Janos Gereben, speaking of opera:

>Singing (a rather important component of the supposed genre...:) is
>virtually minimal in the work, with long (fabulously beautiful) orchestral
>introductions, bridges, intermezzi, preludes, postludes, etc.  Much more
>than opera, it is a musical work with occasional uses of voice, similar
>to an oratorio or cantata.
>
>Hence all the production attempts around the world and in the whole
>history of "Vixen" to "do something" with all that music.

I think the action is written into the libretto.  Janacek relied quite
as much on vision as on words to convey his non-linear ideas and thoughts.
In his original Czech version, there is no clear single story-line, no
single definite plot or sub-plot, the only (important) link between the
different juxtaposed flashes of happenings being the time-span - everything
occurs in the same lapse of time.  The staging makes this quite clear.

Then there are several levels of appreciation to the "Vixen" and,
remembering Lolek, one is, or should be, visual delight.

I agree that the music is quite sufficient in itself (oh, yes!) but it
cannot convey all of Janacek's intentions, including the above, if one
hasn't read something about it first.  Staging immediately underlines
the relativity of animal time in parallel to human time and so to universal
time, for instance.  - Just as Voltaire's rose had never witnessed the
death of a gardener, the animal cycles here, highlighted by the death
of the Vixen and the appearance of the Young Vixen, appear so short,
stressing that permanence is an illusion and bringing not merely the
elderly (J.  was seventy by the premiere) to easily perceive the brevity
of any cycle whilst philsophically rejoicing in nature's continual
renaissance and renewal.  Then there is the fact that, forever the
educator, Janacek was hoping to give children - young singers in training
- some stage experience here, and movement on stage is part of it; just
as the few parts he intended to be sung by children are never long enough
to strain a voice (Frog, Cubs, Cricket, Young Vixen...) but entail
presence on stage.

>Given the nature of the work, and the SF Opera's financial problems, I
>think it would have been a much better idea to present "Vixen" with the
>same cast, conductor and orchestra...  in a concert version.

Probably.  The basic question seems to remain: does one need to know
what was in the composer's mind to appreciate the music?  My spontaneous
response would be that of course not.  But in the case of opera or ballet,
although it could be argued that staging distracts from the music (it
does), the composer did intend more than the music...  Whatever, the
music alone is always to be preferred over a bad stage production...

But then, 'bad' is in the eye of the beholder...  ;-) Oh dear...

Christine Labroche