Table of contents:
- Failed "The Marriage" by Gogol
- Glinka's "long-suffering" opera
- A bad dancer is hindered by a dislike of music
- Escape of Anton Chekhov from the theater
- "Sacred spring" in space
Video: Groundbreaking performances that were defeated by critics, but loved by the public
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Not all the creations of Russian classics, which today are considered recognized masterpieces, were welcomed by the public of their time. The reason for this was often the innovation of the authors, which did not find a response from contemporaries, the choice of performers, as well as his Majesty's chance.
Failed "The Marriage" by Gogol
"Provincial Groom", "Grooms", "Marriage" - these are the variants of the names of the famous play by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol. Modern theaters necessarily include it in at least one theatrical season, but the first performance of this work was far from so successful.
It took Gogol ten years to create the poem until it was published. Gogol first rewrote it, then completely lost interest in his brainchild and, of course, even intended to destroy it. Despite all the suffering, in 1841 the play was completed, and a year later it premiered on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg.
The promising name caused a resonance in society. Theatergoers went to the play expecting to see the Russian "Figaro's Wedding", but in the end they got a fearful groom running out the window. The audience rewarded the play with only meager light applause, and critics dubbed Gogol's creation "a prank of great talent."
Glinka's "long-suffering" opera
The premiere of Ruslana and Lyudmila was dedicated to the sixth anniversary of the production of Glinka's first opera A Life for the Tsar. At that time, Glinka was a generally recognized master, and the next work always aroused awe among the public. Mikhail Ivanovich was still finishing the work when it had already been approved for production.
However, only the first act was successful. Anna Petrova-Volovyova, who performed the part of Ratmir, fell ill, and was replaced by an inexperienced soloist Anfisa Petrova, who, moreover, did not have time to prepare for the performance. The episode with the Head in the second act left the audience indignant. It was difficult to assess the talent and skill behind the "roar" that was published by Petrova. By the fourth act, the audience was completely exhausted. The imperial family Nicholas I waited until the end of the opera, leaving the theater ahead of time.
Critics condemned the opera for its lack of dramatic action. And there were very few people who appreciated the innovative genre, which Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov would later call "epic opera". Now the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila" is known as a masterpiece of musical theater, as evidenced only by the fact that it was performed about 700 times on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater.
A bad dancer is hindered by a dislike of music
Until a certain point, no "serious composer" wrote music for ballet, with the exception of Adolphe Adam and Leo Delibes. Tchaikovsky can be called a debutant in this field among Russian composers. He took up the creation of the musical accompaniment to the ballet with all responsibility, carefully studying all the features of "music for dancing" and score. So, in 1877, Tchaikovsky graduated from "Swan Lake".
However, not all artists were ready to perform with experimental complex ballet compositions. Almost all the prima that Tchaikovsky saw in his work refused to perform based on his creation. As a result, it was necessary to immediately involve Pelageya Karpakova, who had very little time to prepare. There were also difficulties with the choreographer. Premier Arnold Gillert refused to stage Swan Lake for fear of a small collection. The choice fell on the infamous choreographer Vaclav Reisinger, all of whose productions at the Bolshoi were unsuccessful. The premiere Swan Lake was no exception.
The play was included in the program and was shown 27 times in two years, after which it was withdrawn from the show. Nevertheless, in 1895 "Swan Lake" was staged again under the direction of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov. It was this version that brought Swan Lake its modern popularity and created from Tchaikovsky's brainchild an icon of Russian classical ballet. True, Pyotr Tchaikovsky never found out about this.
Escape of Anton Chekhov from the theater
The premiere show of the play "The Seagulls" took place at the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg in October 1896 and caused a real scandal. The audience ridiculed every step of the actors, and the performance was perceived as a set of random jokes. The audience was so carried away by the conversations at the other end of the hall that the actors were practically not heard.
When the audience began to show their dissatisfaction, the playwright himself left the box and went to the director's office. After the conversation, Anton Chekhov left both the theater and St. Petersburg, without saying goodbye to anyone. Two years later, Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko staged a play at the Moscow Art Theater. And this time the performance was a great success. "The Seagull" has become one of the most popular plays in the world.
"Sacred spring" in space
The idea of creating the "Sacred Spring" came to Igor Stravinsky suddenly. Nicholas Roerich helped Stravinsky to work on the opera. The ballet was staged by choreographer Vaclav Nijinsky on the recommendation of Sergei Diaghilev. Stravinsky was embarrassed by the fact that the choreographer did not have a musical education. Subsequently, this made itself felt.
The Paris premiere in May 1913 failed miserably. The turmoil among the indignant spectators turned into a fight, which was stopped only by the arrival of the police. The criticism was relentless.
A few years later, the opera began to collect concert halls to capacity. And in the 1950s, the Golden Record with recordings by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Stravinsky was sent to the Voyager 1 ship.
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