Video: The true story of the prototypes of the rock opera "Juno and Avos": the last love or sacrifice to the Fatherland?
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Sensational rock opera "Juno and Avos", which premiered 35 years ago on the stage of Lenkom, still remains popular. The libretto is based on A. Voznesensky's poem Avos, dedicated to the tragic love story of the Russian Count Nikolai Rezanov for the young Spaniard Conchita Arguello. Historians argue that the image of the count is too romanticized, and in fact, this was not at all the case with the love story.
Juno and Avos is called the world's most famous Russian rock opera. It was created by the poet A. Voznesensky and the composer A. Rybnikov. The premiere took place on July 9, 1981 at the Moscow Theater. Lenin Komsomol, directed by Mark Zakharov. The images created by N. Karachentsov and E. Shanina were so convincing that no one could doubt the veracity of the story shown on the stage. In fact, it was the first Soviet rock opera, but since rock music in those days would not have been censored, the authors of the work called it simply "modern opera."
According to the plot, in 1806 two Russian ships - "Juno" and "Avos", under the leadership of naval commander Nikolai Rezanov, went to California for food for the Russian colonies in Alaska. In San Francisco, the 42-year-old earl met the 16-year-old daughter of the commandant of the fortress, the Spanish Concepcion (Conchita) Arguello. Love broke out between them, and Rezanov secretly became engaged to Conchita. After that, on duty, he went to Alaska, and then to St. Petersburg to obtain permission to marry a Catholic. On the way, he fell seriously ill and died suddenly. For more than 30 years, Conchita waited for the return of her lover, and when the news of his death was confirmed, she cut her hair as a nun.
Historians doubt the sincerity of Rezanov's feelings for the young Spanish woman. The count was instructed to inspect Russian settlements in Alaska, and in order to save the locals from starvation, he went to California to establish trade relations with the Spaniards and get food. The 42-year-old widower did indeed propose to the daughter of the commandant of the fortress, Jose Dario Arguello, but it was not a sudden outbreak of love that led him. The ship's doctor wrote that Rezanov did not look like a man who had lost his head: “One would think that he fell in love with this beauty. However, in view of the prudence inherent in this cold person, it would be more careful to admit that he simply assumed some diplomatic views on her.
The fact is that the action took place at a time of aggravation of Franco-Russian relations. France was an ally of Spain, which at the time owned California. The San Francisco commandant was ordered not to enter into trade relations with the enemy. But Señora Arguello's daughter persuaded him to help the Russians and provided them with food. Rezanov was going to marry her and take her with him in order to establish ties with California and strengthen Russia's position on the American continent.
Having left California in June 1806, Rezanov never returned there. Having seriously caught a cold on the way, the count died in a fever on March 1, 1807. In his last letter, which he wrote to M. Buldakov, the husband of his late wife's sister, Nikolai Petrovich made a very unexpected confession that sheds light on this whole story: “From a California report do not consider mine, my friend, me a windbag. My love is with you in Nevsky under a piece of marble (note - the first wife), and here is a consequence of enthusiasm and a new sacrifice to the Fatherland. Contepsia is sweet, like an angel, beautiful, good-hearted, loves me; I love her, and cry that there is no place for her in my heart, here I, my friend, as a sinner in spirit, I repent, but you, as my shepherd, keep the secret. According to this letter, until the last days, Anna Shelekhova, his first wife, who died shortly after giving birth, remained Rezanov's only love until the last days, and in California he actually pursued goals of a diplomatic rather than a personal nature.
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