Mazepa by Tchaikovsky, P. I., So. 08 März 2020, Ab (2020/2020), Unter der Regie von Evgeny Pisarev, Dirigat Tugan Sokhiev, Bolshoi Theatre, Moskau, Russland

The atmosphere of sounds in the opera Mazeppa by Tchaikovsky appears from a combination of intonations of the Southern Slavic speech, which is heard around magnificent cherry orchards and quiet rivers, and a bloody tragedy, one of the darkest in the history of the genre, unfolding against this background. Pushkin’s Poltava, which became the foundation of the libretto, inspired the composer to create a musical canvas about the death of the powerful grandee Vasily Kochubey’s family. A tragic ending awaits every character without exception — their lives are being ruined irretrievably, from the idyllic first scenes to the dark finale. Tchaikovsky confessed there was no other writing that was as hard to compose as this opera. Naturally, there was less enthusiasm in his work to start with, less of a spontaneous and intuitive approach than we can see in the cases of Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades. However, this circumstance also had some positive outcomes: as a result, we have a true masterpiece, Meisterwerk, which perfectly fits the “matrix” of romantic opera. The plot of Poltava provided the composer with material for huge duet scenes of disputes (comparable to Aida by Verdi), a classical love triangle (Maria, Andrei and Mazeppa), large scale choral episodes, and finally, for an astonishing climax — the descent into insanity of the main female character and her enlightened departure (let us remember Lucia di Lammermoor by Donizetti or the future The Tsar’s Bride by Rimsky-Korsakov). The world premiere of Mazeppa took place on the Historic Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre on the 3rd of February 1884. Further recreations and new productions of the opera were regular: over almost one and a half centuries, there have been seven of them. The creators of the new performance, chief conductor and music director of the theatre Tugan Sokhiev and director Evgeny Pisarev tell us more.