Review of Adam’s The Postman from Longjumeau at the Novaya Opera
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A rare opera find was presented at the Novaya Opera: under the baton of conductor Clément Noncier, Adolphe Adam’s comic opera The Postman from Longjumeau (1836) was presented in concert, but in a “director’s version” prepared with the participation of director Yevgeny Pisarev and playwright Sergei Plotov . Tells Yulia Bederova.
“We are in a museum – we must honestly admit it… Today, the story of the postman is a mirror in which we can look at the disappeared through the eyes of a modern person,” says Clement Nonsier, a French specialist who has been familiar with Russian theaters since the second prize at the First Rachmaninov Competition. Under the disappeared conductor, it must be assumed, two things at once: the profession of a postman in the old sense of the word (in our opinion, a coachman) and the opera itself by Adan. If the profession disappeared just as a piece of French comic opera dedicated to it appeared and the era of railways began, then the “Postman from Longjumeau” itself did not leave the European stages for decades. Already in the 20th century, the postman’s rondo from the first act served as the crown number for tenors who wanted to demonstrate to the public the ability to take high D as if nothing had happened. But the score itself was completely forgotten, as was the fact that the village of Longjumeau was once an important stop on the way from Paris to Orleans.
Whom have not only been seen by her postmen, blacksmiths and hostesses of taverns: from royalty and opera stars to Russian revolutionaries and Soviet poets. Longjumeau once sang of Yevtushenko when he traveled to foreign Leninist places, about which the conceptual poet Timur Kibirov left a caustic comment: “You are mine, Yevtushenko, / Longjumeau are mine, Longjumeau.” In a word, an implausible vaudeville story about a young man who sang a song at his own wedding and so charmed the passing marquis with his voice that he immediately offered him an engagement at the Opera (after which the abandoned wife waited ten years to acquire an inheritance and return her squandered husband), at the next considered does not seem so incredible for the 1830s.
The nationwide popularity of the theater, the theatricalization of politics, easy money, secularism pouring out of the salons into the streets, social elevators operating according to the “rags to riches” method, and the special flow of time – such was the air of the July Monarchy. “Time flows here like water, like money; before you have time to look back, there is no longer a day, a week, ”the Russian historian Mikhail Pogodin was amazed then. So why couldn’t ten years of separation in an operatic comedy pass like one day? Plausibility, of course, is not the main subject of the opera house, and yet humor in relation to modernity pretty much adorns Adan’s work.
However, director Yevgeny Pisarev did not find the ironic truth of the plot convincing: “Perhaps, for such absurdity, fantasy, a dream, they went to the theater two centuries ago. But for today’s audience, this is not enough. A funny commentary is needed, without which neither the musical nor the plot components will sound. Such commentary, replacing conversational dialogues, in addition to sketchy scenography (blue backdrop, carriage, painted house) was provided by playwright Sergei Plotov. His poetic inserts, sounding from the speakers while the musicians are silent, are far from Kibir’s type of irony, but they explain what is happening and what it looks like: for example, a secular reception with artists is like a modern corporate party (audience laughs).
In a sense, a poetic retelling from the author of screenplays and theatrical skits allows the public to feel, if not like in Paris during the July Monarchy, then somewhere at the turn of the Russian 2000s with their theatricalization of politics, easy money and secularism pouring out of salons to the streets. A clever mixture of modernity and the museum, therefore, sounds easy and allows you to hear the unique features of the original.
Meanwhile, he is notable for his ingenuity, wit, muscular rhythms, textured and timbre brilliance. The listener, unfamiliar with the operas of the author of Giselle, looks for a ballet style in the music of The Postman and easily finds it – in Noncier’s interpretation, Adan’s structures are square, reprisal, dansant and elastic. For a series of allegro and adagio, the Balanchine backdrop looks utterly appropriate, the bubbly arias, plentiful choirs, jumpy ensembles and solemn polyphonic episodes with a barely noticeable caricature intonation seem like dance numbers, and the performers need almost ballet vocal athleticism, hidden behind flight and carelessness. Everyone needs him, right down to the solo clarinet, but one cannot do without a singer who performs in a rare role for our scenes as a light French lyric tenor. In the Novaya Opera, with the delicate support of colleagues (Maria Buinosova – Madeleine, Boris Zhukov – a blacksmith with wonderful lyrical habits), Yaroslav Abaimov represents the part of Chaplau with the delicate support. He does it carefully, with elegance on the verge of modesty, in non-museum colors and, perhaps most importantly, with good pronunciation, which allows him not to miss the high notes and the very French style of almost two centuries ago, which is not very familiar to Russian theaters. Here, a comic opera, from which the theatrical retelling does not reduce teeth, is a rare bird. Sometimes it is domesticated, sometimes it is put in a cage. The Novaya Opera chose an intermediate option: in theatrical dramaturgy, everything seems to be at home, and in music – exotic humor with bel cante shades, vocal fouettes and orchestral crackers. It is possible that the same approach will work in a full-length play, which is due to premiere in a year.
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