Chapter 2: page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4

The Story of Act II

We are back-stage in a big theatre: a charwoman is sweeping the stage which is in a disorderly state after the previous night’s performance. At one side is a heap of discarded bouquets: in the foreground there is a stage throne on a platform, presumably used in the production of last night’s opera.

The lighting battens are lowered and a stagehand is working on them. As they work, the charwoman and the stagehand chatter away about the fantastic success of the prima-donna Marty; people shouting at the tops of their voices, applauding like mad, showering bouquets on her. Never in the entire history of the theatre has there been anything to equal it. She must be making money hand over fist he remarks: she has the voice of an angel, says the charwoman with enthusiasm.

Prus enters in evening dress asking for Marty. The charwoman tells him that she is with the director in his room, but is bound to be out soon. Prus says he will wait. In an aside to the mechanic the charwoman remarks that this will be the fifth one queuing up to meet the great singer. The mechanic speculates as to whether such a woman could have an affair like an ordinary person. "You bet your life she does", replies the charwoman, adding tartly "but she would draw the line at a stagehand!"

Kristina enters followed by Janek, Prus’s son, who has been in love with Kristina for the past year. He tries to kiss her but she tells him there must be no more love-making between them: with Marty’s wonderful example as her inspiration she intends to devote all her time and energy to her art. She will, however, see him once a day: for the rest of the time they must be strangers to each other. Janek is piqued. She tells him not to be silly, but to come and sit beside her on the throne: when Janek steals a kiss she pushes him away.

The scene has been overlooked by Janek’s father, who-waiting for Marty-thinks it is about time he should make his presence known. He comes forward from the shade, to the embarrassment of the lovers.

Janáček omits the following scene which begins lightly enough with Prus humorously interrogating Kristina, but takes a rather ugly twist when the father asks his son to shake hands with him and then squeezes his son’s hand so hard that Janek yelps with pain-a contributory cause to Janek’s tragic death in Act III.

Marty’s voice is heard from the wings thanking some admirers for their compliments: a moment later she appears, rather flustered: exclaims "Oh, no, not another one! "when she sees Prus waiting for her. He quickly reassures her that he is here strictly on business. Marty slouches down on the throne and asks Prus if the boy is his son.

"Show yourself, Janek. Let me see you. Did you hear me sing? Did you like my performance?" to which Janek can only just stammer out a hesitant "Yes". Marty tells Prus that he has a fool for a son; Prus agrees.

Gregor enters eagerly and hands a bouquet to Marty who instantly detects hidden in it a box containing jewellery. She smells the flowers, casually throws them on the heap among the other bouquets and sternly returns the jewel-box to Gregor, telling him that he is in no position to waste his money on such extravagance.

Fumbling in her handbag, she takes out a handful of bank notes and, to Gregor’s indignation, offers them to him. Her remark, "Take this or I’ll give you a good shaking!", does not make matters any easier for the greatly affronted Gregor.

Prus quietly tells him not to make a scene, so snatching the money from her, Gregor hands it to the clerk, Vítek, who has followed him on stage, telling him to deposit the money to Miss Marty’s account. Turning to the clerk, Marty asks Vítek what he thought of her performance. Vítek replies enthusiastically that she was as good as the great Strada. At this Marty flares up: "What! Compare ME to Strada! Strada was a ghastly fake." Vítek attempts to cover up his faux pas by saying that according to history books ... when Marty impatiently interrupts: "Let me tell you something-history books arc full of lies. I will tell you about these famous singers: Strada made whistling noises and Corrona had a plum in her throat! Agujari was a goose and Faustino breathed like a pair of bellows! So much for your history books!"

Janáček has omitted this amusing speech in his libretto, but an enterprising producer might effectively insert it parlante by making a break in the music after the fourth bar in [34]: it would be welcomed, for there are very few laughs in The Makropulos Case to justify Čapek’s calling it a "comedy".

Gregor, still smarting under Marty’s rebuff of a minute ago, asks her sarcastically if she would like him to bring more people along so that she can be rude to them. Marty tells him not to worry about that-they will be along soon enough on their own account. Seeing Kristina and Janek about to sneak quietly away, Marty bursts out laughing and asks them, with disarming candour, if they have been to bed together. Vítek is outraged at the suggestion and asks his daughter angrily if there is any truth in what she says.

Marty is amused at the general embarrassment, tells Kristina not to be a silly girl-if it hasn’t happened yet, it will ... "And it isn’t worth while, I can assure you."

"What is worth while then?" interjects Prus, to which the three-century-old prima-donna replies with infinite weariness . . . "Nothing . . . nothing at all!"

This lively scene takes a bizarre turn with the arrival of a new and important character. This is the senile Austrian and one-time dandy, the Count Hauk-Šendorf, who was one of Marty’s innumerable lovers fifty years ago when she went under the name of Eugenia Montez. Hauk had attended the previous night’s performance and was immediately struck by the resemblance between Emilia Marty and the singer he once knew as Eugenia Montez He kneels down in front of the throne, vaguely offers her flowers and idiotically sobs out that she is the very image of his former sweetheart.

When the sentimental old fellow, with tears streaming down his cheeks, talks about the Spanish gypsy girl with whom every man was madly in love and for whom he sacrificed wealth and position, she at once recognizes him, offers her cheek to be kissed and soon they are talking intimately together in Spanish. After bowing formally to Prus, Hauk-Šendorf makes a cringing withdrawal. The onlookers do not quite know what to make of the scene.

Marty sinks wearily on to the couch but recovers sufficiently to autograph a photograph of herself and a programme for Kristina. She cannot help noticing, too, that Janek has been staring at her with sheep’s eyes for some time. "What is your son dumbstruck about?" she asks, then begs them all to go away and leave her alone. The infatuated Gregor is reluctant to do so, but after Marty has told him, "Bertik, darling, you must come back later", he bows coldly to Prus who still remains on stage and goes out.

By this time we have learned that no man apparently can resist the overpoweringly sexual attractions of this ageless and shockingly amorous woman. As soon as he is alone with her, Prus’s first questions to Marty disclose that he too has fallen under her spell. Does this Gregor mean anything to her? Is it of importance to her that he should win this case? To both questions Marty gives an emphatic "No". So, after this clarification of personal relationships, Prus refers to the sealed will whose contents she knew in advance, to the scandalously erotic love-letters written by Ellian MacGregor to his grandfather, and to a certain sealed envelope in the handwriting of Baron Prus, on which is written: "To be handed to my son, Ferdinand." This envelope, we will shortly learn, contains the Makropulos Secret of Longevity.

Marty knows that her increased life span is rapidly running out and that it is of vital importance to her that at the earliest possible moment she should receive a second dose of this elixir of life. She begs Prus to give her the envelope. The astute Prus has noticed that all the women in the case bear the initials E. M.-Emilia Marty, the great prima donna, Ellian Makropulos, a Greek woman of Crete, Ellian MacGregor, a Scottish girl and Eugenia Montez, a Spanish gypsy. He is highly suspicious but, as yet, his suspicions are too vague to be formulated.

After Prus has sharply rejected her request that he should sell her the sealed envelope, Marty sits motionless with closed eyes. Prus leaves. A moment later Gregor enters and again declares his wild, mad, passionate love for Marty. She treats him vilely, casually, but even her mockery and her insults give him pleasure. "You are cruel, terrible, cold as ice, like someone out of the grave, devoid of all feeling", he continues feverishly-"One day I will strangle you!" Marty tells him not to be such a fool.

She points to a scar on her throat-that was given her by another man who wanted to kill her: if she stripped herself naked he would see lots of other souvenirs of that sort. Was her body, perhaps, just made for target practice? Gregor’s only reply is that he loves her, that no one ever loved her so much as he does. But Marty has been through this so many times before-if men only knew how ridiculous they are-how little she cares one way or the other. She is so tired of it all, so very tired, and before the eyes of the astonished Gregor she falls asleep. At first Gregor thinks she is making a fool of him but the charwoman, entering at that moment, assures him that she really is sleeping.

Left alone for a few moments Marty awakens as suddenly as she fell asleep and finds the youthful Janek gazing at her passionately. So, son as well as father has fallen in love with her! Having failed to persuade the father to give her the sealed envelope she so urgently needs, Marty thinks the son perhaps will prove more amenable. She tells him that it would be an act of great kindness if he could find this envelope and bring it to her. She puts her arms around him and coaxes him into giving her his promise.

Prus enters suddenly from the shadows telling his son sharply that this will not be necessary. The boy is covered with embarrassment. His father dismisses him curtly, exclaiming to Marty that he thought the young rascal was running after Kristina, whereas it seems . . .!

Marty is now utterly desperate. She steps close up to Prus, puts her arms lovingly on his shoulders and turns on him the full strength of her magnificent attractions. "You will do this for me? You will bring the envelope, won’t you?" she says in her most seductive voice. After an inner struggle Prus agrees and passionately kisses her shoulders. From his "And when? "and her "This evening", we understand that an assignation has been arranged.

The Music of Act II

There are about fourteen different themes up to the entrance of Hauk-Šendorf where the music takes on an entirely different character; the number of themes depends on whether the student gives or does not give a new number to a derivative or variation motif. Either way, the first twenty-seven pages of this act are particularly rich in thematic material. The music begins with two chords alternating in an easy swaying rhythm

No. 54

This theme serves as a background to the gossip between the charwoman and the mechanic. When Prus arrives to take his place in the queue of gentlemen waiting to pay court to Marty, the music becomes frivolous [5]+4; the speech curve of the last sentence of the charwoman "Vis, pro tebe to neni" ("It’s none of your business") is anticipated in the orchestra [9]-2, carrying into a playful 7/8 exit phrase, on clarinet and bassoon, as the charwoman crosses to the other side of the stage.

For the scene between the adolescent lovers, Janáček alternates two contrasted motifs, the sentimental No. 55 and its offshoots,

No. 55

and the kittenish No. 56

No. 56

played with the wood of the bow, bouncing on strings.

When Kristina speculates about Marty’s love affairs, the orchestra gives out the easily flowing No. 57

No. 57
No. 58

 

(followed by an enquiring two-note figure) which-without the repeated notes-accompanies the entrance and opening speeches of the irrepressible Marty.

Charming and subtle variants of No. 57 are heard when she light-heartedly interrogates the love-struck Janek: in notes of much shorter value it expresses her and Prus’s irritation at Janek’s gaucheness.

Suitably irritable music accompanies Marty’s annoyance at Gregor’s unwanted and extravagant present to her. It is Vítek’s intention to flatter Marty by comparing her singing with the historic diva Strada. Her instant reaction "Vy jste slysvel Strada?" ("You heard Strada?") is a speech curve which again is anticipated in the orchestra and continues through this spiteful little episode where Marty shouts down her rivals.

A love motif appears at [36] alternating with the chromatic laughing figure as Marty teases Kristina and her young admirer. The scene between the feeble-minded Hauk-Šendorf and the woman he knew and loved as the gypsy, Eugenia Montez, half a century earlier, is based on two rhythmic units and two quasi-gypsy themes.

Hauk enters with a rush to the whirlwind No. 59

No. 59

sobs to the pulsating No. 60

No. 60

the voice part which generates the first waltz-like gypsy theme

No. 60A

(see No. 60 (A)) and at [42], [44], [55], [56], [62].

The second gypsy theme, complete with castanet accompaniment, appears at [48] on a solo clarinet, as Hauk-Šendorf speaks wistfully about the "chula negra" he knew in Andalusia.

No. 61

At [60] it is lengthened from 3 + 3 to 5 + 5 bars. The senility of the old chap is expressed in a rapid descending sequence of unrelated major triads (see [45]). All four motifs appear in the recognition scene (pp. 101-3) when Marty and Hauk-Šendorf have an affectionate reunion after half a century. The swinging No. 57 reappears as Marty autographs her photograph for Kristina.

A tiny six-note motif-vividly expressing surprise and incredulity-punctuates Prus’s speech when he tells her how utterly amazed he is at Marty’s accurate foreknowledge of secret documents unknown to him hidden away in his own house: a fade-out on a feminine ending.

No. 62

This develops into the jerky little figure at [77], No. 63

No. 63

which-under a variety of metamorphoses-expresses

(a) Marty’s indignation at the slurs cast by Prus on her virtue as Ellian MacGregor [79],

(b) Prus’s surprise at her defence of a wanton supposedly dead for the best part of a century [81], and

(c) the erotic passages in Ellian’s love-letters [84].

The motif associated with the vocalization of the name "Ellian MacGregor" (Act I, No. 46) dominates the second half of the Prus-Marty scene (pp. 112-16). The music becomes intensely serious for a moment when the distraught Marty begs Prus to sell her the envelope which she knows contains the secret prescription which alone can prolong her life [98]. Prus’s indignation is expressed ill the whiplash Scotch-snaps at [99], and he goes off gloomily to suitable music.

No. 64 is of some importance in the ensuing scene between the infatuated Gregor and the oh-so-bored Marty:

No. 64

its odd rhythm gives rise to a number of different shapes [104], [106], [107] + 1, [110]. A steady crotchet movement begins at one bar after [106] increasing to triplets as Gregor becomes very excited: a rhapsodic interlude follows as Marty gives Gregor some good legal advice.

It is as well to remind ourselves that we are witnessing a great-great-grandson making love to this great-great-grandmother! Although actual themes are not interchanged (compare, however, rhythm of Act I at [126] with Act II at [110]), this the second love scene between Marty and Gregor in character and general style is very much like a continuation of the Act I duet. A wild Presto at [116] is effectively contrasted with the soaring love theme at [116], under which the viola d’amore (which we remember from the previous act was associated with Marty) has a conjunct figure as counterpoint. Gregor, infatuated with Marty, gets a rude shock when he finds that his impassioned lovemaking has only a soporific effect on her.

From [107] onwards ostinato figures similar to the opening bars of the Overture have made their appearance in the orchestra. These continue in the ensuing scene between the almost hypnotized Janek and Marty (see [127] then four bars before [131] up to [136]), combined and contrasted with short lyrical passages of great feeling (2nd and 3rd bars after [127], p. 130: [132], [133] to [136]). An exciting dual motif appears at [1361 representing, as it were, the struggle between duty and lust which is going on in Prus’s breast

No. 65

As Marty brings all her persuasive powers to play on Prus we hear this motif of evil ((A) of No. 65) powerfully declaimed on trombones, tuba, double-basses and timpani. One of the most unforgettable moments in the opera is contained in the last twenty-eight bars in this act. As Prus battles with his conscience we hear the motif of evil thrice in a high octave presentation, ending with an unexpected flourish of surrender: Marty’s fascination has won him completely over to her side.

Janáček gives us the dual theme (plus the arpeggi flourish) with the lust motif riding triumphantly on to F three times in sequences, finally soaring like a hot flame o desire up to the highest register of the violins, ending in a blazing chord of C major.

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