann Herbeck, Franz Jauner, and Wilhelm Jahn. The Vienna opera experienced its first high point under the direction of Gustav Mahler. He completely transformed the outdated performance system, increased the precision and timing of the performances, and also utilized the experience of other noteworthy artists, such as Alfred Roller, for the formation of new stage aesthetics.
The years 1938 to 1945 were a dark chapter in the history of the opera house. Under the Nazis, many members of the house were driven out, pursued, and killed, and many works were not allowed to be played.
On March 12, 1945, the opera house was devastated during a bombing, but on May 1, 1945, the “State Opera in the Volksoper” opened with a performance of Mozart's THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO. On October 6, 1945, the hastily restored “Theaters an der Wien” reopened with Beethoven's FIDELIO. For the next ten years the Vienna State Opera operated in two venues while the true headquarters was being rebuilt at a great expense.
The Secretary of State for Public Works, Julius Raab, announced on May 24, 1945, that reconstruction of the Vienna State Opera would begin immediately. Only the main facade, the grand staircase, and the Schwind Foyer had been spared from the bombs. On November 5, 1955, the Vienna State Opera reopened with a new auditorium and modernized technology. Under the direction of Karl Böhm, Beethoven’s FIDELIO was brilliantly performed, and the opening ceremonies were broadcast by Austrian television. The whole world understood that life was beginning again for this country that had just regained its independence.
Today, the Vienna State Opera is considered one of the most important opera houses in the world; in particular, it is the house with the largest repertoire. It has been under the direction of Dominique Meyer since September 1, 2010.
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