About the work
Šárka is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a libretto by Julius Zeyer, based on the old Bohemian legend of the Maidens' War. Janáček began composing it in 1887, left it unfinished, and only reworked it around 1918; the premiere took place on 11 November 1925 at the National Theatre in Brno.
Plot
After the death of ruler Libuše, war breaks out between men and women. The warrior Šárka lures the fighter Ctirad into a trap to avenge the death of her leader Vlasta, but falls in love with him before having him killed, and finally throws herself to her death.
Cultural significance
Because the poet Zeyer had initially forbidden a musical setting, Janáček first composed Šárka without performance rights; only after the success of his later operas did Zeyer's heirs release the work, so it reached the stage posthumously in a version orchestrated by his pupil Osvald Chlubna.