Eva

About

Opera Eva is the most famous opera of the romantic Czech composer Josef Bohuslav Foerster. It was created on his own libretto based on Gabriela Preissová's play Gazdina roba in 1889. The premiere a year later caused a stir - naturalistic drama from life of people from Moravian Slovakia represents a direct opposite to the whimsical spirit of the village presented by Smetana in his The Bartered Bride. At the same time, Foerster did not seek musical folklore as was typical for many works of the 19th, late 19th and early 20th century. He tried to create all-purpose musical drama that could take place anytime and anywhere. The rural environment creates the color of the story and determines behavior of characters. Under the influence of a deep emotional passion that prompted the creation, a lyrical, romantic opera was created. It has a classical opera structure with closed numbers, using peculiar motifs to show each characters´ features.

The dominant character of this work is Eva, who follows her love and happiness against the rules of society. She leaves her husband Samko and goes to live without marriage with her lover Mánek. When she discovers that Mánek will not divorce his wife, she jumps from desperation into the river Danube. Opera Eva thus ends tragically, but in accordance with the composer's belief that music is not capable of expressing negative feelings. Death is catharsis, purification and Eva dies with the vision of paradis