Karel Kovařovic (1862-1920) was a composer and conductor, but most importantly he was in charge of the opera at the National Theatre in Prague from 1900-20. Psohlavci [�The Dogheads�] proved to be his most successful opera composition. Jan�ček�s first dealings with Kovařovic were when he wrote a scathing review of Kovařovic�s opera �enichov� [�The Bridegrooms�] at its first performance in Brno. In the review Jan�ček questioned which tunes were memorable, said the music was independent of the action, the main achievement was the libretto and not the music, and most scathingly that where the �musical talent� of the composer was most clearly displayed, in the overture, merely �deafened one�. It was therefore not surprising that when Jan�ček sent the score of his new opera Jenůfa for consideration to Kovařovic and Gustav Schmoranz (who was the Prague theatre�s head of administration) he was persistently greeted with rejection.

Although Jan�ček continued to write to both Schmoranz and Kovařovic asking about �the fate of [his] work�, Jenůfa was accepted for performance in his adopted home town of Brno. It was first performed there on the 21 January 1904. As soon as that premiere had passed, which was triumphantly received, Jan�ček was immediately back in correspondence with Prague. Scores were sent to the management in Prague, and the composer wrote to Mahler wanting some avocation of the work by another composer. Unfortunately, as there was no German-text score produced until much later, and a Czech score produced as late as 1908, the great Bohemian never got to know the Moravian work. After the publication of the work there was still very little hope of a performance in Prague. In the end Gustav Schmoranz was won over not by Jan�ček but by the soprano Marie Calma-Vesel�, who, with her husband, performed sections of the opera for him in 1915, at which point he announced that the work would be given at the National Theatre in Prague. Kovařovic equally came around to the idea, but insisted that he conduct the work in a reorchestration and version by himself. This was probably as a means of justifying his original dislike for the work, but he had been known to meddle with other composer�s work. His version of Dvoř�k�s opera Dimitrij is still performed, rather than the composer�s original intentions. The new orchestration was thicker, more romantic, and more what the Prague audiences were used to, far-removed from Jan�ček�s odd Moravian and provincial idiosyncrasies. Jan�ček duly accepted the changes to his work, due to his eagerness to hear it performed. It was performed to great acclaim and soon afterwards the Kovařovic version of Jenůfa was published and its fame began to spread.

Jan�ček�s impressions of the new version of the opera began to change, however, and it soon became clear that he resented the other composer�s intervention with his work. After Kovařovic�s death there was a tremendous row about royalties for the work, and his wife threatened to disallow performances of the work. Jan�ček was furious and wrote,

The wrangle continued for a long time, but Jan�ček was never successful in sorting out the issue, and for a long time it was Kovařovic�s Jenůfa and not his own that was performed. It wasn�t until the mid-1960s that Franti�ek J�lek performed Jan�ček�s original ending to the opera, without the grandiose canonic reworking that Kovařovic had created. The reinstitution of the original Jan�ček version is largely due to the work of Charles Mackerras, who both performed it in Paris in 1981, and recorded it on the monumental Decca recording of the following year. It has since spread its influence, and was first used in a UK stage production with WNO in 1984. Despite this certain companies, including The Royal Opera persisted with the �wrong� Kovařovic version (Covent Garden first used the �correct� Jan�ček version in 2001). The version was finally published in 1996, 92 years after its first performance, and named the �1908 Brno version� as opposed to the �1916 Prague version�. It was decided that 1908 was the most viable date for reconstruction. It was the date when the opera was first published. John Tyrrell and Charles Mackerras dismissed the idea of a 1904 �original� version. It would have been problematic to reconstruct, and it was most importantly a version of the opera which Jan�ček himself discarded with his revisions to the score in 1906 and 1907. Nevertheless Mark Audus, at Nottingham University, has begun to reconstruct the 1904 score, and insists that it will, along with the 1908 �Brno� version, become a valid performing edition.

The 1908 edition of Jenůfa is published and available in both a Full Score, a study score and Piano/Vocal score, with a full introduction of clarification by Prof. John Tyrrell. It was recorded by The Royal Opera, Karita Mattila, Anja Silja, Jorma Silvasti and Jerry Hadley (under Bernard Haitink) on Erato, and will be released on the 4 November 2002. There are also plans for a new English translation recording by WNO, Susan Chilcott and Anne Evans (under Charles Mackerras) on Chandos. Finally nearly a century after its first performance, Jan�ček�s own vision of his first operatic success is ours.