St Petersburg, Mariinsky Theatre

Oedipus Rex. Le Rossignol


VI Festival Maslenitsa (Shrovetide)

Third performance of the eighteenth subscription

Performers

Conductor: Conductor: Mikhail Agrest
Oedipus Rex
Oedipus: Alexander Timchenko
Greon: Yevgeny Nikitin
Jocasta: Nadezhda Serdyuk
Tiresias: Ilya Bannik
  Le Rossignol
Nightingale: Olga Trifonova
Fisherman: Yevgeny Akimov
Age category 12+

Credits

operas
Music by Igor Stravinsky

SYNOPSIS

Synopsis of the opera Oedipus Rex

Prologue
The narrator enters and addresses the auditorium: “Spectators! You will now hear Oedipus Rex in Latin. To free your ears and your minds from any excess burden, the more so as the opera-oratorio contains only the most important scenes, I will help you to recall Sophocles’ tragedy gradually.
This is how the story unfolds: the people of Thebes are in disarray. The Sphinx has sent a plague down on the city. The chorus begs Oedipus to save the city. Oedipus, the sphinx’s conqueror, promises he will save the people from a new disaster. But he does not realise that he is ruled by forces that are normally only met with in the afterlife. These forces have been preparing a trap for him since his very birth – you will see how it snaps shut.”

Act I
Creonte, Oedipus’ brother-in-law, has returned from the oracle to which he had been sent by Oedipus to seek counsel. The oracle demands that the murder of King Laius be avenged, and then the plague will leave the city. The murderer is hidden in Thebes, and must be found whatever the price. Oedipus is proud of his ability to solve riddles. He discovers the murderer and drives his from Thebes. Oedipus ask the prophet to help and begs him to speak the truth. Teiresias avoids giving a reply. He understands that Oedipus is a toy in the hands of the merciless gods. Teiresias’ silence annoys Oedipus. He accuses Creonte of a desire to seize the throne and Teiresias of conspiracy. Enraged at such an unjust slander, the prophet makes his choice and speaks. Thus comes the discovery: the King has committed regicide.

Act II
Jocasta appears. She becomes embroiled in the conflict and shames the men for arguing when disaster has struck the city. She does not believe the oracles: oracles lie. For example, it was said that Laius would die at the hand of his own son, while in fact Laius was killed by robbers where three roads met.
A crossroads! A banality! Take heed of this word. It terrifies Oedipus. He remembers that on the road from Corinth, before he met the Sphinx, he killed an old man where three roads met. And if that were Laius? What comes now? Oedipus mustn’t remain here, yet neither can he return to Corinth as the oracle never predicted that he would kill his father and become the husband of his own mother. Oedipus is gripped by terror.
At last a witness to the murder appears – a shepherd. The Messenger informs Oedipus of the death of Polybius, whom Oedipus had considered to be his father, but now it transpires that Polybius was not Oedipus’ natural father.
Jocasta understands everything. She tries to draw Oedipus away, dissuading him from digging deeper into the mystery, but in vain. She herself then flees herself.
Oedipus thinks that she is ashamed of being the wife of a humble impostor. And this is Oedipus, always proud of his ability to solve all riddles! He is in a trap, and only he fails to see this. Suddenly a dreadful conjecture strikes him mind. He is falling. He is falling from a great height.
A disturbing monologue begins: “I saw the dead face of the divine Jocasta,” in which the Messenger tells of how the Queen has hanged herself and Oedipus blinded himself with a golden buckle. His words are taken up by the chorus.
The King has fallen into the trap. May everyone, everyone, see this lowly animal, this half-breed, this madman! He is driven away. He is driven away with unusual pity, with compassion. Farewell, farewell, poor Oedipus! Farewell, Oedipus, you were loved here.

 

Synopsis of the opera Le Rossignol

Act I
The Nightingale lives in the boughs of the trees over a stretch of water. Each night the Fisherman sails to the shore and patiently awaits the moment when the deep darkness will be filled with the magical sounds. The song of the beautiful bird evokes poetic feelings in the Fisherman’s soul and sends him off into sweet reverie…
Dim shadows appear on edge of the forest. It is a group of courtiers. The Emperor has decreed they seek out the main attraction of the imperial gardens – the Nightingale. But no-one knows what this unknown creature looks like, and no-one has heard his voice. And so it is easy for them to confuse the trill of the Nightingale with the bellow of cattle and the croaking of frogs… Were it not for the little Cook, who adores the singing of the exquisite bird, would soon have a taste of bamboo canes. The girl finds the Nightingale and invites him to demonstrate his art to the Emperor himself. The singer of the forest agrees, and the entire procession sets off for the palace.
The Fisherman’s voice can be heard. He is still in the power of his own reverie…

Act II
The palace is in confusion as preparations for a celebration are underway. The crowds of courtiers hustle and bustle, hanging countless golden torches and tying little bells to beautiful flowers. Their voices blend into a miraculous hum. The little bells ring in the draughts blowing through the palace.
In a vast hall, the porcelain walls and columns shine and dazzle. The grandees and court nobles appear with importance and take their places around the throne. The Emperor proceeds behind them: the servants triumphantly carry his canopy and all his subjects prostrate themselves. At a sign from the Chamberlain the Nightingale begins to sing. The Emperor is touched and amazed, and the omnipotent sovereign wishes to reward the winged singer, but the little grey bird declines this offer: the Emperor’s tears were the finest reward he could receive.
Ambassadors of the Emperor of Japan appear and they bring with them an unexpected present – a clockwork nightingale. The courtiers are enchanted with the exquisite voice of the cunning mechanism and ask to compare the two birds once again. But it transpires that the free resident of the forests has flown away, unnoticed. The furious Emperor declares him “banished from the realms of the Empire”. The obedient mechanical toy is appointed First Singer on the Emperor’s Bedside Table on the Left.
… The Fisherman sits as before in his boat and watches the water in contemplation. He knows what lies ahead.

Act III
Pale and cold, the Emperor lies on his bed. Strange faces watch from between the folds of the velvet canopy – these are all the deeds the Emperor has committed in the course of his life. Their gloomy voices oppress and scare him. The Emperor raises his head to call one of his courtiers, but he sees Death before him. Death is seated on the edge of the bed. The Emperor’s crown is on her head and in one hand she holds a golden sabre and in the other his military standard. “Ah, bring music, bring music quickly!” he begs. But the mechanical toy is broken and cannot offer any help… Suddenly miraculous singing can be heard. It is the Nightingale who has come, having learned the Emperor is ill. He sings and the ghosts turn pale. Death herself listens and departs, vanquished… The courtiers appear in the bedchamber to see the deceased Emperor, but they hear his cheerful voice: “Hello!”
Morning comes for the Fisherman too. He sails off so that the next night he can once again return to the seashore where in the boughs of the trees above the water the Nightingale lives…


Oedipus Rex
opera-oratorio in two acts
Libretto (in French) by Jean Cocteau, after the play Oedipus Tyrannus by Sophocles
Latin sections translated by Jean Danielou
Performed in Latin.
The Narrator’s text is read in Russian.

Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Stage Director: Jonathan Miller
Set Designers: Jonathan Miller and Charles Quiggin
Costume Designer: Sue Willmington
Lighting Designer: Mrs DM Wood
Musical Preparation: Natalia Domskaya
Principal Chorus Master: Andrei Petrenko

World premiere: 30 May 1927, Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt, Paris

Premiere of this production: 10 April 2003, Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg

Running time 45 minutes

 

Le Rossignol
conte lyrique in three acts
Libretto by Igor Stravinsky and Stepan Mitussov,
after the story The Emperor´s Nightingale by Hans Christian Andersen
Performed in Russian
The performance will have synchronised English supertitles

Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Stage Director: Alexander Petrov
Set Designer: Vladimir Firer
Lighting Designer: Vladimir Lukasevich
Musical Preparation: Natalia Mordashova
Principal Chorus Master: Andrei Petrenko


World premiere: 26 May 1914, Opéra, Paris

Premiere of this production: 22 March 1995, Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg

Running time 1 hour


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