Which opera by Leoš Janáček features the prisoner Emilia Marty, who has lived for centuries?

Leoš Janáček’s opera featuring the centuries-old prisoner Emilia Marty is The Makropulos Affair.

The opera is based on Karel Čapek’s 1922 play Věc Makropulos. Emilia Marty, a famous singer, is actually Elina Makropulos, who received an alchemical life-extending potion in the sixteenth century. The central legal dispute over an inheritance gradually reveals her extraordinary identity.

Janáček wrote the Czech libretto himself, closely adapting Čapek’s drama. The opera premiered at the National Theatre in Brno on 18 December 1926. Its modern setting, rapid dialogue-like musical writing, and focus on legal documents distinguish it from conventional mythic immortality stories.

The work asks whether endless life is truly desirable. Emilia’s experience is not presented as a simple superpower: after living for more than three hundred years, she has become emotionally exhausted and detached. The title can be confused with Čapek’s play, but The Makropulos Affair is the established English title of Janáček’s opera.