4 - FROM HOUSE OF THE DEAD/GLAGOLITIC MASS

Prisoners in a brutal Siberian prison, each bearing a harrowing personal fate. Despite the oppressive conclusion, Janáček wrote at the beginning of the score for From the House of the Dead: "In every creature, a spark of God!" This deep humanity, which runs like a red thread through all of Janáček’s works, also unites his last opera with an equally unique composition – the Glagolitic Mass, set to an Old Slavonic text. The origin of the Glagolitic Mass is partly intertwined with Janáček’s work on his final opera, and the staged version of the Glagolitic Mass as a continuation of From the House of the Dead imbues both works with a renewed testament to the power of faith in humanity.