Leoš Janáček

From the House of the Dead

From the House of the Dead (1928) is Janácek's last operatic work. The libretto was written by the composer himself after F. M. Dostoevsky's "Notes from the House of the Dead".

The critical edition published by Universal Edition in 2017 is based on an authorized copy of the opera, which was made between 10 March and 20 June 1928 by Janácek's copyist under the composer's supervision. This copy contains Janácek's corrections to Acts 1 and 2; he was no longer able to revise Act 3 as he died in August 1928.

After Janácek's death, his students, the conductors Bretislav Bakala and Osvald Chlubna, were asked to complete the orchestration. The director Ota Zítek also made dramaturgical changes to the end of the opera. The premiere of the work in this version took place in Brno on April 12, 1930. In this edition, the editor John Tyrrell frees the opera from subsequent additions and changes and presents it in its authentic version as Janácek left it.

A valuable contribution are the practical performance notes (in English) by the great Janácek expert, Sir Charles Mackerras, which offer practical solutions to specific problems in the score.