Dvorak - Kate and the Devil (Chubalala) [2008]

CD1
1. Overture 
2. Act 1. Why so early, shepherd 
3. Act 1. O me, little shepherd poor 	     play
4. Act 1. Dance 
5. Act 1. Isn't it enraging?                 play
6. Act 1. Good evening 
7. Act 1. May I offer you a drink, please? 
8. Act 1. Hurray! Jirka is here again! 
9. Act 1. I've been kicked out! 
10. Act 1. It is somewhat out-of-the-way

CD2
1. Act 2. Overture 
2. Act 2. Glory to the might of gold             play
3. Act 2. Shall I forever listen to your larm? 
4. Act 2. Ah, poor me!
5. Act 2. What seek you? What do you want here? 	
6. Act 2. Everywhere I heard but laments 
7. Act 2. He might, perhaps, carry her home! 
8. Act 2. Kate, get ready now! 
9. Act 2. Devilish Dance 
10. Act 2. How do you like it here in hell? 
11. Act 3. Overture 
12. Act 3. Now sad the castle 
13. Act 3. What can I do my gracious princess? 
14. Act 3. He is here, the shepherd, Your Grace! 
15. Act 3. Here I am, what is it, Jirka? 
16. Act 3. Take a seat here, my dear princess   play
17. Act 3. Steady, princess, you go with me! 
18. Act 3. I am grateful! 
19. Act 3. For your gracious kindness to us

ČERT A KÁČA | KATE AND THE DEVIL
Opera in 3 acts, Op. 112 (B 201, 1898-1899).
Libretto by Adolf Wenig based on Czech folk-tale and the Balad of the Poor Devil by ladislav Quís

Jirka the Shepherd (tenor) ... Lubomír Havlák
Kate (mezzo-soprano) ... Ludmila Komancová
Her Mother (mezzo-soprano) ... Věra Krilová
Devil Marbuel (bass) ... Přemysl Kočí
Lucifer (bass) ... Rudolf Asmus
Devil the Gate-Keeper (bass) ... Karel Berman
Princess (soprano) ... Marie Steinerová
Chambermaid (soprano) ... Jaroslava Vymazalová
Marshall (bass) ... Jaroslav Horáček
Musician (tenor) ... Rudolf Vonásek
Village people, youths and girls, musicians, devils, courtiers

Prague National Theatre Chorus
Chorus master: Jan Ouředník
Prague National Theatre Orchestra
Conductor: Zdeněk Chabalala

The Devil and Kate, after Russalka, is the most popular of Dvorák's operas amongst his countrymen and achieved success in a performance given, in the autumn of 1932, by the Oxford University Opera Club. If the English opera-going public was less conservative that success might well be repeated in a professional performance at Sadler's Wells. The libretto, an excellent one by Josef Kapvil, a young Prague schoolmaster and "riter, is refreshingly out of the ordinary. The heroine, Kate. is a plain and garrulous spinster, mad on dancing and aching to get married, who becomes such a trial to Marbuel, one of Lucifer's employees, that he will do anything to get rid of her. He arrives, in Act 1, at the inn where the farmhands are gathered on a country fair day, to make some inquiries about the tyrannical steward employed by the princess up at the castle both of them, because of their oppression of the workpeople, being destined to Hell. In the synopsis of the plot which precedes the Czech-English libretto the princess is said to spend most of her life" in social functions, hunting, and dolce-far-niente ", an obvious case for elimination. Kate and the shepherd George (Jirka), both of whom make a temporary descent into the infernal regions in Act 2, manage to outwit Marbuel when, in Act 3, he comes to collect the princess. One glimpse of Kate, whom he thought himself rid of, is enough. George also scares him away from the now repentant steward, receiving a large reward in return, and the princess willingly pays the price of her salvation by freeing the serfs, making George her "prime minister ", and endowing Kate with a fortune.

There is no love interest in this unusual opera—though we are left to believe Kate's money-bags will secure her a husband—and there are also no detachable arias ; the ballet music in Acts I and 2 are the only detachable pieces. Such " arias " as there are, George's little " pastoral ", Marbuel's description of the delights of Hell, in Act 1, a few passages for Marbuel in Act 2, the princess's soliloquy in Act 3, are, except the last, quite short. Dvoihk, in fact, adopts the Wagnerian technique, with some modifications, of continuous music, using a group of three leading motive's, representing the peasants, Marbuel and Hell, and the princess and steward, respectively, very ingeniously. The music is delightfully melodious and often most imaginatively orchestrated. Two passages may be mentioned, the eerie effect made by the harps in Marbuel's description of Hell and the lovely and poignant section of the ballet, in Act 2, when a human soul— "a dancer in white, floating robes "—is dragged in and condemned to eternal fire. Act 1 moves slowly—Dvoritk had not much sense of the stage—Act 2, with its picturesque detail and fairly convincing devils, goes better, and Act 3 is the most successful of all. Kate is, vocally, an ungrateful part and Ludmila Komancova, its exponent, has too warm a voice to suggest the stolid and irrepressible creature—it needs an Edith Coates type of singer for perfect characterisation—but the artist has some good moments. Lubomir Haviak's George is well in character and so is Prcmysl Koci's Marbuel, though he seems unable to sustain a note of any length without wobbling. No doubt all the bad singing teachers go to Hell ! I liked Marie Steinerova's Princess —to her fall some lovely phrases—and the smaller parts are all well done. The recording is no more than adequate and does not do full justice to the admirable playing of the Prague National Theatre Orchestra—or to Dvolak's picturesque orchestration—except in some of the quieter moments, such as the first part of the scene of the condemned soul and in the poetical prelude to the last Act, which paints a touching picture of the lonely and deserted princess. -- Gramophon, November 1958

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