The Perm Opera and Ballet Theater is preparing for the new season. The Astrakhan production of “Ruslan and Lyudmila” became the first opera in the All-Russian Theater Marathon

The culmination of the All-Russian theater marathon, which arrived in Astrakhan, was M. Glinka’s opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” of the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater. Its premiere took place today in the natural scenery of the Kremlin in the open air.

The theater marathon has already visited 62 cities in Russia, Astrakhan became the 63rd city, and for the first time. It should be noted that the marathon featured an opera for the first time, and in the natural setting of the Kremlin. Before this, there were mainly performances of drama, puppet theaters, youth theaters, as well as two ballet productions.

This is already the fifth production for the Astrakhan Theater in the Open air format. The ideological inspirer of the operas is the artistic director and chief conductor of the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater Valery Voronin . “Open air has been used in Europe for a long time, in Russia they also began to stage opera performances in the open air,” says Valery Vladimirovich, “The Astrakhan Kremlin is a wonderful venue for opera productions, there is a special aura here, instead of theater scenes there are white stone walls, a Cathedral, a huge staircase leading to the Execution Place. The audience perceives the theatrical performance in a completely different way; they themselves become, as it were, participants in it.”

A distinctive feature of the current opera was that the theatrical performance began long before the start of the performance. The performance was preceded by an impromptu fair; it took place near a luxurious 100-year-old oak tree, which is located in the center of Cathedral Square. Peddlers, buffoons, and mummers brought a special Russian spirit to the performance.

Stage director of the opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” Georgy Isahakyan - artistic director of the Moscow Academic Children's Musical Theater named after N.I. Sats spoke about the Russian spirit: “The main theme of the opera is the Russian spirit. Two centuries later, after the work was written, we can see that people of different nations and cultures feel themselves to be one nation. This is a wonderful attempt to look at yourself from the outside, with all the pros and cons. We are who we are!”

This time, one of the most important works of Russian culture came to life near the walls of the Assumption Cathedral. The opera was filled with fabulous, fantastic images, an exciting plot and, of course, wonderful, lyrical and so “Russian” music. Light and video effects determined the fabulous background against which the musical images of M. Glinka’s great creation were revealed.

About 300 artists and volunteers, the entire creative team of the Astrakhan Theater, were involved in the large-scale production. The choir, orchestra and ballet were magnificent. The main roles were professionally and artistically performed by the soloists of the Mariinsky Theater: the part of Lyudmila - Anna Denisova, the part of Ruslan - Gleb Peryazev - a rising star of the opera stage. The Astrakhan soloists were also at their best, but still the young tenor Yegor Zhuravsky was a revelation. He recently won the prestigious Belvedere opera singing competition, winning the 2nd prize. He was invited to perform in London at the Royal Theater Covent Garden.

Negotiations on the future of the Diaghilev Festival in Perm continue

On the eve of the opening of the new season, the annual gathering of the troupe was held at the Perm Opera and Ballet Theater. The journalists were also introduced to the theater's updated creative team - consisting, however, of familiar faces.

The executive director told the media about changes in the organizational and management structure of the theater Andrey Borisov. The theater will be headed by a general director - his name is still unknown. The general director will be supported by the Areopagus artistic council - “the Areopagus of creative people”, who, together with the director, will develop a strategy for the development of the theater. Part of this "Areopagus", director of the opera troupe Medea Yasonidi And Alexey Miroshnichenko, the main choreographer of the theater, retained their status.

As for changes, along with leaving Teodor Currentzis The position of artistic director disappeared from the theater, but the position of chief conductor appeared - he became Artem Abashev. With care Vitaly Polonsky The position of chief choirmaster became vacant - he took it EugeneVorobiev.

According to Andrei Borisov, the new one hundred and forty-eighth season opens a series of pre-anniversary events: “Historians argue when exactly the theater opened and cannot determine the exact date. That’s good - we have the opportunity to extend the holiday and please Perm residents with creative events.”

True, new details about the latter in Perm have not yet been revealed.

“I can’t say anything reliable, negotiations are underway.” - the theater’s executive director shrugs, “We would really like Teodor Currentzis to be the artistic director of the festival. I would sign a contract with him even today, but there are wishes from the maestro himself. He would like to conclude a contract not with the theater, but with the authorities in the person of the Minister of Culture of the Perm Territory Vyacheslav Torchinsky, since the organizing committee of the festival must be separated from the theater. Theodore would like the residence of the organizing committee and orchestra of MusicAeterna to be the Soldatov Palace of Culture, whose acoustics the maestro really likes. There are many nuances, but work on the festival is actually underway - Theodore has many ideas for symphony concerts and new productions. It is premature to talk in detail about these plans - but they exist, take my word for it. And the theater is ready to contribute in every possible way to holding the festival at a high artistic level.”

Artem Abashev, the theater’s chief conductor, shared his plans for the start of the new season:

“Not much has changed for me. I am continuing the work I have been doing all summer. A world-class orchestra has been selected, at the first rehearsal it showed that it can play not only the opera repertoire, but also symphonies, concert repertoire, with which it can perform and tour. Therefore, in order for the orchestra to play better and feel each other, at the beginning of September we will play works for chamber string orchestra by Dvorak and Tchaikovsky.”

Chief choreographer Alexey Miroshnichenko looked at not only the beginning of the season, but also the prospects of the ballet troupe.

“There is time to scatter stones, there is time to collect them - so we will devote our efforts to restoring the repertoire. We accumulated a large and high-quality repertoire - but we increased the number of new performances so rapidly that later the time in the season did not allow us to show everything. During the season there were new performances, tours, festivals... A lot is happening - but the costumes and scenery for past productions are hanging idle. Therefore, the performances beloved by the audience will return to the stage. In December, the ballet “Winter Dreams” will return to the stage, and in April, the day before the start of the “Arabesque” competition, the audience will see the ballet “Anyuta”.

The start of the new season was marred by losses - he was injured during rehearsal Kirill Makurin. Previously, a number of performers left the theater. Yes, soloist Daria Tikhonova moved to Vladivostok, where she will participate in the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. The reaction of journalists to the loss of valuable personnel clearly hurts the choreographer: “I don’t like journalistic cliches. “Prima Daria Tikhonova has left the Perm Theater!” - Well, firstly, she was in the status of a soloist. I dreamed of her becoming a ballerina, but she was injured, then returned to the stage, had a great time, even danced “La Bayadère.” But she decided that she would be better off in Vladivostok. Her right! Pavel Savin, another of our soloists, decided that he would be better off at the Mikhailovsky Theater - I have information that there was a list of Perm soloists whom they wanted to invite. But there are enough promising people in Perm.

Of course, it is a pity that as soon as people reach a certain level, they feel “crowded” in Perm. And we are forced to bring young people, who should have matured, to the first positions. This is not useful for everyone and not everyone can cope with it.”

MUSIC AND OTHER ARTS

Lesson 17

Topic: The most significant genre of vocal music.

Lesson objectives:

To form a cognitive interest in the most significant genre of vocal music - opera as a synthetic art form. Find associative connections between artistic images of literature and music. Observe the development and comparison of images based on the similarities and differences in intonations and musical themes.

Materials for the lesson: musical material, portraits of composers, illustrations of paintings, photos.

During the classes:

Organizing time:

The introduction “Dawn on the Moscow River” from M. Mussorgsky’s opera “Khovanshchina” is played.

Read the epigraph to the lesson. How do you understand it?

Write on the board:

“I opened the painted doors of large theaters with a trembling hand...”
(S. Danilov)

Lesson topic message:

Isn’t it true, guys, when you find yourself in the huge, sparkling hall of the opera house, you feel as if inspired by joy! Today in class we will talk about opera.

Work on the topic of the lesson,

1. Opera is a fusion of arts.

The orchestra members are already tuning their instruments. And this colorful noise promises something mysterious, wonderful... But then the light fades. The ramp flashes. The lamps crossed their beams on a velvet curtain embroidered with gold patterns. The conductor waved his baton, and the sounds of the orchestra merged into an amazing overture.

Most operas begin with an overture (from the French word “ouverture” - to open), performed by the orchestra before the curtain rises. The overture conveys the ideological concept of the opera, introduces listeners into the emotional sphere of the performance, where musical themes are the main characteristics of the characters and will unfold later in the opera into larger scenes.

The curtain slowly rises, and we find ourselves on a sunny square in the Spanish city of Seville, or in Ancient Kiev at the wedding of Ruslan and Lyudmila, or in the shady garden of the Larins' estate, or even at the bottom of the sea - each time in a new, fairy-tale-like world.

Melodious music, beautiful voices, colorful scenery, costumes, stage effects - everything unfolds on stage, and we excitedly follow the dramatic, sometimes tragic fate of the characters, sympathize with them, worry or laugh merrily with them. The impact of opera is enormous. For all its complexity, it is extremely intelligible. Opera not only reveals some kind of life phenomenon in an accessible, “visible” form, but helps, through the power of music, to penetrate into its depth - we feel what ardent feelings, what spiritual impulses are hidden behind it. Music, without asking your consent, penetrates the hearts and evokes delight or tears of sympathy.

Opera is a miraculous fusion of many arts. And music plays a leading role in it. Leading, but not exceptional.

Just as in literature there is a story, novel, drama, so in music there are its own major genres - oratorio, opera, ballet. In this series, opera is most closely connected with literature: firstly, it necessarily presupposes a literary source - a work of art or a specially written libretto, and secondly, most opera fragments are intended to be sung by a choir, various vocal ensembles or soloists. Thus, the verbal text, its content, composition and sound play a primary role in the creation of an opera.

The history of opera reflects the diversity of literary images and ideas. A huge number of great works of prose and poetry sounded in music, sometimes only complementing their content with means inaccessible to words, but much more often - elevating them to the field of valuable musical interpretation, giving them their own life in art.

“The Queen of Spades” by A. Pushkin and P. Tchaikovsky, “Carmen” by P. Merimee and J. Bizet, “The Snow Maiden” by A. Ostrovsky and N. Rimsky-Korsakov - all this great literature and great music exist independently, without invading the area each other, but being in an eternal life-giving cultural dialogue.

But in order for an opera to take place, writing music to a literary plot is not enough. Opera is a synthetic art form, its performance is always a performance, therefore theatrical action and decorative design play a huge role in its creation.

An opera performer must be not only a good singer, but also an actor - it is not without reason that such outstanding artists as F. Chaliapin, L. Sobinov, A. Nezhdanova, I. Kozlovsky and many others connected their creative activities with opera.

Outstanding artists often worked on the design of opera sets. The richness of the opera's figurative content, its psychological depth and colorful imagery of the music, the effectiveness of the theatrical performance, and popularity with the public - all this attracted the best creative forces of painters.

This is not a complete list of outstanding names associated with the history of opera and contributing to its flourishing. Curtains, costumes, scenery - every element of the opera performance was part of a single artistic concept of the performance, along with words and music, participated in the creation of a holistic image of the musical drama.

2. History of opera.

The first musical performance with singing was staged in the Italian city of Florence in 1594. The plot for it was the Greek myth about the struggle of Apollo with the monster - the serpent Python; Such performances were first called a musical fairy tale, then a musical drama. Many years passed before they began to be called a musical work (opera in musica), and finally, one word remained, opera (in Latin “opus”) - act, work, composition.

At first, performances were intended only for the court nobility. But later, musical theaters began to open in different countries, accessible to wider sections of the urban population, and opera gradually took an important place in the life of society.

3. What is a libretto?

First of all, the composer needs a libretto. We are accustomed to thinking that the libretto is the content of the opera. This is not entirely accurate. In fact, the libretto is the complete verbal text of a musical and stage work. The Italian word libretto means little book.

Very often the libretto is based on some literary or dramatic work. We know of cases when a composer chooses a completed dramatic work as a libretto. For example, the opera “The Stone Guest” by Dargomyzhsky was written based on the full text of Pushkin’s Little Tragedy.

But usually the libretto is revised due to the specifics of the opera. Its text should be concise and concise. After all, when a word is sung, it sounds longer than when spoken. An opera cannot have a large number of characters, as in a novel, for example. Therefore, most often one storyline is chosen from a novel. This greatly changes the literary source, but the libretto is an independent work.

The libretto is entirely subordinated to the music. The librettist works under the guidance of the composer, sensitively listening to all his comments. A large number of works were created in such creative contact. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's brother Modest Ilyich wrote the libretti for two of his operas: The Queen of Spades and Iolanta. The famous biographer and researcher of the poet’s work P. A. Viskovaty worked on the libretto of Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein’s opera “The Demon” based on Lermontov’s poem.

M. Glinka, turning to the creation of the libretto of “Ruslan and Lyudmila,” shortened a number of scenes from Pushkin’s poem and combined them into a different composition. Everyone knows the beautiful introduction to “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by A. Pushkin, full of poetic charm:

Lukomorye has a green oak,
Golden chain on oak volume.
Both day and night the cat is a scientist
Everything goes around and around...
He goes to the right - the song starts,
To the left - he tells a fairy tale.
There are miracles there: a goblin wanders there,
A mermaid sits on the branches.

This beginning of the poem introduces the reader to the magical atmosphere of Russian fairy tales, with their favorite images and characters: here is a hut on chicken legs, a goblin and a mermaid, a sorcerer and a hero. From this introduction, the story of Ruslan and Lyudmila emerges epically - slowly, like the leisurely story of a learned cat-storyteller, an expert in ancient legends.

M. Glinka's opera also opens with an introduction (overture). This is a purely orchestral episode and does not feature any choir or soloists. Thus, the introduction to the atmosphere of the opera rests entirely with the music.

If the composer had completely followed Pushkin’s plan, then the music of the overture would have sounded in the spirit of an epic narrative: Russian music has developed a rich tradition of intonation and rhythm of an epic character. However, the great musician decides differently: from the first bars the listener is captivated by the rapid, jubilant melody: it carries you along, it promises a plot full of events and adventures.

Listening to the overture from the opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila” (fragment).

Tell me what you heard? (At first, fanfare sounds in the music, anticipating the victory of good over evil. Then the themes of the main characters sound, some tension is felt, it is clear that the struggle will not be easy. The music sounds dynamic, swift, captivating us into a fairy-tale and magical world.)

In the music of the overture, intonations are heard that anticipate many plot episodes of the opera: in the initial fanfare motif, the sounds of Ruslan’s future victory are guessed - then, in the finale, they will sound again in the solemn choral apotheosis “Glory to the great gods!”, However, subsequent themes contain a prediction that This victory will come at a difficult price.

The clash of the forces of good and evil, the dynamism of musical and dramatic action, the brightness of musical and figurative characteristics, the richness of fairy-tale and fantastic coloring - and at the same time fun, humor, optimism - all this is promised by the music of the overture, and all of this is then confirmed in the opera.

The work of M. Glinka, enthusiastically accepted by his contemporaries (including A. Pushkin himself), is similar to its literary source only in its general plot outline. Otherwise, it is a bright and original phenomenon of musical art, which became outstanding precisely thanks to the musical genius and skill of its creator.

3. Lyrical digressions in opera.

We have already said that the meaning in opera performances is conveyed through verbal and musical synthesis, in which music plays a very important role, sometimes expressing the depth of meaning of a particular episode.

One example is the scene in the forest from M. I. Glinka’s opera “A Life for the Tsar,” in which Ivan Susanin, going deeper into the dense forest, leads the Poles. They do not yet know what will happen to them next, but the orchestral accompaniment music in a distorted form reproduces the mazurka from the second act of the opera, which sounds like an ominous premonition of the death of enemies.

Hearing.

Mazurka. From the opera “A Life for the Tsar”. Act II. Fragment.

Distorted mazurka theme from the opera “A Life for the Tsar” - Act IV. Fragment.

In this example, the psychological subtext contained in the musical accompaniment, intruding into the dramatic action, does not slow it down, but, on the contrary, makes it even more dynamic.

Lesson summary.

Today our lesson was devoted to a significant vocal and dramatic genre - opera. You have learned many different technical terms that you need to know in order to be more educated in the world of music. And we will continue talking about opera in the next lesson.

Questions and tasks:

1. In what country was opera born?
2. What types of art are combined in opera?
3. What is the name of the complete verbal text of the opera?
4. Name the famous types of operas.
5. What works of Russian writers formed the basis of the opera works you know?
6. In the diary of musical observations (page 17) continue the series of creators of the opera performance.

Presentation

Included:
1. Presentation - 30 slides, ppsx;
2. Sounds of music:
Mussorgsky. “Dawn on the Moscow River” from the opera “Khovanshchina”, mp3;
Glinka. Mazurka from the opera “A Life for the Tsar”, mp3;
Glinka. Distorted mazurka theme from the opera “A Life for the Tsar”. “We are tired, we are chilled...”, mp3;
Glinka. Overture from the opera “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, mp3;
3. Accompanying article - lesson notes, docx., mp3;