Performed in Russian (the performance will have synchronised English supertitles)
Co-production of the Festspielhaus Baden Baden
Premiere of this production: 17 April 2009, Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg
Iolanta – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s last opera – was written two years before the composer’s death. In 1884 Tchaikovsky read the one-act play King René’s Daughter by the Danish dramatist Henrik Hertz. The poetic story of Iolanta who has been blind from birth and is cured of her ailment through love inspired Tchaikovsky, who was looking for a subject for a short, lyrical opera.
The eternal gloom in which Iolanta lives peacefully becomes a symbol of spiritual blindness and the source of deep pain for those close to her. Love ignites her heart’s desire to see the world and inspires her courage to undergo the pain that will enable her to see.
At the request of the composer, his brother Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote an operatic libretto after the plot of King René’s Daughter. The opera was written between July and December 1891, and the premiere took place at the Mariinsky Theatre on 6 December 1892.
It is believed that the composer’s philosophical intentions are reflected in the plot of the opera, as he had a keen interest in the philosophy of Spinoza. Whether that is the case or not Iolanta stands apart from Tchaikovsky’s other works because of its unusual “otherworldly” plot and the touching, light and serene music.
Aleko, composed in 1892, was Rachmaninoff´s graduation work
for the Moscow Conservatoire. The complex conditions for writing
the opera (the pre-prepared libretto was by Vladimir Ivanovich
Nemirovich-Danchenko after Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin´s poem The Gypsy;
nothing could be altered and there was a time limit – just one month
could be spent on the score) did not prevent the young composer from
becoming truly engaged in the subject. As Rachmaninoff
later recalled,
his opera drew Tchaikovsky´s attention and Tchaikovsky´s influence in
Russia´s music circles was so great that at his advice the young
composer´s opera was accepted for production by the Bolshoi Theatre.
The premiere took place on 27 April 1893. After the stunning success of
the opera, Tchaikovsky asked Rachmaninoff
if he would agree to
a combined production of Iolanta and Aleko at the Bolshoi Theatre in autumn the same year. Tchaikovsky´s unexpected death prevented this plan from coming to fruition…
Vladimir Goryachikh
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