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

The culmination of the All-Russian Theater Marathon, which arrived in Astrakhan, was M. Glinka's opera Ruslan and Lyudmila by the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theatre. Its premiere took place today in the natural scenery of the Kremlin under open sky.

The theater marathon has already visited 62 cities of Russia, Astrakhan became the 63rd city, and for the first time. It should be noted that for the first time an opera was entered in the marathon, and even in the natural scenery of the Kremlin. Prior to that, there were mainly drama performances, puppet theaters, Youth Theater, as well as two ballet performances.

For the Astrakhan Theater this is already the fifth production in the format open air. 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 open-air opera performances,” says Valery Vladimirovich, “The Astrakhan Kremlin is a wonderful platform for opera performances, there is a special aura, instead of theatrical backstage, white stone walls, a Cathedral, huge staircase leading to Place of execution. Spectators perceive the theatrical action in a completely different way, they themselves become, as it were, its participants.

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

Director of the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila" Georgy Isahakyan - Artistic Director of the Moscow Academic Children's Musical Theater named after N.I. Sats said this about the Russian spirit: main topic operas are the Russian spirit. Two centuries after the work was written, we can see that people different peoples, cultures feel like one nation. This is a wonderful attempt to look at yourself from the outside, with all the pluses and minuses. We are who we are!”

This time, one of the major works domestic culture. The opera was filled with fabulous, fantastic images, an exciting plot and, of course, wonderful, lyrical and such “Russian” music. Lighting and video effects determined the fabulous background against which they were revealed. musical images the great creation of M. Glinka.

The large-scale production involved about 300 artists and volunteers, the entire creative team of the Astrakhan Theater. The choir, the orchestra, the ballet were magnificent. Professionally, artistically performed the main parts of the soloists Mariinsky Theater: the part of Lyudmila - Anna Denisova, the part of Ruslan - Gleb Peryazev - a rising star opera stage. The Astrakhan soloists were also at their best, but still the young tenor Yegor Zhuravsky became a discovery. He recently won a prestigious competition opera singers"Belvedere", having won the II prize. He was invited to perform in London at Royal Theater Covent Garden.

MUSIC AND ARTS

Lesson 17

Theme: The most significant genre vocal music.

Lesson Objectives:

form cognitive interest to the most significant genre of vocal music - opera as a synthetic art form. Find associations between artistic images literature and music. Observe the development and comparison of images based on the similarities and differences in intonations, 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" sounds.

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

Board writing:

"I opened with a trembling hand big theaters painted doors…
(S. Danilov)

Lesson topic message:

Isn't it true, guys, when you get into the huge hall of the opera house sparkling with lights, you feel as if elated with joy! Today at the lesson 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 motley noise promises something mysterious, wonderful... But now the light is fading. Ramp flashes. Lamps crossed 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 an orchestra before the curtain goes up. Overture transmits ideological concept 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 in large 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 Larin estate, or even at the bottom of the sea - each time in a new, fairy tale-like world.

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

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

As in literature there is a story, a novel, a drama, so in music there are major genres- oratorio, opera, ballet. In this series, opera is most connected with literature: firstly, it necessarily implies literary source - piece of art or a specially written libretto, and secondly, most of the opera fragments are intended for singing in a choir, various vocal ensembles or soloists. Thus, the verbal text, its content, composition and sound play a paramount role in the creation of an opera.

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

« Queen of Spades" A. Pushkin and P. Tchaikovsky, "Carmen" P. Merimee and J. Bizet, "The Snow Maiden" A. Ostrovsky and N. Rimsky-Korsakov - all this great literature And great music exist independently, not invading each other's realm, but being in an eternal life-giving cultural dialogue.

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

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

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

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

2. History of the opera.

First musical performance with singing was put in Italian city Florence in 1594. The plot for it was Greek myth about the struggle of Apollo with the monster - the serpent Python; Such representations were first called musical fairy tale, then musical drama. Many years passed before they began to be called piece of music(opera in musica), and finally, there is one word opera (in Latin "opus") - an act, work, composition.

At first, the performances were intended only for the court nobility. But later in different countries musical theaters began to open, accessible to wider sections of the urban population, and the 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 used to think that the libretto is the content of the opera. This is not entirely accurate. In fact, the libretto is a complete verbal text of a musical stage work. The Italian word libretto means "little book".

Very often, the basis of the libretto becomes some kind of literary or dramatic work. We know cases when a composer chooses a completed dramatic work as a libretto. For example, the opera The Stone Guest by Dargomyzhsky was written in full text Little tragedy of Pushkin.

But usually the libretto is reworked in connection with the specifics of the opera. The text should be concise and concise. After all, when a word is sung, it sounds longer than it is pronounced. An opera cannot have a large number of characters, as in a novel, for example. Therefore, most often one of them is chosen from the novel. story line. This greatly changes the literary source, but the libretto is an independent work.

The libretto is entirely subordinate to the music. The librettist works under the guidance of the composer, sensitively listening to all his remarks. In this creative contact created a large number of works. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's brother Modest Ilyich wrote the libretto of two of his operas: The Queen of Spades and Iolanta. The well-known biographer and researcher of the poet's work P. A. Viskovaty worked on the libretto of Anton Grigorievich Rubinstein's opera The Demon based on Lermontov's poem.

M. Glinka, referring to the creation of the libretto of "Ruslan and Lyudmila", reduced a number of scenes from Pushkin's poem, 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 Vol.
Day and night the cat is a scientist
Everything goes around in circles...
Goes to the right - the song starts,
Left - tells a fairy tale.
There are miracles: the goblin roams there,
The mermaid sits on the branches.

Such a beginning of the poem introduces the reader into 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 epic - slowly, like the unhurried story of a learned cat-narrator, an expert on ancient legends.

The opera by M. Glinka also opens with an introduction (overture). This is an exclusively orchestral episode in which neither the choir nor the soloists participate. Thus, the introduction to the atmosphere of the opera lies 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: a rich tradition of intonation and rhythm of an epic character has developed in Russian music. However great musician decides otherwise: from the first bars, the listener is captivated by a swift, jubilant melody: it carries along, it promises a plot full of events and adventures.

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

Tell me what did you hear? (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, fast, drawing you into the world of fairy and magic.)

In the music of the overture, one can hear intonations that anticipate many plot episodes of the opera: the sounds of Ruslan’s future victory are guessed in the initial fanfare motive - 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 heavy price.

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

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

3. Lyrical digressions at the opera.

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

One example is the scene in the forest from M. I. Glinka's opera A Life for the Tsar, in which Ivan Susanin, delving further and further into dense forest, leads the Poles. They still do not know what will happen to them next, but the music of the orchestral accompaniment 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. II action. Fragment.

Distorted theme of the mazurka from the opera A Life for the Tsar - IV act. Fragment.

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

Summary of the lesson.

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 which country was opera born?
2. What art forms are combined in opera?
3. What is the name of the complete verbal text of the opera?
4. name famous species opera.
5. What works of Russian writers formed the basis of opera compositions known to you?
6. In the diary of musical observations (p. 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 theme of the mazurka from the opera A Life for the Tsar. "We are tired, we are cold...", mp3;
Glinka. Overture from the opera "Ruslan and Lyudmila", mp3;
3. Accompanying article - lesson summary, docx., mp3;

Compiling editors: Professor N. P. Koroleva, N. G. Shantyr

Choral conductor Alexander Borisovich Khazanov (1906-1984), professor at the Moscow Conservatory, who worked as a choirmaster for over 40 years Bolshoi Theater USSR, reveals in his work the production specifics and the creative component of the profession.

The book will be of interest to students of choral departments of conservatories and music universities, as well as to all those interested in the opera house.

From the Compiling Editor 5

A word about the author

N. A. Mirakyan 6

A. P. Kulygin 6

T. V. Ivanova 8

Yu. A. Evgrafov 9

N. G. Shantyr 15

A. B. Khazanov. Opera choirmaster's notes

Introduction 25

Audition and selection of artists in opera choir 30

What is the job of a choirmaster in opera house 34

Stages of preparation by the choir of a new opera performance 37

Participation of the choir and choirmaster in opera performance 46

Conducting a choral rehearsal 68

The Art of Sound 69

Breath76

facial expressions78

Intonation and stroth 81

Intervals82

Chromatic scales 87

Intervals (continued) 89

Diction98

Metrorhythm. Pace 104

Work on several elements of choral sound 116

A few words about the types of sound science 122

Ensemble123

nuance125

Conductor, director, artist, choirmaster. Conductors of the Bolshoi Theater 131

Nikolai Semenovich Golovanov 132

Samuil Abramovich Samosud 133

Ariy Moiseevich Pazovsky 134

Lev Petrovich Steinberg 136

Alexander Shamilevich Melik-Pashaev136

Yuri Fedorovich Fire 137

Vasily Vasilievich Nebolsin 138

Boris Emmanuilovich Khaikin 139

Choirmaster and director 140

Conclusion 143

Application

A. B. Khazanov. Worker of choral art (to the 100th anniversary of the birth of U. I. Avranek) 144

In 2014, thirty years have passed since the death of the outstanding Russian conductor, composer, public figure, Professor of the Moscow Conservatory, People's Artist RSFSR Alexander Borisovich Khazanov (1906-1984). He gave more than forty years to the Bolshoi Theater (1937-1978), where he worked as a choirmaster. With his direct participation, wonderful productions of masterpieces of Russian and foreign opera classics were carried out. At the same time (since 1936) A. B. Khazanov taught special disciplines at the department choral conducting Moscow Conservatory. The result of the combination of these two areas was the development of a new academic discipline by Khazanov - the "Chorus Master Class". Subsequently, it received the name "Chorus Master Practice in musical theater and was supervised by him for many years. Perhaps this prompted Khazanov to create a very detailed, methodically and practically verified work. In the late 1970s, the book "Notes of an Opera Chorus Master" was written, in which he tried to summarize his vast experience and help young conductors master the profession of an opera choir master. Unfortunately, the manuscript was not published for a long time.

The publication of Khazanov's book is evidence of recognition the highest level musician, choirmaster, teacher, person who gave choral art all of my life.

I express my deep gratitude to the daughter of A. B. Khazanov - N. A. Mirakyan for providing the manuscript, to the Museum of the Bolshoi Theater for illustrative material, as well as to the department of modern choral performing arts Moscow Conservatory for help in preparing the book for publication.

N. P. Koroleva, Professor of the Department of Contemporary Choral Performing Arts of the Moscow Conservatory

Negotiations on the future of the Diaghilev Festival in Perm continue

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

The executive director told the media about the changes in the organizational and managerial structure of the theater Andrey Borisov. At the head of the theater will be CEO- His name is still unknown. The general director will be supported by the Areopagus Artistic Council - "The Areopagus creative people”, who, together with the director, will develop a strategy for the development of the theater. Part of this "Areopagus", director opera troupe Medea Yasonidi And Alexey Miroshnichenko, chief choreographer of the theater, retained their status.

As for the changes, then along with the departure 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 post of chief choirmaster was vacated - it was taken by EugeneVorobyov.

According to Andrey Borisov, the new 148th 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 holding of the latter in Perm have not yet been disclosed.

“I can’t say anything reliable, negotiations are underway.” - the executive director of the theater throws up his hands, - “We would very much like to artistic director festival was Teodor Currentzis. I would have signed a contract with him even today, but there are wishes of the maestro himself. He would like to conclude a contract not with the theater, but with the authorities represented by the Minister of Culture Perm Territory Vyacheslav Torchinsky, since the organizing committee of the festival should be separate from the theater. Teodor would like DK Soldatova, whose acoustics the maestro really likes, to be the residence of the organizing committee and the orchestra of MusicAeterna. There are many nuances, but the work on the festival is actually underway - Theodore has a lot of ideas for symphony concerts, according to new settings. 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, chief conductor theatre, shared his plans for the start of the new season:

“Not much has changed for me. I continue the work that 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 operatic repertoire, but also symphonies, concert repertoire, with which to perform and tour. Therefore, in order for the orchestra to play better and feel each other, in early September we will play compositions for chamber string orchestra by Dvořák and Tchaikovsky.”

Chief choreographer Alexei Miroshnichenko looked at not only the beginning of the season, but also the prospects for 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 have accumulated a large and high-quality repertoire - but we increased the number of new performances so rapidly that later in the season time did not allow us to show everything. In the season there were new performances, tours, festivals ... A lot is happening - and the costumes and scenery for past productions are hanging idle. Therefore, the audience's favorite performances 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 beginning of the new season was overshadowed by losses - he was injured at a rehearsal Kirill Makurin. Earlier, 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 offends the choreographer: “I don’t like journalistic clichés. “Prima Daria Tikhonova left the Perm Theater!” - Well, firstly, she was in the status of a soloist. I dreamed that she would become a ballerina, but she got injured, then she returned to the stage, did a great job, 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 it would be better for him at the Mikhailovsky Theater - I have information that there was a list of Perm soloists whom they wanted to invite to their place. But there are enough promising people in Perm.

Of course, it is a pity that as soon as people reach a certain level, they become "crowded" in Perm. And we are forced to bring young people, who should have matured, to the first positions. It's not for everyone and not everyone can handle it."