The Makropulos Affair (Mariinsky Theatre, opera)

Hieronymus Makropoulos, Emperor Rudolf II’s personal physician, has prepared an elixir for the monarch that will extend his life and his youth for three hundred years. But the Emperor decrees that the physician first try out the elixir on his daughter Elina. Elina Makropoulos thus becomes immortal. But as the three hundred years come to an end, the effect of the potion wears off and to continue to live she must drink yet more. But Elina’s lover, Baron Ferdinand Prus, took the recipe for the elixir from Elina and failed to return it. And so, at the age of three hundred and twenty seven and under the name of the singer Emilia Marty, Elina Makropoulos wages battle to win the inheritance alongside her great-grandson Albert Gregor and Baron Jaroslav Prus by trying to gain access to the archives held at the Prus family estate. As a result of her scheming, Prus’ son Janek commits suicide. Elina is unmasked and, having told the story of her incredibly long life, she hands over the recipe for eternal youth to Kristina, Janek’s young beloved. Without any regrets Kristina burns the document, now yellow with age.

World premiere: 18 December 1926, The National Theatre in Brno
Premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre: 23 October 2010

Performance running time: 2 hours 45 minutes
The performance has two intermissions