05.01.2013
“Britten’s Opera Is Unique”
The first opera première of the New Year will be Benjamin Britten’s Billy Budd. Mikhail Tatarnikov, the performance’s musical director, talks about what influenced him to choose this work as part of the theatre’s repertoire this season.
"Billy Budd is an opera which has never been performed in Russia, and we absolutely had to stage it. But there are some obvious difficulties inherent in this selection for a repertory theatre: I can’t think of another large-format operatic work in which only men take part. I would like to apologize to the women in our company who are not involved in this production. In this case it is an objective phenomenon: all the opera’s events take place on a man-o’war; there are no women on the ship.
I finally became determined to stage Billy Budd after consulting with Vladimir Jurowski. He is the Musical Director of the Glyndebourne Festival, which is kind of a ‘Britten Mecca’. For our production Jurowski recommended consultants who have a thorough knowledge of all aspects of Britten’s work.
There are two absolutely exceptional figures in 20th century music: Benjamin Britten and Leoš Janáček. They are unique; they aren’t like anyone else. When you’re talking about them, you can’t say, ‘He developed under the influence of...’, or, ‘He’s a representative of the school of...’. Britten, of course, does have a school: in his music you can even feel a link with Henry Purcell, but the most powerful influence he experienced was the influence of life itself. He suffered from a very strong, internal anguish: basically, his entire life was a challenge to society. And although that’s not very good for a normal person, it’s excellent for creativity, for art. Those who come to see Billy Budd will understand what I mean. This is a rich, dramatic, very precisely constructed work. The opera contains peerless musical dramaturgy. I’m not sure whether opera lovers are going to be singing the score to themselves as they leave the theatre; there aren’t any catchy melodies, but there is a very distinctive musical language, an intense and visual conflict, and wonderful ensembles, which serve as a type of counterpoint to the drama between the main characters.
I feel a special sense of responsibility to this production. My grandfather, the conductor Dzhemal Dalgat, was personally acquainted with Benjamin Britten. He once staged Britten’s opera Peter Grimes at the Kirov Theatre and even translated the libretto into Russian himself. The composer came to the première and rated the performance as very successful."
"Billy Budd is an opera which has never been performed in Russia, and we absolutely had to stage it. But there are some obvious difficulties inherent in this selection for a repertory theatre: I can’t think of another large-format operatic work in which only men take part. I would like to apologize to the women in our company who are not involved in this production. In this case it is an objective phenomenon: all the opera’s events take place on a man-o’war; there are no women on the ship.
I finally became determined to stage Billy Budd after consulting with Vladimir Jurowski. He is the Musical Director of the Glyndebourne Festival, which is kind of a ‘Britten Mecca’. For our production Jurowski recommended consultants who have a thorough knowledge of all aspects of Britten’s work.
There are two absolutely exceptional figures in 20th century music: Benjamin Britten and Leoš Janáček. They are unique; they aren’t like anyone else. When you’re talking about them, you can’t say, ‘He developed under the influence of...’, or, ‘He’s a representative of the school of...’. Britten, of course, does have a school: in his music you can even feel a link with Henry Purcell, but the most powerful influence he experienced was the influence of life itself. He suffered from a very strong, internal anguish: basically, his entire life was a challenge to society. And although that’s not very good for a normal person, it’s excellent for creativity, for art. Those who come to see Billy Budd will understand what I mean. This is a rich, dramatic, very precisely constructed work. The opera contains peerless musical dramaturgy. I’m not sure whether opera lovers are going to be singing the score to themselves as they leave the theatre; there aren’t any catchy melodies, but there is a very distinctive musical language, an intense and visual conflict, and wonderful ensembles, which serve as a type of counterpoint to the drama between the main characters.
I feel a special sense of responsibility to this production. My grandfather, the conductor Dzhemal Dalgat, was personally acquainted with Benjamin Britten. He once staged Britten’s opera Peter Grimes at the Kirov Theatre and even translated the libretto into Russian himself. The composer came to the première and rated the performance as very successful."
