Ice and steel
| Opera dates | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Ice and steel |
| Original title: |
Лёд и сталь (Ljod i stal) |
Red Army Soldiers Attack Kronstadt Island Fortress Across the Ice of the Gulf of Finland (March 17, 1921) |
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| Shape: | Opera in four acts |
| Original language: | Russian |
| Music: | Vladimir Deschewow |
| Libretto : | Boris Lavrenev |
| Premiere: | May 17, 1930 |
| Place of premiere: | State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet in Leningrad |
| Playing time: | approx. 1 ½ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Petrograd and Kronstadt, 1921 |
| people | |
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Ice and Steel (Russian: Лёд и сталь , Ljod i stal ) is an opera in four acts by Vladimir Deschewow (music) with a libretto by Boris Lavrenjow . It is about the course and suppression of the Kronstadt sailors' uprising . The premiere took place on May 17, 1930 in the State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet in Leningrad.
action
The action takes place in 1921 in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg ) and Kronstadt . In the island fortress of Kronstadt, which is considered impregnable, sailors and striking workers rebelled against the young communist government. The uprising was suppressed militarily at the orders of Lenin and Trotsky with great losses.
first act
Black market in Petrograd
On the Petrograd black market there is a hustle and bustle of buyers and sellers of all classes and beliefs. In addition to food and everyday items, luxury goods are also offered. Fraud is the order of the day. The working masses suffer from poverty and hunger in the war communism of the early Soviet state and have little to counter the professional sellers and speculators. There are insults and assaults. An invalid soldier and the Komsomols Musja and Senka courted confidence in the Soviets, but were driven out by the angry crowd. Chekists use force to try to restore order. One of them is killed by the crowd. The sailor Klavdi Dymchenko, an anarchist, judges another "in the name of the people" and shoots him. Only when the cadets called by the chekists arrive does the crowd break up.
Second act
Metalworks
The starving workers in the factory are also split into two groups. Some of them are demanding food from the new government. Others call for work to conquer poverty. Subarov, a member of the banned Social Revolutionary Party, grumbles at the authoritarian power of the Soviets. There are fights. Musja, who works as a foreman in the metal works, cannot motivate the workers to work with the management. But when the Bolshevik Herz appears at the plant to win volunteers for the fight against the rebellious Kronstadt sailors, the workers put an end to the dispute and follow him - among them Musja and Senka.
Third act
On the beach of Strelna opposite the fortress island of Kronstadt
The Soviet officers decide to follow Herz's suggestion and attack the fortress across the ice of the frozen Gulf of Finland despite the great risk . A messenger from the insurgents was picked up and is to be interrogated.
The interior of the Kronstadt fortress
The mixed occupation of the fortress, including anarchists like Dymchenko, his friend Natalja (a former landowner), Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries, argue about possible countermeasures without reaching an agreement. When the advance of the Soviet soldiers is reported, everyone gets ready to defend.
On the beach in Strelna
The intercepted messenger had a message to an allied captain with him, in which he was asked to send a cadet with information about the Bolshevik attack plans to the fortress. The Soviet officers want to take the opportunity to smuggle in a spy. Musja volunteers for this dangerous task. She says goodbye to Senka and disguises herself as a soldier.
Fourth act
In the casemates of the Kronstadt fortress
The unity between the different groups of the insurgents is falling apart. When Musja arrives with the alleged message from the captain, her disguise is quickly revealed. Natalja tortures and interrogates her. Meanwhile, Dymchenko learns that the allied officers have fled and joined the Soviets. Musja can free himself and grabs a hand grenade. She calls on the insurgents to surrender. When they refuse, she blows herself up and those around her. The Soviets celebrate the victory of the "proletarian force".
layout
Eis und Stahl was created in 1929 at the same time as Shostakovich's opera Die Nase and Lew Knippers Nordwind in the context of the Association for Contemporary Music (ASM). All three works are free atonal and consist largely of recitative elements. Influences from contemporary Western European operas such as Alban Berg's Wozzeck , Ernst Krenek's Der Sprung über den Schatten or Franz Schreker's Der distant Sound and Futurism can be seen .
In the opera, the crowd scenes dominate. There are also more than fifty small solo roles. Only a few of them are recognizable, such as the Bolshevik Herz, the Komsomolzin Musja, the anarchist Dymchenko, the social revolutionary Subarow or the landowner Natalja.
The mixed composition of the crowd in the first act is characterized by equally different musical components. This mixes “ cantus firmus- like calls from the traders with the chastushki of the sailors, the song of a nobleman, the hoarse whisper of the agitator, the screams and whistles of the crowd” ( Sigrid Neef ). The second act is characterized by rhythmic machine noises that define a working rhythm.
In addition to a more chamber music-like orchestral language, the vocal parts have a wide range of elements such as noises, songs, whispers or screams. The music "illustrates, is an expression of emotion, quotation, confirms, contrasts and comments on figures and events" (Neef). The musicologist and composer Boris Assafjew described Deschewow accordingly in a work on this opera as an “engineer-designer”. He compared his musical language with the “realism” of Modest Mussorgsky and the “naturalism” of Alban Berg .
Work history
Deschewov's Ice Cream and Steel is one of the first modern Soviet operas and the first to seriously attempt to address the revolution on stage.
The musical direction of the premiere on May 17, 1930 in the State Academic Theater for Opera and Ballet in Leningrad was Vladimir Dranischnikow , Sergei Radlow directed , and Alexander Viktorovich Rykow set the stage . The performance was successful because the audience was already prepared for the new style through previous productions of contemporary operas and the ensemble succeeded in “making the historical visible behind the documentary detail” (Neef).
There were further performances in October of the same year in Odessa and on December 16 at the KS Stanislavski State Opera Theater in Moscow, directed by Boris Ilich Vershilov. There she met with incomprehension from the audience. Critics criticized the too emotional treatment of the heroic theme and the caricature-like design and considered the opera to be dramatically weak. After the advance of Socialist Realism from 1932 onwards, ice and steel was seen as a failed example of “ formalism ” and disappeared from the game boards.
In 2007 the Saarland State Theater in Saarbrücken took on the work. The team around the conductor Will Humburg , the director Immo Karaman , the set designer Johann Jörg and the choreographer Fabian Posca succeeded in producing a convincing production, which was then also released on DVD.
Recordings
- 2007 (video; live from the Saarland State Theater Saarbrücken): Will Humburg (conductor), Immo Karaman (staging), Johann Jörg (stage design), Nicola Reichert (costumes), Fabian Posca (choreography), Saarland State Orchestra, Opera Choir of the Saarland State Theater. Hiroshi Matsui (heart), Anna Toneeva (Musja), Algirdas Drevinskas (Senka), Jevgenij Taruntsov (Dymtschenko), Rupprecht Braun (Subarow), Oxana Arkaeva (Natalja), Otto Daubner (Labasin). Arthaus Music DVD 101323.
Web links
- Work data for Lëd i stal ' based on the MGG with discography at Operone
- Sound samples in the advertising trailer for the DVD of the Saarbrücken performance on YouTube
- Walter Schneckenburger: Deschewow, Vladimir - ice and steel. DVD review. In: The Orchestra from May 2009, p. 72
Individual evidence
- ↑ Duration of the Saarbrücken performance from 2007
- ↑ a b c d e f g Sigrid Neef : Handbook of Russian and Soviet Opera. Henschelverlag Art and Society, Bärenreiter 1989. ISBN 3-7618-0925-5 , pp. 162–165.
- ↑ Udo Bermbach (Ed.): Opera in the 20th century. Development tendencies and composers. Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-01733-8 , p. 305.
- ↑ a b Uwe Schweikert: All power to the choir. Review of the Saarbrücken performance . In: Opernwelt from December 2007, p. 47.
- ↑ a b c d Laurel Fay: Lyod i stal '. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
- ↑ Vladimir Deshevov - Ice and Steel. DVD review on classical.net, accessed February 4, 2017.