La Fiancée du Tsar by Rimsky-Korsakov, Du (2021/2022), Dirigé par Vyacheslav Starodubtsev, Chef d'orchestre Pavel Smelkov, Anton Torbeev, Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, Vladivostok, Russie

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s ninth opera, one of his great favorites, was premiered on the threshold of the 20th century when the composer had been already known well as “the greatest fantasist” in Russian music. Truly Verdi’s passions running high on the stage astonished the audience and caused some contemporaries to reproach Rimsky-Korsakov with self-betrayal. Nevertheless, the composer kept saying that the openness of any drama expressible through singing was a recipe for success and future existence of the opera. His case has been proved by history, and The Tsar’s Bride remains among the most beloved opera repertoire of many theatres. Referred to one of the most murderous epochs in the Russian history, Lev Mei’s verse drama interested Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for a long time. In the play, the sudden death of Ivan the Terrible’s young wife soon after their marriage is not taken as a historical event but interpreted romantically. The heroes’ fatal love puts them up to commit various crimes (including murders, slanders and poisonings) and leads them up to a tragic end. Marfa’s final madness is traced back to well-known mad scenes from Italian romantic operas. However, the human tragedy, which is set under unhuman conditions of authorities’ abuses and outrages, is an all-time theme. The Primorsky Stage production underscores a nature and dynamics of the operatic events. The staging space is narrowed towards the back looking like a cage within which the most of action happens. Due to the visual constriction and greyly dark colors, the audience is under the impression of a lack of air or freedom. The light score of the performance closely follows the development of the drama. In the final scene, when Marfa slowly goes to the back and steps up stairs, her head is outlined against a nimbus or martyr’s circlet. In the opera performance the Tsar is dehumanized, and this is expressed by his acting as a mimic character not uttering a single word. Besides, he appears hidden behind his golden apparel and mask. The staging design may be called historic. However, in no case the production is analogous to a renewal of the old performance. The organic fusion of tradition and modernity results in the constructive and pictorial elements of the sets and the brilliantly designed costumes in which precise historical details such as ornaments, kokoshniks and headdresses are combined with symbolic ones different in forms and sizes. Video projections help to maintain event energy to read senses. The Director develops a specifically actual character of any hero’s actions. He tests all characters’ proposed motives and situations with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s music and is not contradictory with the contemporary scenic language or forms. The most important points of opera dramaturgy are given interesting stage-setting solutions, for example, in the finale the both heroines, Marfa and Lyubasha, are identified with each other, and their identification underlines the nature of their sacrifice. Nadezhda Koulygina