Spēlēju, dancoju
| Opera dates | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Spēlēju, dancoju |
| Shape: | Opera in three acts |
| Original language: | Latvian |
| Music: | Imants Kalniņš |
| Libretto : | Imants Ziedonis |
| Literary source: |
Rainis (Jānis Pliekšāns): Spēlēju, dancoju |
| Premiere: | December 30, 1977 |
| Place of premiere: | State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater of the Latvian SSR , Riga |
| Playing time: | approx. 2 ½ hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Latvian legend |
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Spēlēju, dancoju (German: 'I played, I danced') is an opera in three acts and four pictures by Imants Kalniņš (music) with a libretto by Imants Ziedonis based on the eponymous drama by Rainis . The premiere took place on December 30, 1977 in the State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet of the Latvian SSR in Riga.
action
first act
A peasant hut
Four uninvited guests come to Lelde and Zemgus' wedding party: Tots, the chokle player , a witch, a blind man and a lame man - fairy tale characters from Latvian legend. They claim they are travelers. The witch, the blind, and the lame utter dire prophecies. Tots, on the other hand, entertains the company with his song ("I played, I danced all night"), which Lelde touches so much that Zemgus becomes jealous. Suddenly a ghost appears, the ghost of a German gentleman. It attacks Lelde and steals three drops of blood from her. Lelde dies. At the same time, all of Tots Kokle's strings break.
Leldes grave in the cemetery
Zemgus and Tots mourn Lelde and get into an argument. Tots begs Mother Earth to bring her back to life. A mole cricket appears as the messenger of the called, which gives Dead's roots as a substitute for the broken strings of his coke and advises him to go down into the earth. The spirits of the dead beg him to help them regain their calm. He can do that by bringing Lelde to life. To do this, he has to snatch the candle of death from the three-headed devil. Tots goes to hell disguised as the dead.
Second act
hell
In the underworld, Tots searches for the Lord. He notices that one of the coffins is still warm. The gentleman is still drunk from Leldes blood. Tots learns from him that he can bring Lelde back to life by recovering the lost blood. The other Hell dwellers doubt that Tots is really dead. They ask him to play for them to dance. Disturbed by the noise while playing cards, their ruler, the three-headed man, appears. Tots Spiel enthuses the devils and witches so much that they give him a devil's tail as a string for his cheek. He finally finds Lelde. She is weakened and is also afraid of seeing Zemgus again. Tots receives a hair from her as a further Kokle string. In order to have an opportunity to steal the drops of blood from the Lord, he promises to host his wedding with Lelde. The underworld dwellers, fascinated by Tots, tear the drops of blood from the Lord's stomach, but they fall to the ground and seep into the earth, which had previously promised him its help. The three-headed man offers Tots to remain as the new ruler in the underworld. He himself longs for rest, and Tots reminds him of his son who once left the underworld to live on earth. However, Tots prefers to combine both worlds. He believes his songs would live on even if he died. The devils are trying to prevent him from leaving hell. Thereupon Tots conjures up the dead, who bring him the death candle. With this he can drive away the demons. He leaves the underworld with Lelde.
Third act
earth
The villagers anxiously await Dead's return. The witch, the blind and the lame report on the dark events in the cemetery and give them no hope. Shortly afterwards, Tots appears with the apathetic Lelde, who is not viable without the drops of blood. Zemgus is happy to see her again, but shows little gratitude for Tots. He, in turn, is neither intimidated by Zemgus nor by the fairytale characters. He lights the dead candle, the light of which combines with that of the sun, to bring peace to the dead and to strengthen Lelde. But this is not enough to keep Lelde alive. She still needs the three drops of blood. Since these are lost, someone has to sacrifice himself for them. Zemgus is ready, but does not want to kill himself, but demands that Tots do so. However, a murder cannot save Lelde. Tots realizes that he has to give her his blood himself. He kills himself and thus saves Leldes life. The mole cricket declares him a saint.
layout
orchestra
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwinds : piccolo , two flutes , two oboes , English horn , two clarinets , two bassoons , contrabassoon
- Brass : three horns , three trumpets , three trombones , tuba , two bass tubers
- Jazz machine
- Solo guitar , rhythm guitar
- xylophone
- Celesta
- two harps
- harpsichord
- Ionica
- organ
- Prepared piano
- Strings from tape
libretto
The libretto is by Imants Ziedonis . It is based on the 1915 symbolist drama Spēlēju, dancoju by the Latvian poet Rainis , which Ziedonis did not update, but emphasized its inherent philosophical and existential issues. For the libretto version, he not only tightened the text, but also added a monologue by Tots in the second act, which related the text to modern times. Even before the premiere, he published an essay on the drama in which he explained his and Kalniņš's intentions. With the resurrection of the "Lord", Rainis addressed the upcoming occupation of Latvia, which - symbolized by the bride Lelde - the singer Tots brings back to life like Orpheus. However, this is not to be understood as an imitation of the ancient singer, but as a contemporary Latvian. It is also important that liberation from foreign rule takes place from within and in everyday life.
There are three main themes for Tots, Lelde and the "Lights of the Dead". According to Ziedonis, the latter means “that one can arrive at the present (and also in the future) only through the memory of all those past human lives and only through this remembrance. And that is why the flickering weak, swaying flames of the dead lights must be constantly carried out: from the darkness of oblivion into the sunlight of memory. "
In his drama, Rainis combined historical and archetypal themes. For example, the “lord” is modeled after a historical feudal lord who claims his right the first night with three drops of blood . At the same time, this is a figurative expression of “lords who testify to their people's blood”. At the beginning of the third act, the (poor) villagers are informed about what is happening in the underworld because they themselves stand between the spheres of life and death .
music
The musical core of the opera is a song by the main character Tots, which appears in different forms in all three acts. The composition uses old folk music techniques (alternation between cantor and choir) and principles of Latvian church and choral music (hymn increases with the help of ostinati and sequences ) as well as rock music . The three acts (four images) are musically contrasting in accordance with the usual opera dramaturgy. The marriage of the first act is marked by light diatonic scales, the cemetery scene by polyphony and alternating chords , the hell scene in the second act by chromatics and quotations from more recent popular music. In the final scene, all of these elements are combined.
Work history
Imants Kalniņš is considered one of the leading composers in Latvia. While working at the Liepāja Theater, he advocated a fusion of popular and serious music and composed in 1971 with Ei, jūs tur! the first Soviet rock opera . His fourth symphony (1972) was the subject of heated discussions because of its mix of elements from older and newer folk music. It was especially popular with younger audiences. The same applies to his 1976/1977 opera Spēlēju, dancoju , in which he used the same concepts.
The premiere took place on December 30, 1977 in the State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet of the Latvian SSR in Riga. Aleksandrs Vi Aleksumanis was the musical director. Directed by Mihails Kublinskis. The stage came from Artūrs Lapiš, the costumes from Biruta Goge. The director and set designer stood in for Arnold's Liniņš and Ilmārs Blumbergs at short notice. The vocal line-up included Lilija Greidāne (Lelde), Kārlis Zariņš (Tots), Pēteris Grāvelis (three-headed) and Nikolajs Goršenins (German gentleman). There were successful guest performances in Vilinus and at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. The opera has been shown 55 times in Latvia. There, however, the work was discussed controversially. Although the production did not do justice to either the music or the text of the opera, it was able to last four seasons in the repertoire.
In September 2011, after almost thirty years, the work was performed again in concert at the Latvian National Opera in Riga on the occasion of the composer's 70th birthday, but with stage, costumes and video projections.
A new production by Laura Groza-Ķibere at the Latvian National Opera 2020 showed hell as a “radical national zone” with closed borders and criticized the “impossible search for authenticity” and the “commercialization of folklore”. A video recording was made available on Operavision on the Internet.
Recordings
- 2020 - Mārtiņš Ozoliņš (conductor), Laura Groza-Ķibere (production), Miķelis Fišers (stage), Kristīne Pasternaka (costumes), Oskars Pauliņš (lighting), Rūdolfs Gediņš (choreography), Evarts Melnalksnis (dramaturgy).
Marlēna Keine (Lelde), Raimonds Bramanis (Tots), Juris Ādamsons (Zemgus), Ilona Bagele (witch), Rihards Mačanovskis (blind man), Rinalds Kandalincevs (lame man), Laura Grecka (mole cricket), Evija Martinsone (mother of the bride), Andžella Goba (mother of the groom), Guntars Ruņģis (foreman), Mihails Čuļpajevs (goblin), Jānis Apeinis (three-headed), Kalvis Kalniņš (wooden leg), Krišjānis Norvelis (German lord).
Video; live from the Latvian National Opera .
Video stream at Operavision.
Web links
- I played, I danced. Work information and video stream at Operavision, video available until July 31, 2020.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Sigrid Neef : Spēlēju, dancoju. In: Piper's Encyclopedia of Musical Theater . Volume 3: Works. Henze - Massine. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-492-02413-0 , pp. 252-253.
- ↑ Zane Siliņa: Tendencies of Expressionism in Rainis' Writings: Spēlēju, dancoju (I Played, I Danced, 1915). In: Latvijas Kultūras akadēmija, Ludzas iela 24, LV-1003 Rīga, doi: 10.12697 / IL.2015.20.2.2 .
- ↑ a b c I Played, I Danced. Work information from Operavision, accessed on June 16, 2020.
- ↑ Imants Ziedonis : Program for the premiere, quoted from Piper's Encyclopedia of Music Theater .
- ^ Sigrid Neef : Handbook of Russian and Soviet Opera. Henschelverlag Art and Society, Bärenreiter 1989. ISBN 3-7618-0925-5 , pp. 218-221.
- ↑ a b Inese Lūsiņa: Raiņa Spēlēju, dancoju mīklas joprojām neatminētas. Review of the performance in Riga 2011. ( Memento from September 23, 2015 in the Internet Archive )