|
 In
1942 Sergey Sergeevich Prokofiev was proposed by Sergey
Eisenstein to write music for his film "Ivan the
Terrible". Later the composer recollected this
episode: "In the first series of the film... Ivan’s
youth is depicted. Ivan is a loving spouse sobbing over
the coffin of his beloved wife Anastasia who was poisoned
by the boyars (nobility). Ivan is a state figure in
a difficult struggle against external and internal enemies.
He manages militarian, international, administrative
affairs, a figure, driven by one but passionate idea
– the consolidation of all Russian lands into a united
empire... "
I happened to have known for a long time
the music composed by Sergey Prokofiev for the film.
And it always impressed me by its amazing plasticity,
its striking dramatism and, as I saw it, unrevealed
potential danceability. In my thoughts I returned to
this theme more than once. I made up a ballet script
where I followed the composer’s ideas and where the
key events of Ivan’s life and the life of his empire
emerged one by one.
What attracted me in this music was the
freedom of musical narration that claimed to be a succinct
characteristic of the heroes, and their conduct, rather
than a chronologically arranged course of historical
events.
And again and again I am saying that
it was the music itself that mattered to me.
As Eisenstein put it "nowhere does
the music serve as a background for the events to develop
but everywhere it depicts them triumphantly vivid and
true. It amazingly reveals the inner essence of phenomena,
their dynamic structure as well as embodies their emotions
and sentiments".
The composer Michail Ivanîvich Tchulakhi
a magnificent connoisseur of ballet theatre and me,
we started the job of mounting the ballet "Ivan
the Terrible" in the early 70-s. He created a composition
based on the motifs of the film-music and other works
by Prokofiev that are close to it in terms of time of
creation, nature of the music and spirit of the events.
The art director of the staging was Simon
Virsaladze, an outstanding designer of ancient Russia
History settings – the material to be considered the
most complicated to work with in ballet performances.
The basic constructive principle of his settings was
multiplane, transformable space of the temple. He also
found a perfectly new approach to designing stage costumes
for the ballet characters. I feel deeply obliged to
Professor Alexander Alexandrovich Zimin, a brilliant
historian and our generous scientific adviser.
The premiere of the ballet " Ivan
the Terrible " was held at the Bolshoi Theatre
in February 1975.
Yuri Vladimirov (Ivan), Natalia Bessmertnova
(Anastasia) and Boris Akimov (Knyaz Kurbsky) performed
the leading parties. The orchestra was conducted by
Algis Zhyuraitis.
In summer of that very year the troupe
went on a tour of the USA where every performance of
"Ivan the Terrible" enjoyed a great success.
The composer Rolf Libermann, the then head of the Parisian
Opera, happened to be among the spectators of the American
premiere and he immediately suggested my staging "Ivan"
in Paris. The next summer "Ivan" was seen
in the Grand Opera and soon it was shown on a specially
erected stage in Louvre. Practically every second night
of that summer season the Parisians were happy to see
on the stage the young etuals Zhan Gizeriks (Ivan),
Dominik Kalfuni (Anastasia), Micael Denar (Kurbsky)
cast in the ballet.
Algis Zhyuraitis was invited to Paris
to conduct the orchestra. And Simon Virsaladze provided
the scenery for the performance.
The ballet existed in the repertoire
of the Bolshoi Theatre till 1990 inclusive, with 99
performances given all in all. During the tour of France,
Czechoslovakia, Germany, England, Argentina and other
countries the ballet was shown practically the same
number of times. It was shown in Leningrad as well.
With no less pleasure I have undertaken
mounting "Ivan the Terrible" for the third
time. Firstly, it means a new meeting with Prokofiev.
Secondly, with the troupe of “the Kremlin Ballet"
under Andrey Petrov’s management and Pavel Ovsyannikov’s
conducting: We have been good friends since 1999 when
we worked together on the staging of "Romeo and
Juliet". I am also on very good terms with the
offsprings of Natalia Nesterova’s, Mariana Sedova’s
and Gennady Ledyakh’s ballet schools.
And, finally, I wonder in what way the
motif of Tsar Ivan Vasilievitch will sound and echo
near his historical residence, at the foot of Ivan the
Great Belltower. Just as many years ago I do not seek,
in any way, to actualise the collisions of his time.
I am far from pronouncing any verdicts, whatsoever,
in my performances. This is not the massage of a ballet.
In history I am seeking an art truth
of my own. |
S.Prokofiev
is profoundly national in terms of traditions ascending
to pristine Scythians and unique chaseworks of the XIII
century carved stone on the cathedrals of the towns
of Vladimir and Suzdal. National in terms of ascending
to the sources of formation of Russian national self-consciousness,
impressed and stamped in great national wisdom of a
fresco or iconpainting art by Rublev. That is the reason
why the antiquity so vividly and distinctly, with such
perfection, sounds in Prokofiev’s music – shown not
through archaisms and stylisation, but through the most
extreme and most risky eccentricities of the ultra modern
music harmonies.
