The premiere of “Opera” by Leonid Desyatnikov took place in the Tchaikovsky Hall

The Russian premiere of Leonid Desyatnikov’s “Opera” took place in the Tchaikovsky Hall – this is the name of his ballet, written in 2013 by order of the La Scala theater (see Kommersant-Weekend of December 13, 2013). Then, 10 years ago in Milan, the main artistic event was the choreography of Alexei Ratmansky. Now there is finally music, the laurels of which go to the conductor, violinist and countertenor Dmitry Sinkovsky. Tells Ekaterina Biryukova.

It’s not that the La Scala orchestra, which once performed the Opera under conductor Mikhail Tatarnikov, was so bad. But if he plays Verdi without even waking up, then Desyatnikov will take a long time to get used to, without being distracted by trade union strikes. Especially in someone who himself decided to temporarily get used to Handel.

“Opera” is a 40-minute ballet with singing (this genre was legitimized by Stravinsky in his “Le Noces” 100 years ago). He/she was written for a small, quasi-baroque orchestra and three soloists and represents a kind of digest or catalog from the era of opera seria (Stravinsky also looked in this neo-baroque direction – but already in 1951, in his “Rake’s Progress”). “Opera” takes us back to the days of the good old number structure, not yet disturbed by any Wagner or Tchaikovsky, includes an overture, five arias of different genres, one duet and a final ensemble, reminiscent of the traditional moralizing finales of old operas.

The body of literary texts used in the Opera is crowned with the name of Pietro Metastasio, although it is not limited to him. Desyatnikov joined the long line of composers who turned to the work of the great playwright of the 18th century, including Handel, Vivaldi, Gasse, Pergolesi, Gluck, Mozart, Haydn, Cherubini, Cimarosa, as well as Dmitry Bortnyansky and Maxim Berezovsky. He compiled the Italian-language libretto together with the Italian philologist Carla Muschio. There was no general plot in the Opera; any hint of a plot, on the contrary, was carefully avoided; uncompromising conventionality and a harmonious da capo form reign, in each number unrelated feelings of duty, hatred and love seethe. Unlike the Milan production, in the Moscow Tchaikovsky Hall the performance was accompanied by subtitles, which is correct. They were especially useful during the rapturous final number, in which all three soloists list the unshakable rules from Carlo Goldoni’s Memoirs from which opera writers should not deviate. For example, the main characters are each entitled to five arias, and supporting actors are entitled to no more than three. For the other characters – generally one or two, and not on love, military bravura or other winning themes: everyone should know their place!

This work by Desyatnikov is not stylization, not playing by the rules, but rather an incredibly beautiful, emotional and tart declaration of love for baroque opera and its king Handel. Even in Milan, it was clear that this music should not be taken on by mainstream musicians, but by specialists in historical performance. And somehow it turned out naturally that it should be Currentzis. But we ultimately owe it to him for the rediscovery of Desyatnikov’s other important score—the symphony “The Sacred Winter of 1949.” And in this case, we are witnessing the triumph of Dmitry Sinkovsky with his orchestra La Voce Strumentale and the baroque movement that they recently organized at the Nizhny Novgorod Opera House.

Strictly speaking, it was there that a few days earlier the Russian premiere of the concert version of the Opera took place (the author made a new edition especially for this event). It occupies only one section, and the people of Nizhny Novgorod have come up with an ideal pair for it – of course, this is Handel, and on ancient instruments. The program turned out to be both smart and charming. The overture from “Messiah” and eight arias from again “Messiah”, “Julius Caesar”, “Alcina” and “Triumph of Time and Disappointment” with the hit “Lascia la spina” at the end made up the first part, quite accurately reproducing the structure of the next one replicas from the 21st century. So to speak, “I looked back to see if she had looked back, to see if I had looked back.”

The ancient instruments in the second part were replaced by modern ones, Sinkovsky moved from the place of first violin to the conductor’s stand, but the soloists remained the same – wonderful and well-known in such a repertoire, soprano Dilyara Idrisova and tenor Sergei Godin, as well as the mezzo, who was decisively breaking out into new charismatic stars. soprano Yana Dyakova. She was irresistible in “Aria All’Unisono”, where “the wind howls in terrible caves” and all that. During the encore, maestro Sinkovsky himself joined the singers in his countertenor role, together with Godin, making the hall happy with the duet of Time and Disappointment from the corresponding oratorio.

It would seem, what does all these distant caves and improvisations of the continuo group have to do with us today? But it turns out that the amazing territory of freedom, ever expanding around Russian baroque music-making, is more relevant and valuable than ever.