‘We defend holy Russia’ – at Bavarian State Opera
OperaThey are walking on broken glass in Munich with a new production of Prokofiev’s War and Peace, staged to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the composer’s death, and Joseph Stalin’s.
One audience member shouted ‘war propaganda – this is impossible!’
The director, Dmitri Tcherniakov, said he had resisted contemporising the work to reflect the present war in Ukraine. ‘That would be wrong, even cynical,’ he said. ‘We try to approach this issue very sensitively. But of course it has something to do with it.’
The stage-set resembles the Hall of Trade Unions in Moscow.
Music director Vladimir Jurowski said: ‘The drama is told from the perspective of a single society, a nation, a human community. Enemies, if there are any, are found or invented within that society. There is no enemy from outside.’
photo: Wilfried Hösl/Bavarian State Opera
I have seen two completely polarised opinions from friends on Facebook this morning.
It’s a problematic opera at the best of times, but that Stalin-mandated final section, like a tractor being towed by a limousine, must be particularly galling to those opposed to Putin’s war crimes.
the finale is replaced by the finale from the 1st version of the opera. Also Scene 10 is cut.
And for us garden-variety opera goers without inside knowledge of this opera: what are you saying?
No Overture either…
But that is apparently in line with Prokofiev’s own suggestions for an abridged version on the basis of the extended revised version that would have filled two evenings.
Did they at least leave the Choral Epigraph in?
Was the finale really taken totally from the very first WWII version?
Where did the idea for a military stage band come from – all original Prokofiev orchestrations?
The better part of valor might have been cancellation:
— the Overture was cut
— Scene 10 was cut, and with it Kutuzov’s great aria (to Ulyanov’s chagrin)
— Scene 13 was nearly halved
— its choral peroration, so shrewdly prepared by the composer and so moving, gave way, as noted, to a wordless brass ending (I can’t vouch that this was an early incarnation of itself)
— maybe a dozen other small trimmings were made
— many words were changed
— disfiguration of “War” left a kind of dog’s dinner musically, or perhaps exposed how mashed up it is absent its message and purpose
— theatre audiences deserve better than to stare at one solid set for four hours, in this case, as Norman reports, Moscow’s Hall of Trade Unions (a stone’s throw from the Bolshoi Theatre and possibly a nod to the bombed Mariupol Theatre) used as refugee shelter
— pace Jurowski, the protagonists were identified as non-Russian when Pierre as prisoner was called a “Russian spy”; and of course they could not be French; otherwise there was no clue
— the Ukraine flag flew on the gable
— the Natasha and the Andrei (Olga Kulchynska and Andrey Zhilikhovsky, both superb) wore Ukrainian t-shirts at curtain
— old boss Bachler showed up; current boss Dorny disappeared at intermission
— no serious booing for the production team
Here’s the early original ending…
https://youtu.be/Aquog9hoSAY?t=2243
Yes, that was it, more or less, for brass choir: not at all up to the task of wrapping up a two-hour unit. I enjoyed your lecturer’s other remarks. Thank you.
Norman, this is not correct; at the opening night there were no disruptions, just a very positive reaction for Tcherniakov and his team as everybody can witnesss at the end of the stream (https://operlive.de/). apparently there was one protester at the general rehearsal but none at the opening night.
Possibly the disruptions were part of the production.
Propaganda comes in many guises.
no, not the case; I attended the opening night and unless I went asleep, the opening night went on very smoothly; obviously Jurowski was also very nervous as a microphone was deposed on his desk (to address the audience); he did not need it
It’s as if there was a shortage of non-Russia-glorifying operas to stage.
Not surprised. He was a vile and longterm molester of young women.
Norman! See the show before you comment ! As you aim to create drama while the show was about people and did not celebrate Russia, it had strong critic about society and what violence can lead to. Premiere was glorious ! Go and buy a ticket
The clothes on the performers do not look like the clothes of the era in which the action of the opera takes place. “Velichavaya” (final choir) is often performed at the closing concerts of festivals for professional and amateur choral ensembles, regardless of “patriotism”. Even children can quickly memorize their choral parts.
Regarding Yurovsky, not everything is so simple. In Wikipedia in Russian it is written: GERMAN conductor of Russian origin. The English version of this article says that he is a “Russian conductor”. The Ukrainian version of the article has even less title information: “conductor”.
Even on the example of one of the participants in this process, it becomes clear that everything is happening for opportunistic purposes. And for each “audience” this conjuncture is different.
The Gewandhaus Leipzig once did the orchestral suite from War and Peace (arr. C. Palmer) that includes the lovely melody of the finale without choir but with full brass and organ (!) instead.
The conductor in Leipzig was Jakub Hrusa.
Listen to the Philharmonia with Neeme Järvi here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYUJl4nj5OU
Gustavo, Several segments of War and Peace by Neeme Jarvi are on Apple Music and Amazon Music. Thank you for the suggestion.
In case you prefer the full album in HiFi quality…it’s really worth getting this one:
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2010538
https://www.chandos.net/chanimages/Booklets/CH10538.pdf