 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
| Semyon Kotko | |
|---|---|
| Opera bySergei Prokofiev | |
_LCCN2014708419_Crop_2.jpg) The composer c. 1918 | |
| Native title | Russian:Семён Котко |
| Librettist |
|
| Language | Russian |
| Based on | Katayev's novelI, Son of Working People |
| Premiere | |
Semyon Kotko (Russian:Семён Котко), Op. 81, is anopera in five acts bySergei Prokofiev to a libretto by Sergei Prokofiev andValentin Katayev based on Katayev's 1937 novelI, Son of Working People (Russian:Я, сын трудового народа…). It was premiered on 23 June 1940 at theStanislavsky Opera Theatre inMoscow.
One of only two operas written by Prokofiev on aSoviet subject (the other beingThe Story of a Real Man),Semyon Kotko was composed between the summers of 1938 and 1939. From the beginning, it was intended that the opera would be produced by the brilliant director and a great friend of Prokofiev,Vsevolod Meyerhold, who was at that time the director of theStanislavsky Opera Theatre. Both Prokofiev and Meyerhold had tried to plan productions of several of Prokofiev's operas in the past, but all of them had failed. However, on 20 June 1939, just a week before Prokofiev completed the piano score ofSemyon Kotko, Meyerhold was arrested. Nothing would be heard about his fate from then on; many years later it was revealed that he had been shot in February 1940. The whole production fell into jeopardy. An actress, Serafima Birman, took Meyerhold's place, but the result was dissatisfying. The opera was further compromised by theNazi-Soviet pact, which made it necessary to change the operatic enemies from Germans tohaydamaks (Ukrainian nationalists).[1]
The reception ofSemyon Kotko at its premiere was moderately enthusiastic, but at that time ideology took precedence over all other considerations, and discussions in the press focused exclusively aroundSemyon Kotko's importance as a "Soviet Opera". The inherent quality of the music was simply ignored. Yet the production made a deep impression on the pianistSviatoslav Richter, who recalled: "The premiere of the opera was a momentous event in my life [...] That evening, when I first heardSemyon Kotko, I understood that Prokofiev was a great composer."[2]
The opera was dropped from the Soviet repertoire in 1941, and it was not staged again anywhere until 1958 at Brno inCzechoslovakia. It finally entered the repertory of theBolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1970, and it is now one of the main repertory staples of the Kirov Opera at theMariinsky Theatre,St. Petersburg, where it has been repeatedly conducted by Prokofiev interpreterValery Gergiev.
Prokofiev later extracted an orchestral suite (Op. 81a) from the opera.
| Role | Voice type[3] | Premiere cast 23 June 1940, Moscow (Conductor:Mikhail Zhukov) |
|---|---|---|
| Semyon Kotko,a demobilized soldier who loves Sofya | tenor | |
| Semyon's mother | mezzo-soprano | |
| Frosya,Semyon's sister who loves Mikola | soprano | |
| Remeniuk,chairman of the village Soviet and commander of a partisan unit | bass | |
| Tkachenko,a former sergeant-major and Sofya's father | bass | |
| Khivrya,Tkachenko's wife | mezzo-soprano | |
| Sofya,Tkachenko's daughter who loves Semyon | soprano | |
| Tsaryov,a sailor and one of the friends of Semyon who gets hanged by the Germans | baritone | |
| Lyubka,Tsaryov's fiancée | soprano | |
| Mikola,a young lad who loves Frosya | tenor | |
| Ivasenko,an old man and the other one of the friends of Semyon who gets hanged by the Germans | bass | |
| Workman,the former landowner in the name of Klembovsky | tenor | |
| Von Wierhof,lieutenant in the German army | ||
| German sergeant | ||
| German interpreter, two old men, three village women, two villagers, young man, Bandura player, two Haydamaks, peasants, partisans, Red Army soldiers, Germans, Haydamaks | ||
The newly established Bolshevik government has reached peace with the Germans, but some of their forces still occupy the territory. The advancing Red Army is hampered by Ukrainian nationalists and the remaining Germans. Semyon, a demobilized soldier and prominent young man in his village, is hoping to marry Sofya, daughter of the wealthy Tkachenko. The latter hopes to restore the old order and plots with loyalist elements and Germans to undermine the revolution and to thwart Semyon's marital intentions. In the end, Semyon, after Tkachenko's intrigues have cost the lives of two friends, is reunited with Sofya, and Tkachenko is arrested and executed leaving behind the merry chorus of the Red Army.
| Year | Cast: Sofya, Frosya, Lyubka, Semyon's mother, Khivrya, Semyon Kotko | Conductor, Opera House and Orchestra | Label[4] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Lyudmila Gelovany, Tamara Antipova, Tatiana Tugarinova, Tamara Yanko, Antonina Klescheva, Nicholai Gress | Mikhail Zhukov, USSR State Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir | Audio CD: Chandos Cat: 10053 |
| 1999 | Tatiana Pavloskaya, Olga Savova, Ekaterina Solovyeva, Ludmila Filatova, Olga Markova-Mikhailenko, Viktor Lutsiuk | Valery Gergiev, Kirov Orchestra and Chorus | Audio CD: Philips Cat: 464 605–2 |
The orchestral suite, Op. 81a, consists of 8 movements, lasting around 40 minutes.
|
| Orchestra | Conductor | Record Company | Year of Recording | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra | Rolf Kleinert | Urania | 1955 | LP |
| USSR Radio/TV Large Symphony Orchestra | Gennadi Rozhdestvensky | Russian Revelation | 1985 | CD |
| Scottish National Orchestra | Neeme Järvi | Chandos | 1989 | CD |
| WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln | Michail Jurowski | CPO | 1997 | CD |
| St Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra | Alexander Titov | Northern Flowers | 2009 | CD |
| Operas | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballets | |||||
| Symphonies | |||||
| Concertos |
| ||||
| Orchestral works | |||||
| Film music | |||||
| Vocal music | |||||
| Chamber music | |||||
| Piano music |
| ||||
| Related articles | |||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
