We are continuing our investigation on the topic "Who needs modern music", timed to coincide with the annual Moscow Autumn Composer Festival currently taking place. This question is far from rhetorical, since even compositional products of the most "serious" kind actually have a potential interested consumer. This is often due to the image policy of a cultural institution, for example, the opera house. Not so long ago, with the help of the notorious "Walking Together", the whole country learned that the Bolshoi Theater also decided to order a new opera for itself — and signed an agreement on this occasion with composer Leonid Desyatnikov and librettist Vladimir Sorokin. Ekaterina BIRYUKOVA met with the customers — the general director of the Bolshoi Theater Anatoly IKSANOV and the chief conductor Alexander VEDERNIKOV.
Ekaterina BIRYUKOVA: Why does the theater need a new opera? Not enough old ones?
Anatoly Iksanov: This is one of the missions of the Bolshoi Theatre. We are currently doing this - reviewing missions. Without new works, it is generally difficult to talk about the movement of the theater in one direction or another. Some will be interesting to the public, some will not, but only by producing something you can understand what the theater of the future will be like.
Alexander Vedernikov: It seems to me that not only those who create these operas, but also those who perform them, should take part in the development of the opera genre. I think we are returning to the pre-romantic practice, when all the main works were made as commissioned works. Relatively speaking, Count Esterhazy at one time gave a tremendous impetus to the development of the symphony genre — when he ordered Haydn a very large number of them. The development of opera and, more broadly, musical theater should be carried out in the same way. It can be an opera, a musical mystery, or something resembling a Brecht-Weil theater - you'll see there. But it seems to me that theaters are obliged to participate in this process, otherwise their functioning takes on a somewhat parasitic character.
AI: The museum character.
AV: It is important to be aware of your function in the cultural process. We must not just bake some products for the listener's needs, but understand that nowadays a person with the profession of "composer" belongs to one of the least protected social strata. At the same time, without people who are called composers, the future of the opera genre is in doubt.
AI: No one will just write a big opera and then go to theaters with it. It's not like writing a song. It's not even one year of work.
EB: How do you search for composers? For example, do you seek advice from the Union of Composers?
AV: The Union of Composers is primarily a social organization. It does not solve creative problems. It's rather naive to ask them to pick something up for us. There are two ways. One of them is the way of individual negotiations with those creative personalities who have already declared themselves and who are of interest to us. And the second way is to identify such personalities through contests or, as they say now, tenders — which we are also preparing for together with the Ministry of Culture. I can very well imagine how difficult it must be for people who are just starting out. They simply don't have time to write something big, because they have to earn their daily bread.
EB: When are you going to hold a competition to compose a new opera and is there an age restriction in it?
AI: It's not worth limiting anyone. But so far this competition is only at the level of an idea. There are more questions than answers. For example, is it necessary to hold a competition for the libretto at the same time? Or do I need to take one and have everyone write on it? Or should the contestant choose his own librettist? Again, at least the minimum grants should be for the participants. That is, the question of money arises.
AV: On my own, I want to add that the state should identify for itself a list of those creative professions that are objectively poorly adapted to functioning in market conditions and require additional support — just like the fundamental sciences that it is currently trying to optimize.
EB: Have you tried to look among the existing modern operas - written, say, in the West?
AI: This should be considered on a case-by-case basis. A lot depends on the tastes of the music director, on the tastes of the director in whom we are interested. I'm not talking about finance at all.
AV: We must also be aware that in order to adequately embody Western products, it is necessary to have an appropriate performing apparatus. And you can't bring him up that fast.
EB: And if a piece is written specifically for the Big One, is it obviously simpler in musical language?
AV: I'm not saying it's easier. It's just that the first performer inevitably becomes a co-author. It's easier to solve something along the way. And if we take a ready-made opera, in which, say, four countertenors sing, then there's nothing you can do.
Upcoming opera novelties: 1. Desyatnikov-Sorokin's opera about the clones of five composers is to be staged on the new stage of the Bolshoi Theater next spring. There is no final name yet, although there are more than enough options: one of the wittiest is "Going Together". 2. The Mariinsky's response project is the opera "New Life" based on Dante to music and libretto by Vladimir Martynov. A concert performance is expected this spring at the Valery Gergiev Easter Festival in Moscow. 3. The Russian premiere of Rodion Shchedrin's opera Lolita (1994), written by him for Stockholm, will take place in Perm on March 13, 2003. It is known that Shchedrin wanted to interest the Bolshoi Lolita or the Mariinsky, but apparently nothing came of it.
Source
Ekaterina BIRYUKOVA: Why does the theater need a new opera? Not enough old ones?
Anatoly Iksanov: This is one of the missions of the Bolshoi Theatre. We are currently doing this - reviewing missions. Without new works, it is generally difficult to talk about the movement of the theater in one direction or another. Some will be interesting to the public, some will not, but only by producing something you can understand what the theater of the future will be like.
Alexander Vedernikov: It seems to me that not only those who create these operas, but also those who perform them, should take part in the development of the opera genre. I think we are returning to the pre-romantic practice, when all the main works were made as commissioned works. Relatively speaking, Count Esterhazy at one time gave a tremendous impetus to the development of the symphony genre — when he ordered Haydn a very large number of them. The development of opera and, more broadly, musical theater should be carried out in the same way. It can be an opera, a musical mystery, or something resembling a Brecht-Weil theater - you'll see there. But it seems to me that theaters are obliged to participate in this process, otherwise their functioning takes on a somewhat parasitic character.
AI: The museum character.
AV: It is important to be aware of your function in the cultural process. We must not just bake some products for the listener's needs, but understand that nowadays a person with the profession of "composer" belongs to one of the least protected social strata. At the same time, without people who are called composers, the future of the opera genre is in doubt.
AI: No one will just write a big opera and then go to theaters with it. It's not like writing a song. It's not even one year of work.
EB: How do you search for composers? For example, do you seek advice from the Union of Composers?
AV: The Union of Composers is primarily a social organization. It does not solve creative problems. It's rather naive to ask them to pick something up for us. There are two ways. One of them is the way of individual negotiations with those creative personalities who have already declared themselves and who are of interest to us. And the second way is to identify such personalities through contests or, as they say now, tenders — which we are also preparing for together with the Ministry of Culture. I can very well imagine how difficult it must be for people who are just starting out. They simply don't have time to write something big, because they have to earn their daily bread.
EB: When are you going to hold a competition to compose a new opera and is there an age restriction in it?
AI: It's not worth limiting anyone. But so far this competition is only at the level of an idea. There are more questions than answers. For example, is it necessary to hold a competition for the libretto at the same time? Or do I need to take one and have everyone write on it? Or should the contestant choose his own librettist? Again, at least the minimum grants should be for the participants. That is, the question of money arises.
AV: On my own, I want to add that the state should identify for itself a list of those creative professions that are objectively poorly adapted to functioning in market conditions and require additional support — just like the fundamental sciences that it is currently trying to optimize.
EB: Have you tried to look among the existing modern operas - written, say, in the West?
AI: This should be considered on a case-by-case basis. A lot depends on the tastes of the music director, on the tastes of the director in whom we are interested. I'm not talking about finance at all.
AV: We must also be aware that in order to adequately embody Western products, it is necessary to have an appropriate performing apparatus. And you can't bring him up that fast.
EB: And if a piece is written specifically for the Big One, is it obviously simpler in musical language?
AV: I'm not saying it's easier. It's just that the first performer inevitably becomes a co-author. It's easier to solve something along the way. And if we take a ready-made opera, in which, say, four countertenors sing, then there's nothing you can do.
Upcoming opera novelties: 1. Desyatnikov-Sorokin's opera about the clones of five composers is to be staged on the new stage of the Bolshoi Theater next spring. There is no final name yet, although there are more than enough options: one of the wittiest is "Going Together". 2. The Mariinsky's response project is the opera "New Life" based on Dante to music and libretto by Vladimir Martynov. A concert performance is expected this spring at the Valery Gergiev Easter Festival in Moscow. 3. The Russian premiere of Rodion Shchedrin's opera Lolita (1994), written by him for Stockholm, will take place in Perm on March 13, 2003. It is known that Shchedrin wanted to interest the Bolshoi Lolita or the Mariinsky, but apparently nothing came of it.
Source
Ekaterina BIRYUKOVA,
Izvestia. November 11, 2002
Izvestia. November 11, 2002
Theatre of the Future
