Janacek's "From the House of the Dead"

A few of the corrections to the full score of Janacek’s "From the House of the Dead" according to the autograph manuscript in Brno - by Paul Mauffray

This past week, I attended rehearsals of Janacek's last opera "Z mrtveho domu" conducted by Pierre Boulez in Vienna (click here for more info about the production). Naturally, this is an excellent production with all artistic elements coming together perfectly. The Mahler Chamber Orchestra filled the Theater an der Wien to maximum capacity!

Of the interesting changes in this production, the "pants role" of Aljeja was performed by a young "male" tenor instead of the customary "female" voice, and I might add that this worked ideally! Boulez also had the 1st violins sitting on the right side of the orchestra where one usually finds the violoncellos!! This worked perfectly fine in the acoustics of the small Theater an der Wien, and I was told by a member of the orchestra that it is not a problem since the 1st violins are always clearly heard playing so prominently high above the rest of the strings (especially in this opera).

As Janacek's last opera, this is also one of the most complicated scores he ever wrote. Boulez conducted the latest edition (edited by Sir Charles Mackerras). This is definitely the best edition to use, however, there are still a few minor details (perhaps just misprints) which need to be corrected to agree with the autograph manuscript in Brno.

The following is a partial list of a few of the most prominent note errors:

Act I

3 & 4 bars before #4
2. fl. & 1. tpt. should play A natural (Bbb) instead of Bb [with 2. fg.]

16 bars before #17
2. tbn. should be D natural instead of Db

3 bars after #30
flute should be Ab instead of A natural

Act II

6 bars after #16
Vcl. should have G natural instead of A natural

16 bars after #27
should be „piu mosso“ instead of „meno mosso“

Act III

8 bars before #5
oboe should be A# (Bb) instead of A natural

3 bars after #33 (6/4)
2. cor. should have printed A natural instead of A#