Janácek - Der Ausflug des Herrn Broucek in das 15. Jahrhundert

The Excursion of Mr. Broucek is a very complicated and difficult piece. It’s a wonderful piece I think. But again, it’s a very complicated idea, because it’s a double satire. Through Broucek the effeminate, artistic world, set on the moon, is satirized and on earth the ridiculously dogmatic, fanatical world of the Medieval religious fundamentalists is satirized, but at the same time Broucek himself is satirized as a contemporary petty bourgeois philistine, so it’s a double satire. Usually in a satire you have an Everyman figure through whom you see that the world is absurd. But in this piece you see the world as absurd, but you see that the central figure is absurd as well. So there is no centre.

David Pountney

The Excursion of Mr. Broucek to the Moon and The Excursion of Mr. Broucek to the 15th Century doubtlessly occupy a special position within the composer’s operatic oeuvre. After all, they seem to completely contradict the fundamentally serious and dramatic character of his other operas. With its intense comedy, garnished with unmistakably satirical elements, one could almost characterise The Excursions of Mr. Broucek as being atypical of Janácek’s production. Yet here as well, his extremely expressive, text-orientated and, above all, original compositional style, which made him one of the 20th century’s most important composers, is unmistakably present. On the occasion of the German première in 1959, the Viennese music critic and cultural journalist Karl Löbl asked, How has this delectable music managed to remain hidden from us for so long?

The story

Broucek has hardly returned to Earth when he sets off on another journey. This time his dream takes him to Prague in the year 1420, in the midst of the Hussite Wars. Broucek is summoned to fight with the Hussites, headed by Jan Žižka, against Emperor Sigmund. However, Broucek proves to be a less than steadfast fighter and seems like an utter coward compared with the extremely patriotic Czechs who are bursting with religious zeal. He is therefore sentenced to death by burning as a traitor and deserter. But at the crucial moment, to his great relief he wakes up from his nightmare. And he is left with nothing more than a cold that he caught because he spent the night in a barrel in Würfel’s cellar.