Destiny (also known as Fate, ) is an opera in three acts by Leoà ¡ JanáÃÂek to a Czech libretto by the composer and Fedora Bartoà ¡ová. JanáÃÂek began the work in 1903 and completed it in 1907. The inspiration for the opera came from a visit by JanáÃÂek in the summer of 1903, after the death of his daughter Olga, to the spa at LuhaÃÂovice. There, JanáÃÂek met Kamila Urválková, who had been the subject of an opera by LudvÃÂk ÃÂelanský, Kamila, where she felt that ÃÂelanský had falsely depicted her personality. After learning that JanáÃÂek was a composer, Urválková persuaded JanáÃÂek to write another opera to counteract ÃÂelanský's portrait of her.
JanáÃÂek submitted the opera to the Brno Theatre in 1906, and to the Vinohrady Theatre in Prague in 1907, but both theatres rejected the score. The score stayed with the Vinohrady Theatre even after JanáÃÂek had threatened lawsuits against the theatre and after the Brno theatre made offers of a possible production.
The work did not receive a hearing until after JanáÃÂek's death, in 1934 on Brno Radio.
Osud was given in concert form in Brno in 1934, 1948 and 1954, all conducted by Bà Âetislav Bakala. The first staging was in 1958 in Brno, conducted by Frantià ¡ek JÃÂlek, as part of a complete cycle of operas at the 1958 JanáÃÂek Festival, in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of JanáÃÂek's death. However, the structure of the plot was altered from the original to give the story a "flashback" format, where the story begins with Act 3 and interpolates Act 1 and Act 2 as the "flashbacks", before returning to finish Act 3. One day after the Brno stage premiere, a version where the libretto was considerably revised (by Kurt Honolka) was produced at Stuttgart Opera.
The first UK staging was in 1984 at English National Opera, produced by David Pountney, in a translation by Rodney Blumer, but with JanáÃÂek's original plot structure intact. The first US production was in July 2003 at the Bard Summerscape Festival. Scholars have criticised weaknesses in the plot as the reason for the opera's neglect.
MÃÂla and the composer à ½ivný were once lovers, but MÃÂla's mother ended the relationship in hopes of a more advantageous match for her daughter. Alas, MÃÂla was already pregnant and is now a single mother, unlikely to marry anyone else. She and à ½ivný meet again for the first time amid the amusements of a spa town. They sneak off together and rekindle their love, but her mother tracks them down in the crowd and predicts disaster.
Four years later à ½ivný and MÃÂla are married, but her mother lives with them and has become mentally fragile. While their young son Doubek plays, the couple read through the unfinished opera à ½ivný began during their separation. It is filled with bitterness against MÃÂla, portraying her as faithless. MÃÂla's mother, losing her mind completely, repeats snatches of music from the opera before rushing to throw herself off a balcony. Attempting to restrain her mother, MÃÂla too is pulled over, and both are killed.
Eleven years later, à ½ivný's opera is at last to be performed, although it remains unfinished. He rehearses a chorus from the opera with his students, among them Doubek, now a young man. Another student, Verva, guesses that the hero of the opera is the composer himself. Through the music, à ½ivný again relives his love for MÃÂla and his cruelty to her. Tormented by regret, he asks Doubek to fetch a glass of water and then collapses, saying that the end of the opera must remain in God's hands. Doubek escorts him from the room.