Organization

Conductor

Nikolay Rogotnev

Stage director

Nikolay Markelov

Set designer

Sergey Novikov

Costume designer

Chorus master

Lyudmila Eliseeva

State Opera and Ballet Theatre of Udmurt Republic

The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh -  (The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya)

Izhevsk

Russia

State Opera and Ballet Theater of Udmurt Republic

The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh Rimsky-Korsakov

Public

Private

The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya

Approved

A little over a hundred years ago, in the early 1900s, the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov began his fourteenth, penultimate, opera. Its plot was two ancient Russian legends of the XIII century - about the "Invisible City of Kitezh" and the legend of St. Princess Fevronia of Murom, which are firmly united in the mind of the composer. In the legend of Kitezh, the real events of the era of the Tatar-Mongol rule acquired a fantastic coloring: the city was saved from devastation by the Tatars by God's providence - it became invisible and became a place of ideal life. Together with the poet Vladimir Belsky, Rimsky-Korsakov worked long and meticulously on the libretto, the source of which was chronicles, legends, tales, folk songs, epics and spiritual verses. The composer was very pleased with the libretto, it turned out to be outstanding, combining epic and lyrics, heroism and fantasy, and most importantly - completely Russian. The opera presents a gallery of bright national types: the ideal image of a Russian woman, faithful and loving, ready for a feat; the dramatic image of Grishka Kuterma, morally broken; warriors-defenders going to their death.
The composer himself, and after him the researchers, consider the "Tale" the pinnacle of Rimsky-Korsakov's work. But, with all the perfection of the opera, it strangely provokes discussions and is not included in the permanent repertoire of theaters. And contemporaries accepted it ambiguously. Perhaps the fact is that Rimsky-Korsakov, while working on an opera that was formally epic, almost fabulous, put into it premonitions about the fate of the country. The beginning of the 20th century… The pendulum hung at its highest point, time stopped, another moment - and it will inevitably swing in the opposite direction, picking up speed, sweeping away everything in its path. For Russia, this is not the first and not the last time - the pendulum is swinging, which means that the change of times is inevitable, history will repeat itself: the Mongol-Tatar yoke, revolutions, domestic wars ... Men will fight, traitors will betray, and women will pray. And it is not so important what kind of shirts or uniforms those who are ready to die for their Motherland wear. They are waiting for Kitezh, an invisible city that arose by the providence of God. “Whoever has a mind that is not divided, he will desire to be in the city more than life.”
In the new production, having freed itself from the exact time reference to the Russian Middle Ages, the opera gains greater freedom in interpreting images: among the defenders of Kitezh, people in pea coats flicker, the silhouette of the Tatar enemies resembles knightly armor ... Times and epochs merge, and space: a forest, a cell, a city, a church are one thing - a place where everyone chooses his own path. Does this path lead to an invisible city?

English

The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya by Rimsky-Korsakov, From (2022/2022), Directed by Nikolay Markelov,, Conductor Nikolay Rogotnev, State Opera and Ballet Theater of Udmurt Republic, Izhevsk, Russia

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