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Video: What Russian operas need to be heard if only because the world applauded them
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Russian opera was born at a time when French, German and Italian were already in their prime. Soon, the Russian opera school not only caught up with, but also surpassed its competitors, winning its audience in different countries. Today, classical operas by Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich are staged on the best stages in the world. Our today's review contains the best Russian operas that have enjoyed success abroad at different times.
19th century
In the second half of the 19th century, Russian music was quite popular abroad. In Dresden, the opera “Bianca and Gualtiero” by Andrei Lvov was received with applause, in Weimar they were able to see the opera “Siberian Hunters” by Anton Rubinstein. Glinka's A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Lyudmila were successfully performed on several European stages, and later Pyotr Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, Eugene Onegin and The Maid of Orleans were staged. In the United States, Anton Rubinstein's "Nero" was a success, and "The Demon" by the same author was in London.
First half of the 20th century
At this time, Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades was successfully presented in New York, although it was shown in German. She was followed by Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov", "Prince Igor" and "Sorochinskaya Yarmarka" by Borodin, "Eugene Onegin" in Italian, and also "The Snow Maiden" by Rimsky-Korsakov. In the late 1920s, Alexander Dargomyzhsky's "The Stone Guest" was staged at the Salzburg Festival, and Emmanuel Kaplan and Sophia Preobrazhenskaya performed the lead roles in Rimsky-Korsakov's opera "Koschey the Immortal".
Second half of XX century
During World War II, and then the Cold War, Russian operas were hardly staged in Europe. The exception was Boris Godunov, which enjoyed success in Salzburg. In this city, the opera was staged from 1965 to 1967. At the same time, the main part was sung by Nikolai Gyaurov, a Bulgarian by nationality, Grigory Otrepiev was played by Alexei Maslennikov. In the early 1970s, foreign listeners were able to purchase a recording of Boris Godunov and hear the amazing parts of the Holy Fool performed by Alexander Maslennikov and Marina Mnishek performed by Galina Vishnevskaya.
At the New York Metropolitan Opera, interest in Russian music was much higher. In 1943 and 1977 the season of the main US theater was opened by Boris Godunov, in 1957 the audience could enjoy Eugene Onegin, in 1950 - Mussorgsky's Khovanshchina. Due to the lack of talented Russian-speaking opera singers in the West, American audiences were unable to listen to Russian operas in the original. Only occasionally did Russian voices sound on the stage when soloists of the Bolshoi Theater came on tour.
Nevertheless, in 1972 he managed to stage The Queen of Spades in the original, using in the performance the Swedish tenor Nikolai Gedd, who had Russian roots, and the soprano Raina Kabaivanska from Bulgaria. At the same time, the artists had to learn Russian spoken and vocal language with the help of a tutor Georgy Chekhanovsky. In 1974, Boris Godunov sounded in Russian in New York, and since 1977, Eugene Onegin has been played in Russian, and since 1985 - Khovanshchina.
1990-2000s
In the early 1990s, Russian operas began to be staged abroad much more often. The operas by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov "Mozart and Salieri" and "The Golden Cockerel" were popular in Europe. The repertoire of famous theaters includes Pyotr Tchaikovsky's The Enchantress, Sergei Prokofiev's The Gambler, and also Francesca da Rimini, The Covetous Knight and Aleko by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
New York showed Dmitry Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and Mazepa, Prokofiev's The Gambler and War and Peace. Valery Gergiev, chief conductor of the Mariinsky Theater, and soloists from St. Petersburg.
A real sensation at the Metropolitan Opera in 2002 was made by the opera War and Peace, staged jointly with the Mariinsky Theater, directed by Andrei Konchalovsky. Young Anna Netrebko performed the part of Natasha Rostova, and the image of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky was brilliantly embodied by Dmitry Hvorostovsky.
Almost a hundred years after the premiere of Prince Igor in New York, it was staged again at the Metropolitan Opera in 2014, directed by Dmitry Chernyakov, and starring at the Mariinsky Theater Ildar Abdrazakov.
From the early 2000s to the present, the Salzburg Festival hosted Mussorgsky's operas Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina, Tchaikovsky's Mazepa, The Queen of Spades and Eugene Onegin, Prokofiev's War and Peace, Stravinsky's opera Nightingales”,“Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District”by Shostakovich.
Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden, Tchaikovsky's Iolanta and The Nutcracker, and Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky staged by the Belgian director Ivo van Hove were successfully shown at the Paris National Opera. "Prince Igor" is directed by Australian director Barry Koski.
Anatoly Solovyanenko became the first Russian tenor to be invited to the best opera house in the United States. He devoted 30 years to the Kiev Opera and Ballet Theater, and his songs and arias are striking even today.
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