stage
Artists
Credits
Music by Igor Stravinsky
Libretto by Igor Stravinsky and Stepan Mitusov based on the tale The Emperor´s Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen
Author of artistic concept and Production Stage Director: Vyacheslav Starodubtsev
Music Director and Conductor: Mikhail Tatarnikov
Production Designer: Timur Gulyaev
Lighting Designer: Sergey Skornetsky
Video Designer: Vadim Dulenko
Stage movement: Sergey Zakharin
Chief Choirmaster: Maria Moiseenko
Choirmaster: Sergey Tenitilov
Assistants to Production Stage Director: Igor Bondarenko, Nikolay Natsybulin
50 minutes
without intermission
Le Rossignol (The Nightingale) is Igor Stravinsky's first opera based on the tale The Emperor´s Nightingale by H. C. Andersen. The plot of the opera was taken at the suggestion of a friend of the composer Stepan Matusov – a pianist, teacher, poet, artist and a haunter in the Rimsky-Korsakov circle. It was Matusov whom Stravinsky later called his “literary and theatrical guardian”. The first act was completed in 1909, but the composing of the opera had to be postponed due to Sergei Diaghilev's ballet commissions for the Saisons Russes in Paris. Stravinsky returned to composing Le Rossignol already being a famous master, the author of The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring, which had achieved worldwide triumph. The opera was completed in 1914 and presented to the public for the first time on May 26 at the Opéra de Paris as part of the Saisons Russes. Four years later, Le Rossignol was staged by Meyerhold at the Mariinsky Theatre, Russia.
The main theme of Stravinsky's opera has been the glorification of art, which has amazing properties – to comfort, encourage, heal, appeal to the most secret feelings and experiences, to overcome what seems insurmountable. The content of the work boils down to a competition between a live nightingale and an artificial one at the court of the Chinese Emperor. At first, the mechanical nightingale has more success with the courtiers. However, when death threatens the emperor, the real nightingale sings so tenderly and sweetly that even Death, fascinated by the magical melodies of the Nightingale, retreats, and the Emperor remains alive. Only genuine art is capable of such a miracle, because it comes not from the head, but from the very depths of the heart.
On the Small Stage of NOVAT, the opera is produced by the Chief Stage Director of the theatre, Vyacheslav Starodubtsev; the Music Director and Conductor is Mikhail Tatarnikov.
The action takes place in China in fairy-tale times.
Act I
The seashore. The fisherman sings about a nightingale that flies to him every night and the singing of which makes him forget about his worries. Tonight is no exception – the trills of the nightingale can be heard in the distance. The Chamberlain, the Bonze, and other courtiers come ashore. The Cook told them so much about the wonderful bird. The rumors reached the Emperor. He ordered the nightingale to be found and brought to the palace. The courtiers mistake the cow's mooing and the frogs' croaking for the nightingale's singing. Finally, the Nightingale appears. The Cook manages to persuade him to sing for the Emperor. Everyone goes to the palace. Only the fisherman continues the interrupted song.
Act II
The Emperor's palace. Servants decorate the palace with festive lanterns, and the majestic procession of the court nobility begins. A solemn procession appears, led by the ruler of the Celestial Empire. The Chamberlain reports that the Nightingale is here. The Emperor signs to the Nightingale to begin. His beautiful trills enchant the Emperor. He wants to reward the singer with a golden slipper, but the Nightingale refuses: the best reward for him is to see the tears in the Emperor’s eyes.
Japanese ambassadors are arriving. They have brought their artificial nightingale as a gift to the Emperor; it can only tirelessly repeat the same melody many times. While everyone is admiring the mechanical bird, the live nightingale flies away. The Emperor declares the disobedient bird banished, and grants the artificial nightingale the title of “the Singer on the Emperor’s Bedside Table First on the Left”.
Act III
It’s night. The Emperor is seriously ill. Death appears with the Emperor's crown on its head, with his sabre and standard in its hands. The ruler sees ghosts, and when he asks “Who are they?”, the answer comes: “We are your deeds”. The Emperor wants to drown out their voices and calls the musicians, but the Nightingale flies in. He sings about how beautiful the imperial garden is. Death is enchanted by his song. Obeying the Nightingale, it gives the crown, the sabre and the standard back to the Emperor and disappears. The Emperor's strength is returning. The ruler of the Celestial Empire wants to generously thank his saviour, but the Nightingale refuses, promising to fly to the palace every night and sing for the Emperor. The courtiers, who consider the Emperor dead, find him alive and well. A Fisherman's song is heard from afar.