Katyá Kabanová is an opera by Leoš Janáček , first produced in Brno on 23 November1921. It was based on The Storm, a play by Alexander Ostrovsky, and largely inspired by Janáček's love for Kamila Stösslová. This is often his considered his first "mature" opera, despite the fact that he was 67 when it was premiered.
The plot revolves around Katyá, a married woman who has an affair during her husband's absence. While many of the other characters are comparitively weakly portrayed, Katyá herself is provided with the most memorable music and dominates the opera. It ends with her lover's departure and her subsequent suicide.
Katyá Kabanová is a clear response to Janáček's feelings for Kamila, and the work is dedicated to her
When, from the depths of her conscience, Katya confesses her affair with another man, the mother-in-law from hell says she should be buried alive as punishment but in truth she already is, suffocating under a brutal regime where merely looking out of the window is considered a sin.
Her Katya, caught between deep religious feeling and the need for a comforting personal love, is deeply affecting and beautifully sung.
Katya says she feels as though she's being pulled into an abyss and, in contrast to her flights of fancy, Maria Björnsen's monochrome Munch-like streaks of sky meld into the muddy ground, reflecting the downward pull of her oppressive life.
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