The nose (opera)
| Work data | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The nose |
| Original title: | Nos; Russian Нос |
| Shape: | Opera in three acts and an epilogue |
| Original language: | Russian |
| Music: | Dmitri Shostakovich |
| Libretto : | Georgi Ionin, Alexander Preis , Evgeni Iwanowitsch Samjatin and Dmitri Shostakowitsch based on the novel of the same name by Nikolai Gogol |
| Premiere: | January 18, 1930 |
| Place of premiere: | Maly Theater , Leningrad |
| Playing time: | approx. 1 ¾ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | St. Petersburg, around 1870 |
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The nose ( Russian Нос - Nos ) is an opera in three acts (ten pictures) and an epilogue by Dmitri Shostakovich based on Nikolai Gogol's eponymous story . Some motifs are taken from other works by Gogol and Dostoevsky . Mussorgski's opera fragment The Marriage and Alban Berg's Wozzeck were musical models for the work. The premiere took place on January 18, 1930 in the Maly Theater in Leningrad .
action
The opera is set in Petersburg around 1870.
first act
No. 1. Foreplay
Saint Petersburg . The college assessor Kowalev is shaved by the barber Ivan Jakowlewitsch.
No. 2. First picture. Ivan Yakovlevich's apartment
The next morning Jakowlewitsch finds Kovalyov's nose in his bread. His wife, who thinks he cut it off for his client, tells him to throw away his nose.
No. 3. Second picture. Quayside on the Neva
But that turns out to be difficult because he constantly meets friends. Finally he throws her into the Neva , but is watched by a policeman and called to task.
No. 4. Drum Paraphrase
"The law takes its course."
No. 5. Third picture. Kovalyov's bedroom
Accordingly, Kovalyov wakes up without his nose. At first in disbelief, then in horror he goes on a search.
No. 6. Gallop
Genre parody "about someone who has gotten out of the rut."
No. 7. Fourth picture. In the Kazan Cathedral; mysterious semi-darkness
A little later he sees his nose, the size of a person and in the uniform of a State Councilor, praying in the Kazan Cathedral . He submissively asks her to return to his face. However, she rejects him with reference to her higher rank.
Second act
No. 8. Prelude to the curtain
On his search, Kovalyov ends up at the house of the police chief, who is not at home.
No. 9. Fifth image. The advertising department of a newspaper
When he tries to place an advertisement for his nose at a newspaper office, they refuse, irritated.
No. 10. Interlude
Symphonic “Paraphrase on the Despair of Kovalyov”.
No. 11. Sixth picture. Kovalyov's apartment
At home he finds his servant playing balalaika and sinks into self-pity.
Third act
No. 12. Seventh picture. Post office on the outskirts
On the outskirts. The sergeant guards a post office with ten police officers to prevent the nose from escaping. Passengers and a pretzel seller distract their attention. When the carriage leaves, the nose appears and tries to stop it. A turmoil ensues in which the nose is beaten up as an alleged robber. She shrinks to her natural size and is arrested by the sergeant, who wraps her in his handkerchief.
No. 13. Eighth picture. The living rooms of Kovalyov and Podtochina
In Kovalyov's apartment, the sergeant hands him his nose and receives a tip. But Kovalyov is unable to reattach the nose to his face. Even a doctor cannot help, but he has one consolation for him: without a nose there is no cold. Kovalyov suspects the Podtochina of having bewitched him in order to force his marriage to their daughter. She misunderstood a letter in which he asks her to take back the curse as a marriage proposal to her daughter. But she can convince him that she is innocent of the story with the nose.
No. 14. Intermezzo
Rumor has it that the people of the city can see Kovalyov's nose walking. First they look at the Junkers department store. Then there is a crush in the summer garden, so that the police and fire brigade have to intervene.
epilogue
No. 15. Ninth picture. Kovalyov's bedroom
Kovalyov wakes up with his nose on his face and dances a polka for joy . Yakovlevich the barber comes to shave him.
No. 16. Tenth picture. On Nevsky Prospect
Kowaljow strolls on the Nevsky Prospect , meets friends and flirts.
Instrumentation
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : flute (also piccolo and alto), oboe (also English horn ), clarinet (small clarinet and bass clarinet ), bassoon (also contrabassoon)
- Brass : horn , trumpet (also cornet ), trombone
- Percussion (nine players): bass drum , cymbals , triangle , tambourine , castanets , snare drum , tam-tam , tom tom , rattle , gong , whistle, tubular bells , carillon , xylophone , flexaton
- Small domra , old domra
- two balalaikas
- two harps
- piano
- Strings
Work history
The nose is Shostakovich's first surviving opera. He wrote it at the age of 22. The Russian title "Nos" is a reversal of the word "Son", dream.
The musical direction of the premiere on January 18, 1930 in the Maly Theater in Leningrad was Samuil Abramowitsch Samossud . It sang u. a. Pavel Zhuravlenko (Platon Kowaljow), VF Rajkov (Iwan Jakowlewitsch), ND Bjelukhnina (Praskowja Ossipowna and others), AM Kabanov (constable), Piotr I. Zasjetskij (Iwan), Ivan Neciajev (The Nose), LV Samarina (Pelageja Grigotschewna and others ), MA Jelizarova (daughter of Podtotschina), PP Gusjev (official of the advertising department, doctor, etc.), BO Heft (Jarischkin, etc.).
Under political pressure, the opera was removed from the schedule after sixteen performances; she was accused of lacking a positive hero, the influence of Western European compositional methods and formalism . In the Soviet Union it was not played again until 1974. The German premiere took place in 1963 in Düsseldorf.
In 2016 there was a highly acclaimed production at the Royal Opera House London in a new English translation by David Pountney . Ingo Metzmacher was the musical director . The production was done by Barrie Kosky , direction and equipment by Klaus Grünberg and the choreography by Otto Pichler . In the main roles u. a. Martin Winkler (Assessor Kovalev), John Tomlinson (barber, newspaper clerk , doctor), Helene Schneiderman (Pelageja Grigorjewna Podtotschina and others), Ailish Tynan (Podtotschina's daughter), Alexander Kravets (police officer and others), Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke (Lakai Iwan and others) and Susan Bickley (old squire). The nose was portrayed by the dancer Harrison Noble. Arte Concert broadcast a video recording on the Internet.
literature
- Sigrid Neef : Handbook of Russian and Soviet Opera , Henschelverlag Art and Society , GDR-Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-362-00257-9 , page 525 ff.
- Attila Csampai , Dietmar Holland : Opernführer , Hoffmann and Campe , Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-455-08336-6 , page 1180 ff.
- Rolf Fath: Reclams Opernführer , Reclam , Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-15-010638-9 , page 935 ff.
- Thomas Steinert: Knaurs Großes Opernführer , Knaur , Munich 1999, ISBN 3-426-66411-9 , page 59 ff.
Web links
- Story of Die Nase (Opera) on Opera-Guide landing page due to URL change currently unavailable
- Discography of The Nose at Operadis
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Sigrid Neef: Handbook of Russian and Soviet Opera . 1st edition. Henschelverlag Art and Society, GDR-Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-362-00257-9 , p. 526 .
- ^ Sigrid Neef: Handbook of Russian and Soviet Opera . 1st edition. Henschelverlag Art and Society, GDR-Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-362-00257-9 , p. 530 .
- ^ Sigrid Neef : Nos. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 5: Works. Piccinni - Spontini. Piper, Munich and Zurich 1994, ISBN 3-492-02415-7 , p. 623.
- ^ Sigrid Neef: Handbook of Russian and Soviet Opera . 1st edition. Henschelverlag Art and Society, GDR-Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-362-00257-9 , p. 528 .
- ↑ January 18, 1930: "Shostakovich". In: L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia ..
- ^ Sigrid Neef: Handbook of Russian and Soviet Opera . 1st edition. Henschelverlag Art and Society, GDR-Berlin 1985, ISBN 3-362-00257-9 , p. 533 .
- ↑ Wiebke Roloff: “Hatschi!” - Ingo Metzmacher, Barrie Kosky and an excellent ensemble let off steam at London's Covent Garden with Shostakovich's “nose”. In: Opernwelt from December 2016, p. 24.
- ↑ "The Nose" by Shostakovich in the Royal Opera House London on Arte Concert , accessed on November 30, 2016.