FIRST ACTION

First picture.
Armed guards are looking for a stranger hiding in the vicinity of Ravenswood Castle. This secret worries Lord Enrico, head of the Aston house. He fears Edgardo Ravenswood, whose father he killed and his family expelled from the family castle. To enlist the support of the new monarch who has ascended the throne, Enrico wants to marry his sister Lucia to Lord Arturo Backlow, who is close to the throne. However, Lucia refuses marriage. The head of the guard, Normanno, says that Lucia often sees an unknown man. Possibly Edgardo Ravenswood. Returning soldiers bring news: the stranger is indeed Edgardo. Enrico Aston is beside himself with rage.

Second picture.
Lucia and her faithful companion Alice are waiting for Edgardo at the spring. Lucia tells Alice that she saw in this place the ghost of a girl who was once killed by one of the Ravenswood ancestors out of jealousy. Alice warns Lucia.
Edgardo arrives. He must leave, but before that he would like to reconcile with his enemy Lord Enrico and ask him for his sister’s hand. Lucia asks Edgardo to keep the secret. She fears that her brother's vindictive nature will prevent reconciliation and lead to bloodshed. Leaving, Edgardo puts a ring on Lucia’s finger and asks her to remain faithful.

SECOND ACT

First picture.
Enrico is waiting for guests invited to Lucia's wedding to Lord Arturo Backlow. If only his sister did not dare to resist his will! Enrico shows Lucia a forged letter indicating Edgardo's infidelity. Under the weight of false news and the persuasion of her brother, Lucia loses the strength to resist.

Second picture.
The guests gathered for the wedding feast. They joyfully welcome the arrival of the groom, because all the relatives and friends of the Aston house expect support from him at court. A deathly pale Lucia enters. She signs marriage contract.
Edgardo bursts into the hall. He sees the marriage contract, proof of Lucia's betrayal. Not wanting to hear an explanation, he curses his unfaithful lover. Lucia loses consciousness.

First picture.
Night. Storm. Edgardo is immersed in dark thoughts. Enrico appears and challenges him to a duel. They will meet at dawn.

Second picture.
At the castle, the guests continue to celebrate the wedding. The fun is interrupted by Raimondo. He reports that Lucia killed her husband. Lucia enters. She's crazy. It seems to her that she is still Edgardo's fiancée. But happy visions dissipate. The image of the curse again appears in Lucia's memory. The unfortunate woman dreams of death.

Third picture.
At the Ravenswood tomb, Edgardo awaits his opponent. He is ready to face death calmly. Without Lucia, his life lost its meaning. From the guests running out of the castle, he learns about the drama that has unfolded. Edgardo rushes to the castle to see Lucia again, but it’s too late - she’s dead.
Edgardo commits suicide.

Show summary

	Photo by Valery Melnikov / Kommersant
	Sergei Khodnev. . "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Muztheater ( Kommersant, 17.2.2009). Yulia Bederova. . "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater ( News Time, 16.2.2009). Marina Gaikovich. Premiere of Donizetti's opera "Lucia di Lammermoor" ( NG, 16.2.2009). Irina Muravyova. . The Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater staged "Lucia di Lammermoor" ( RG, 17.2.2009). Petr Pospelov. . Donizetti's opera was staged at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater as a poem about a traditional opera performance ( Vedomosti, 17.2.2009). Ekaterina Biryukova. . Beautiful oases of the operatic past delight the eye, tired of the garbage dumps of modern directing ( OpenSpace.ru, 17.2.2009). Elena Cheremnykh. ( INFOX.ru, 14.2.2009). Leila Guchmazova. . At the MAMT named after K. S. Stanislavsky and Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko staged "Lucia di Lammermoor" ( Results, 23.2.2009).

Lucia di Lammermoor. Musical Theater named after Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. Press about the performance

Kommersant, February 17, 2009

Genuine tinsel

"Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Muztheater

The Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater presented the premiere of Donizetti's opera "Lucia di Lammermoor". One of the most famous operas of the first half of the 19th century was staged by the famous dramatic director Adolf Shapiro, and the title role in the premiere cast was sung by the diva of the theater Khibla Gerzmava. The performance is judged by SERGEY KHODNEV.

Like many bel canto operas, Lucia di Lammermoor is, in principle, extremely scenic. Oaths of love and vows of revenge, the treachery of relatives who force marriage on the main character for political convenience, the madness of the same heroine, who appears in the middle of the wedding celebration covered from head to toe in the blood of her murdered husband, the final suicide of the hero-lover - all these heartbreaking details borrowed from Walter Scott plot, it would seem, is quite suitable material for the theater. But, on the other hand, you never know there are many forgotten bloody dramas in operatic literature, but the exceptional status of “Lucia di Lammermoor” is associated primarily with music, and above all vocal music; in a sense, it is divorced from the dramaturgy and the plot background. And it is no coincidence that, stepping on the literary source’s English throat, it was customary to name the characters written in Stuart’s Scotland in the Italian style: Lucia, Edgardo, Enrico, Arturo.

In other words, without a well-realized musical side, the most ingenious production of “Lucia” is doomed to be a waste. That is why the current production at the Stanislavsky Theater is not zilch at all, but rather a success, especially considering the obvious unfamiliarity of our stages with “Lucia” - in Moscow this opera was performed in the theater under Nicholas I, and it was sung then by Italians, our current singers with bel canto too often "on you". Khibla Gerzmava (on whom the theater placed its main bet when taking on the opera) lived up to most of the expectations, singing her part, decorated with roulades, graces and top notes, with style and precision. Although, wherever possible, she preferred to sing in a full chest tone, and in general her part (as well as her role, for that matter) was somewhat lacking in lightness, lyricism, and perhaps even naivety. This stern, cold Lucia was amusingly set off by Edgardo, performed by Alexei Dolgov: as a result of the efforts of the young tenor, the part came out, although not always filigree in detail, but bright, colorful, fresh, with a full-bodied sound and rich timbre, almost lyrical-spinto in character. The rest of the characters came out weaker, and as for the orchestra under the experienced leadership of Wolf Gorelik, here the impressions are a little double, in some places there was just right grace and feeling, but in others there was a coarse sound and agitation.

And just not to disturb the singers - this was one of the director’s main intentions presented in the play. The production, with its rigid and clean geometric mise-en-scène, can be called both conventional and static, but the strategy chosen by the directors in its pure form, oddly enough, is rather promising. Adolf Shapiro decided not to break the canons, but rather to play with traditional operatic conventions with respect and distance. The main scenographic structure, built by the prominent Latvian theater designer Andris Freibergs, is a slightly tight and ironic layout of the “backstage” space: bare brick walls, even central heating radiators are displayed in prominent places. But in the middle of the whitewashed brick there is a portal in which picturesque backdrops are sometimes shown. The scene in the garden, for example, is played out against the backdrop of an amazingly dusty backdrop, in the middle of which a lantern “moon” glows touchingly: the dream of a viewer yearning for old opera performances with cardboard beauties and lush costumes.

The costumes designed by Elena Stepanova, by the way, also persistently respond to this dream - even too persistently for anyone to take this magnificence at face value. There is even a feeling that here they have again met the singers halfway - they need something to occupy their hands during long static scenes, so let them stroke all these historical collars-cloaks-crinolines-swords with beautiful gestures. Lucia's mentor Raimondo (Dmitry Stepanovich) was even dressed as a Dominican monk, despite the fact that it was taking place in Calvinist Scotland; in a couple of scenes, extras carry sparkling knightly armor. Somewhere, the joint efforts of the director and costume designer create a meaningful and successful effect, as with the appearance of Arturo (Sergei Balashov), unexpectedly portrayed as a kind of Sir John Falstaff. Somewhere not very good - like in the wedding scene, where Lucia appears, dragging her house like a snail, wedding veil, crucified on a giant bustle. The audience, however, liked almost all these beauties the live white horse that the smart Edgardo brings with him when he first appears on stage.

Vremya Novostei, February 16, 2009

Yulia Bederova

Horse in the fog

"Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater

On the stage of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater in Moscow, “Lucia di Lammermoor” by Gaetano Donizetti was staged - admittedly, one of the main peaks of operatic bel canto, passionately loved by star tenors and prima donnas and at the same time having a difficult stage fate. “Lucia” has not been staged in Moscow for almost 100 years. In St. Petersburg, the play was recently staged under Anna Netrebko, and the stage version, judging by the reviews of critics, remained nothing more than a background for the prima.

The Moscow production tried to solve the problem of the existence of truly sung Bel Canto parts on stage so that artistic, intelligent theatrical action would also unfold around it. The performance was staged by drama director Adolf Shapiro, making his debut in the opera genre, in tandem with the well-known opera set designer Andris Freibergs (from the fashionable and not provincial Latvian National Opera) and costume designer Elena Stepanova. The performance, whose background includes not only the precious beauty of bel canto, but also the wonderful Walter Scott, is conceived as a poetic quotation and a conventional historical spectacle in a naive style. This is how it almost turned out - charming, not scary, poetic - although some overkill of naively touching angles in which the highly enlarged romantic plot of “The Bride of Lammermoor” is presented to the public almost deprived it of its pleasant initial severity by the end.

The action takes place in huge white walls with almost imperceptibly built-in cast-iron central heating radiators. The open square opening in the background is a window and frame containing a beautifully crafted quotation landscape painting. Fog, moon and dark alleys. The white stone austerity of the frame is enlivened by the video birds and video sea of ​​the Latvian artist Katrina Neiburgi. The set design is elegant, moderately conceptual and slightly ironic, and this very nicely frames the bone-crushing bloodiness of the plot. A live white horse, carefully entering the stage with Lucia's lover Edgardo and standing proudly against the backdrop of dark picturesque fogs (the horse, by the way, plays an important role in Walter Scott's novel), looks not only opulently operatic, but also absolutely charming. As well as its double - an iron horse with an iron knight, riding out in the scene of the appearance of the unloved groom Arturo. It is as if the viewer is invited to read this music as children read Walter Scott - with a smile, tears and rapture. But, repeating the horses, sending around the stage a mimance in pot-bellied knightly armor and a chorus in conventional Scottish skirts and not very convincing jackets, and in the finale arranging for Lucia something like a crucifixion, the director and artists still overact. The measure of touching irony that brings magical naivety into the score has not been fully calculated. Which does not negate the wit of the concept, but still turns the game into playfulness.

Without the jackets and the crucifix, the theatrical cut of Donizetti's delicate and light bel canto would be simply a jewel. Moreover, the cut object in this case deserves it. In the performance of the Stanislavsky Theater there are the main and vital elements for the production of “Lucia” - in fact, two main parts. In the premiere cast, Lucia was sung by the theater's prima, one of the best Moscow sopranos and perhaps the only singer in Moscow capable of coping with the pearl role, Khibla Gerzmava. She sang sternly and accurately, tenderly singing the most complex coloraturas, hitting the top notes almost flawlessly, decorating the part with warm vocal color and without straining, depicting the main number of the program - chilling madness. Gerzmava did not succeed in everything completely brilliantly, and there is not as much poetic magic in her Lucia as is possible in this role. But nevertheless, this is a significant, accomplished role.

There was noticeably less accuracy in the part of Alexei Dolgov (Edgardo), still a very young singer, terribly talented, promising a lot and able to do a lot, but, it seems, did not have time to give his parts a thorough finish. In the role of Edgardo, masking the slightly noticeable weariness of what was actually a very beautiful and flexible voice, Dolgov commanded crazy energy and even managed to steal a significant share of the prima donna’s success.

It is difficult to say how convincing the performance can be with the second cast, but with the first (especially if you forgive the theatricality for its exaggerated playfulness, as well as the orchestra under the direction of Wolf Gorelick for its generally completely inappropriate straightforward squareness and bravura, which became, perhaps, the main drawback of the performance) The production looks anything but mediocre. Which in our area and with this opera title is a serious achievement.

NG, February 16, 2009

Marina Gaikovich

Why is there a battery there?

Premiere of Donizetti's opera "Lucia di Lammermoor"

The Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater presented the premiere of Donizetti’s opera “Lucia di Lammermoor” staged by the famous director Adolf Shapiro. This performance once again demonstrated the helplessness of outstanding drama directors in working with the operatic genre.

If we consider Donizetti’s opera as one of the most beautiful examples of bel canto operas, where the main thing is to enjoy the stunning beauty of the vocal line and admire the enchanting coloraturas in the parts of the title characters, then Shapiro’s solution can be considered ideal. The singers “stand up” (unless they fold their arms over their chests, like on the concert stage) and literally carry themselves and their voices. At the same time, it is impossible to say that the characters’ characters and the logical consequences of the psychological situations in which they find themselves are particularly developed. Adding to the pretense is that periodically individual characters climb onto chairs or tables - like small children when they want to demonstrate their first achievements in the field of singing or reciting rhymes.

Probably, in the Italian opera of the time of Donizetti (that is, in the first half of the century before last), everything was like this. The main thing in the theater was the presence of a prima donna, as well as a beautiful surroundings. Both are present in “Lucia di Lammermoor”, a model of the 21st century: luxurious dresses and hairstyles, cloaks, knights in armor (costume designer - Elena Stepanova), a statue of a condottiere (they say, straight from the Pushkin Museum) and even a luxurious white horse - Edgardo's companion. One gets the feeling that this production is playing out the thesis “opera is a conventional theater.” The types before us are lovers who are in danger of long separation, a heartless brother who thinks only about saving his reputation, his treacherous friend who comes up with meanness to force Lucia into an arranged marriage, a confidante who cares for her friend with all her heart. The design feature is central heating radiators separating the auditorium from the action on stage, designed in the traditions of the era of Walter Scott. No other explanation for the original gesture of artist Andris Freibergs comes to mind.

Actually, fragments where the director’s hand is noticeable are still present in this production. This is a picture of the meeting of Lord Arthur, built on “deceptions”: Enrico looks with obsequiousness at the iron horse and its statue rider, and Arthur appears from a completely different corner; Lucia, in turn, appears from the wrong side where Arthur’s gaze is directed. The groom himself is a colorful character: he is a narcissistic fanfare dude, brilliantly played by Sergei Balashov.

Among the surprises is the absence of traditional bloody stains on Lucia’s night dress, which would seem logical for this concept, as well as the absence of the moaning madwoman: Lucia is absolutely detached and cold. In the madness scene, she appears in the form of a dove, with a huge voluminous train resembling the body of a bird. Lucia takes off her giant cloak and remains in her nightgown - as if her soul had been separated from her body. At the moment of the death of both heroes - Lucia and Edgardo - flying birds appear on the video projection, probably symbolizing the souls of the dead. Approaching the very edge of the stage, and then sitting with her legs dangling into the abyss - the orchestra pit, she ends the scene of madness and finishes her last aria.

Khibla Gerzmava - of course, this production was started with the theater in mind - carefully and touchingly leads her part. Alexey Dolgov is more colorful and receives even longer applause during the performance than the main character. But, of course, she will get the splash of applause at the bows.

RG, February 17, 2009

Irina Muravyova

And again Lucia

"Lucia di Lammermoor" was staged at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater

The new production of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theater has become a landmark for the Moscow opera stage: Gaetano Donizetti’s legendary masterpiece “Lucia di Lammermoor” returned later long years into the capital's repertoire and not as a “letter”, but with a convincing line-up of bel canto performers led by prima Khibla Gerzmava.
The premiere was prepared by director Adolf Shapiro, conductor Wolf Gorelik, Latvian artists Andris Freibergs (set design) and Katrina Neuburga (video art), Elena Stepanova (costumes), Gleb Filshtinsky (lighting).

The repertoire hit of the world opera stage - "Lucia di Lammermoor" - has not yet had a rich theatrical history in Moscow: "Lucia" was once staged at the Bolshoi Theater, but today only its concert performances are remembered, including two years ago - by the Russian The National Orchestra, which presented one of the best Lucias of the modern stage - American Laura Claycomb. The reason for this has always been the shortage of bel canto singers in Russia, especially those who would risk not only mastering the dizzying cascades of Norma or Lucia’s coloraturas, but also presenting their worthy vocal concept. Still, the standards of these parties were created by the greatest opera divas- from Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland to today's Stefania Bonfadelli and Nathalie Dessay. The Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater for a long time and seriously “nursed” its Lammermoor - Khibla Gerzmava, who, by the time of the premiere on her native stage, managed to sing the famous Donizetti heroine in different geographical points - from St. Petersburg and Kazan to the Netherlands.

The famous dramatic director Adolf Shapiro was invited to the production, for whom “Lucia” became his debut on the opera stage. And, which is rare for drama directors, convincingly musical. Shapiro, in fact, from the first attempt got into the core of the current scenic problems of the opera theater: on the one hand, which is no longer going to return to the format of a purely musical ritual, on the other hand, it has broken down from the director’s furious study of the scores. At the point where contradictions collided, Adolf Shapiro managed to find a middle ground: to create a stage environment that would be both comfortable for the singers and present a relevant spectacle.

In Shapirov's "Lucia" space plays music: smart, filled with associations, opening with a double key. In a huge mega-emptiness, filled with nothing except steps and a backdrop, the stage offers impressive panoramas of romantic landscapes, palace interiors, sea waves and birds (video art by Katrina Neuburg). Shapiro and artist Andris Freibergs deliberately built the setting and mise-en-scène of the performance according to the laws of pictorial logic, “quoting” museum paintings, the characters of which seem to come to life and act out the world of artistic mirages.

The result of this complex aesthetic work showed that not only Khibla Gerzmava, but also her partners are capable of effectively and very individually appearing in a production that delicately combines old operatic traditions with the latest stage tasks. And if, say, Khibla Gerzmava strives for crystal perfection in Lucia, dispassionately giving out pearls of trills and graces, dousing with a chill even in the last scene of the heroine’s madness, where she appears on stage in an eerie veil frozen with a white hump, and then, without giving out a single external movement of Lucia's emotional excitement from the murder she has just committed, dangles her legs into the orchestra and demonstrates an exciting vocal balancing act in the famous cadence - then her partner Alexei Dolgov - beloved Edgardo, on the contrary, has achieved an amazing fusion of lively, stormy emotions, rushing beyond the boundaries of the director's normalized static with an impressive level of vocals. His Edgardo definitely comes from Italian opera. The works of Ilya Pavlov as Enrico, Sergei Balashov as Arturo, Valery Mikitsky as Normanno, Dmitry Stepanovich as Raimondo, and Veronica Vyatkina as Alice were also well done. The very fact that the troupe has a whole galaxy of singers capable of singing the most complex bel canto score without making allowance for the lack of stage traditions is a serious achievement of the theater. It would also be a good idea for the orchestra to hone its ensemble playing and achieve the quality that the directors and troupe were able to achieve on stage.

Vedomosti, February 17, 2009

Petr Pospelov

Into romanticism through a frame

Donizetti's opera was staged at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater as a poem about a traditional opera performance

Having taken on “Lucia di Lammermoor”, artist Andris Freibergs and director Adolf Shapiro did not bother with another topical remake, but behaved “according to all the legends of antiquity.” It’s impossible to transport yourself back to the old days, so we made a performance-quote, a costume performance in a frame, and the frame is still in a frame. Inside are computer-generated romantic backdrops. Between - video projections with storms. Behind the outermost frame is an orchestra, where the crazy Lucia dangles her legs to better hear the flute.

The only joke that the artist allowed himself was the central heating radiator in dank Scotland. The only (and annoying) manifestation of the author's direction is the caricature of the rival lord. Otherwise, the external form is respected - proud poses, cloaks and swords, a statically lined choir, a live horse (applause!).

If so, it is a pity that tenor Alexey Dolgov does not risk appearing at the gallop. Meanwhile, he sings sonorously and plastically. Baritone Ilya Pavlov is also quite good. Bass Dmitry Stepanovich became too artistic and fell out of aesthetics. The theater's prima donna Khibla Gerzmava, on the contrary, did not perform well as an actor - but her director remained outside the frame. Gerzmava sang not flawlessly in detail, but beautifully and freshly, with feeling and knowledge of traditions. Wolf Gorelick's wise direction sometimes lacked the dictatorial will to keep the tempo from slipping, but the sextet came together perfectly - minus the cymbals at the climax. Overall, I want to take my hat off - the approach to Italian opera was a success.

OpenSpace.ru, February 17, 2009

Ekaterina Biryukova

"Lucia di Lammermoor" at the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Theater

Beautiful oases of opera's past delight the eye, tired of the trash heaps of modern production.

The premiere of Donizetti's famous opera at the Bolshaya Dmitrovka Theater took place a month after the production of the same title at the Mariinsky Theater, but with much less noise. After all, the Mariinsky Theater hosted Netrebko’s post-maternity leave, but here it was a local Moscow event.

But, if you think about it, it will be more important. In any case, more thoroughly. Netrebko sang, no matter how, and goodbye. And here everything is for long-term use, since it has its own permanent prima donna - Khibla Gerzmava.

The play is directed primarily at her, and the role of the main character, torn between love and sisterly duty, is very suitable for her gentle soprano. The top notes that give rise to sports associations are a little problematic: the height is taken - it is not taken. The same associations, more likely from the area of ​​measured morning exercises, are evoked by the musical control of the performance, which is carried out by maestro Wolf Gorelick.

But musicality and plasticity, which the singer lacks, make the central part very attractive. And this, in fact, is the first thing that is required when performing this opera.

For the first performance, the theater sent its best forces to surround Gerzmave. True, Dmitry Stepanovich (Raimondo, Lucia’s mentor) with his immense bass voice was a bit of a bull in a china shop in Donizetti’s jewelry opera. And the best local tenor Alexei Dolgov (Edgardo, Lucia’s lover), although he received perhaps the most significant portion of applause, surprised with some kind of sprinting monotony with which he ran almost the entire difficult distance.

Nevertheless, it can be stated that the entire team, including the confident baritone Ilya Pavlov (Enrico, Lucia's hard-hearted brother), proved the viability of this new operatic production. And the work of the directors - perhaps the most painful component of an opera performance for our audience - did not contradict this at all.

The performance does not engage in “violation of sacred things”, and you cannot blame it for unreflective vampirism.

The director of the new “Lucia” is Adolph Shapiro, a man well known in the theater world, but a newcomer to opera. Regarding the drama director's previous operatic debut in the same theater, I have already described two frequently occurring types of behavior - polite static or, on the contrary, endless fussiness.

Unlike his predecessor, Shapiro took the first path, which led to much more adequate results. Of course, it would be difficult to achieve them without a good picture, but the production has it. The set designer was chosen to be a win-win - the Latvian classic Andris Freibergs, with whom Shapiro worked a lot in Riga. And to him are also lighting ace Gleb Filshtinsky and costume designer Elena Stepanova, who managed to give the historical outfits a completely non-museum courtliness and attached a phantasmagoric, demonstrably overweight van of a veil on wheels to Lucia, who was forcibly married off. It is very effective when uncoupled, but it just gets in the way on stage.

There are also delicate video highlights performed by Katrina Neuburga, but they just betray the director’s timidity in front of singing people, whom he is afraid to disturb and wants to enliven with something.

For the directors, it doesn’t matter at all what time and in what country the opera takes place. The main thing is that it takes place in the golden era of bel canto. The story itself about the beautiful and unfortunate Lucia - a victim of various male ambitions - interests them much less than the story about the former operatic beauty, with which it is now unclear what to do.

Crinolines and corsets are combined with the abstract, ahistorical attire of the choir, whose statuesque appearance generally hints at an ancient tragedy. And in the minimalist space of scenography, quite suitable for decorating a stylish modern cafe, beautiful oases from some conventional operatic past are unexpectedly discovered.

These are picturesque backdrops with various moods of a romantic nature, a real harp with a real harpist playing music on it and - most memorable - two horses belonging to Lucia's lover and brother. One horse is absolutely alive, as in childhood in “Prince Igor” on the stage of the Kremlin Palace, and the other is in the form of a frozen ceremonial statue in armor.

All these beauties are emphasized quite clearly, so that it is clear: this is a memory, a quote, and not simple-minded kitsch. But they are very pleasing to the eye of the opera lover, tired of the garbage dumps and brothels of modern production.

INFOX.ru, February 14, 2009

Elena Cheremnykh

Moscow has acquired its Lammermoor bride

IN new production Donizetti's opera "Lucia di Lammermoor", which was presented on Friday by the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Musical Theatre, the dress of the husband-killer Lucia will not be spattered with blood. It's almost a sensation.

Latvian genius

The laconicism and at the same time meaningfulness of the stage design of “Lucia di Lammermoor” makes one suspect no less than a genius in its set designer Andris Freibergs, a long-term associate of the director of “Lucia” Adolf Shapiro at the Riga Youth Theater. Moscow, in fact, has already had the opportunity to be convinced twice of Freybergs’ genius. In 2003, when Handel’s marvelously designed “Alcina” arrived from the Latvian National Opera to the new stage of the Bolshoi Theater. And when “Nabucco” was shown at the New Opera.

Created in 1835 based on the novel by Walter Scott and revered as an example of the bel canto style, the opera Lucia di Lammermoor has until now insisted on two obligatory conditions. The first is the presence of a strong and stylish soprano of the main character. This condition is met: Lucia in Stanislavsky is sung by the prima of the Khibla Theater Gerzmava. In fact, the play was staged for her. Second prerequisite it was splattered with blood White dress heroines. Having stabbed the groom on the wedding bed, it is in this outfit that Lucia must appear in the famous scene of madness, and die in it. However, the venerable Andris Freibergs, a most modest-looking man, with a hidden sparkle in his eyes, told an Infox.ru correspondent at the general run-through: “Lucia’s dress will remain white.” And the world did not collapse.

In the new “Lucia” you won’t see anyone on stage. There are also motionless knights in armor. And a strikingly white-clad female choir. And an iron statue of a condottiere who rode here straight from the Italian courtyard of the Pushkin Museum. There is even a real white horse that brings the lover Edgard on a date under the moon. And all this is nothing more than elegant accessories to that conventionally Scottish, conventionally Walterscottian romanticism, which is translated by Donizetti’s music into the language of fire-breathing Italian passions. As if cooling rhymes to Donizetti’s boiling music, the play features video projections of flying birds, clouds, calmly flowing or violently cascading waters. What is surprising is not even the calmness with which the set designer avoids the numerous temptations to follow the lead of literature. And the tenacity with which he saturates the opera with modernly visualized lyrics. By the way, the set designer, as he admitted, was inspired by ancient Scottish miniatures and interior views.

Scots with an Italian temperament

The plot of “Lucia,” in short and simplified terms, is that “love for the homeland begins with family.” There is no need to retell the story of the enmity of two Scottish clans, on top of which love is superimposed as a curse, not a blessing. Much more important is the emotional intensity of the libretto, whose characters often “tremble with terrible suspicions,” “listen and tremble,” “raise a storm in their chest,” make “vows to Heaven” and sacrifice themselves for the sake of their family. The most amazing thing is that this entire stilted set was elevated by the genius of Donizetti to a living operatic apotheosis.

Against the backdrop of “The Puritans,” an opera created in the same year by 28-year-old (and soon deceased) Bellini based on the plot of the same Walter Scott, “Lucia” by 38-year-old Donizetti simply goes into temperamental majors of love explanations and family squabbles, demanding crazy singers performance both in the arias and in the ensemble scenes. Suffice it to say that the performer of the role of Lucia must take the top three E flats. And Edgard - two upper D flats. Few are recognized as standard Lucias. Among them are Joan Sutherland, Beverly Sills and (one of the last) Natalie Dessay. By the way, the star Anna Netrebko, who sang Lucia first at the Mariinsky Theater and then at the Metropolitan Opera in January, has not yet managed to make it onto this list.

Working at depth

In a space open to the full depth of the stage, the opera unfolds so slowly that it can resemble a costume concert. Director Adolf Shapiro abandoned the violent flickering of characters wringing their hands and preferred the calm statics of the mise-en-scène. And he didn't lose. Silhouette graphics (Elena Stepanova's costumes are good, somehow Greenaway-esque) in the lighting design of Gleb Filshtinsky have no weaker effect on the viewer than the notorious psychologism.

The slow pace of action provides a wonderful opportunity to see and hear the most important thing in this opera. It’s not the blood, but the way it turns cold when Lucia is forced to sign a marriage contract with someone she doesn’t love. Not the enmity of clans, but the confusion of those warring in the sextet “Chi mi frena in tal momento” (“What stopped me”). Finally, not the horror of murder, but the spirit of the Lammermoor bride liberated by madness. Having stabbed the groom, she moves across the stage in a strange, hump-backed, feather-bedded giant cloak draped over her. A scene of madness ensues. But sobs will be heard in the hall when Lucia, throwing off her dress, sits on the floor in a simple white shirt and dangles her legs into the orchestra pit. To the sounds of her farewell aria “Ardon gli incensi” (“Smoke of incense”) with crystal flute secondaries, no one cares that there is no blood on the bride’s dress. This kind of music is not about earthly things.

Results, February 23, 2009

Leila Guchmazova

Love. Slander. Three corpses

At the MAMT named after K. S. Stanislavsky and Vl. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko staged "Lucia di Lammermoor"

The breadth of the theater's scope surprises and pleases. Before the premiere of “Lucia...” there was a gnawing suspicion that three hours of an opera born in 1835 by Gaetano Donizetti with an unsuccessful stage fate in Moscow was an impossible test for the theater and the public. Nothing of the kind: the opera looked decent, and the packed hall listened to all the roulades in Italian and sat until the last breath of the curtain.

The example of classical bel canto did not get along well with the Moscow stage for almost a century, mainly because it could not do without well-mannered voices capable of finely crafting Italian singing. In this sense, MAMT took almost no risks, because in its troupe there is perhaps the strongest Moscow soprano - Khibla Gerzmava. Having tried Lucia in famous theaters around the world for many years, she dreamed of singing it on her native stage, and the experience was not lost: Gerzmava became a tuning fork that set her colleagues up for positivity - it is not the gods who burn the pots, bel canto is subject to mere Russian mortals.

For a concert performance, such a fuse would be quite enough. But for a full-fledged performance, a production idea was needed that could include bloody romantic story(love, slander, three corpses in the finale) within the framework of the current musical theater. Actually, these very frameworks inspired the opera debutant and venerable drama director Adolf Shapiro. In the long-standing technique of “theater within a theater,” he reconciled the modern approach with grandma’s opera habits: a square of painted white brick with cast-iron radiators frames an opening with a painted curtain. There, in the depths, there is the silence of the garden, misty rivers and the lantern of the moon; a cardboard world lovingly lived in by opera. The contrast was smoothed out by video art on a white frame with silhouettes of soaring birds and pixelated waves - scenography by Andris Freibergs, video art by Katrina Neuburga.

As is customary in bel canto opera, the singers did not fuss with their acting, wearing camisoles with swords and crinolines. The director’s few ideas sometimes looked strange, sometimes they corresponded to the main production idea of ​​​​the reconciliation of classical opera and modern theater - a living white horse (a favorite attraction of ancient performances) was not afraid of a mechanical one clad in armor, and Lucia, going crazy, while performing passages of the famous aria, tried to fall into orchestra pit. At first, the puzzling autism of her Lucia turned out to be more than balanced by the temperament of Edgardo - Alexei Dolgov, a long-awaited tenor in the Moscow fishlessness. They really looked like a couple next to the strictly outlined and just as strictly sung other characters. The orchestra, excuse me, didn’t bother anyone.

It is quite obvious that MAMT in its current state is a full-fledged and very active player on the Russian opera field, whose plans make even hardened critical hearts tremble. If it seems to someone that there are no big discoveries in the current premiere, you can safely answer - and thank God. There is also no simple transfer of the Italian original (as in the sweet Donizetti of the Mikhailovsky Theater) and cheap couplets about deputies (as in the plebeian Donizetti of the Novaya Opera). There is the detached charm given to “Lucia...” by the Latvian trio of directors, the skillful lighting of Gleb Filshtinsky and the enormous work of the entire opera troupe, going uphill. Not a little at all.

The Italian composer, along one line of his ancestry, had Scottish roots; his Scots grandfather's name was Donald Isett. Perhaps this circumstance had something to do with the fact that the composer in his operatic work turned to the creation of the Scottish genius - Walter Scott. The choice fell on the novel “The Bride of Lammermoor”, based on real events that took place in Scotland in 1669. This work by the Scottish writer is not as popular as “Ivanhoe”, “Rob Roy” or “Quentin Dorward” - perhaps it is indeed inferior to these novels from the point of view of readers, but “The Bride of Lammermoor” was liked by composers. Operas based on this plot were created by M. Carafa de Colobrano, I. Bredal, A. Mazzucato - but their works are now forgotten. Only the incarnation of Walter Scott’s novel created by G. Donizetti remains in the repertoire of opera houses.

The plot of the opera, called "Lucia de Lammermoor", is quite gloomy: fatal passions, bloody events, a scene of madness of a tender and fragile heroine, a tragic denouement... Of course, some aspects of the literary source had to be changed in accordance with the laws of the opera stage. For example, in the novel, the hero, committing suicide, rides a horse into quicksand; it would be quite difficult to do something like this in an opera house, so he simply stabs himself with a dagger. Names characters were changed in the Italian way: Lucy turned into Lucia, Edgar into Edgardo, Henry into Enrico. There were some cuts, but overall the spirit of the novel was preserved. This was also facilitated by the romantically elevated libretto created by the Italian poet and playwright Salvatore Cammarano.

The opera “Lucia de Lammermoor” is undoubtedly “ finest hour" for the prima donna. No efforts or merits of other performers will save the situation if the singer - a lyric-dramatic soprano - is unable to create a convincing image of the title suffering heroine, who reaches the point of madness in her all-consuming love. From the singer, this extremely complex part requires a voice that is gentle, but at the same time strong, and the ability to cope with grace.

In the part of Edgardo, Lucia's lover, performed by a tenor, there is tenderness, passion, elegance, and heroic impulses. No less significant is the party of Enrico, Lucia’s brother.

The action of the opera develops with unrelenting tension - from the first act to the tragic denouement. In this development, several key moments can be identified, to which all the “threads” of the action are pulled together - the lyrical duet of Edgardo and Lucia in the first act, the wedding celebration, the scene of Lucia’s madness, who killed her husband and is raving about her wedding with Edgardo, and finally - the final scene, when Edgardo, having learned about the death of his beloved, takes his own life. But the scene of madness especially stands out - this is the highest point of dramatic intensity. Its transcendent tragedy is a brilliant confirmation of the fact that virtuoso vocal technique does not necessarily have to be opposed to the solution of dramatic problems: the graces here do not just give the soprano singer the opportunity to demonstrate her technique - they emphasize the incoherence of the heroine’s thoughts, her complete detachment from reality. It is noteworthy that in the scene of Lucia’s madness G. Donizetti used an unusual instrument - a glass harmonica, whose “crystal” sound gives the image of the heroine a special fragility: Lucia is not created for this cruel world and is therefore doomed. One can only regret that this expressive touch is often lost - already during the author’s lifetime, in many productions the glass harmonica began to be replaced with a flute, because not every orchestra had such an unusual instrument; the performer would have to be invited from outside, which was associated with additional costs.

The premiere of the opera “Lucia de Lammermoor” took place on September 26, 1835 in Naples, at the Teatro San Carlo. Excellent performers took part in it: the title role was played by Fanny Tacchinardi-Persiani, with whom G. Donizetti created this part in mind, tenor Gilbert Dupre played the role of Edgardo, and baritone Domenico Cosselli played the role of Enrico. The composer believed - and not without reason - that the art of these performers also contributed greatly to the success of his new opera.

After the Neapolitan premiere of the opera “Lucia de Lammermoor”, productions followed in other Italian cities, where the public received the work just as warmly. For the production in Paris - at the Renaissance Theater - the author wrote a new version, the libretto for which was created by A. Royer and G. Vaez. In this version, the minor heroine, Alice, Lucia's companion, was excluded, which made the unfortunate Lammermoor bride even more lonely.

The opera “Lucia de Lammermoor” has become one of the most beautiful examples of bel canto. Adeline Patti, Nelly Melba, Maria Barrientome, Marcella Sembrich, and Lily Pons debuted in the title role.

Musical seasons

Premiere: 01/01/2009

Duration: 02:22:38

Tragic drama in two parts; libretto by S. Cammarano based on the novel “The Bride of Lammermoor” by W. Scott. The action takes place in Scotland at the beginning of the 18th century. Edgar, the last descendant of the ancient ruined Ravenswood family, is secretly engaged to Lucia (Lucy) Aston, the sister of his worst enemy, Lord Enrico (Henry), who wants to improve his shaky affairs by marrying his sister to the rich Lord Arthur. Lucia rejects marriage with her hated fiancé. Then Enrico resorts to deception. Taking advantage of Edgar's departure, he shows Lucia a forged letter indicating the imaginary betrayal of her lover. Lucia is shocked by his treachery and agrees to marry Arthur. While she is signing the marriage contract, Edgar appears. He reproaches Lucia for treason and throws her at her feet wedding ring. Enrico challenges Edgar to a duel. On their wedding night, Lucia, having gone mad, kills Arthur. Her strength is running out. She is dying. Edgar is stabbed to death at Lucia's coffin.