A message on the topic of Orpheus and Eurydice Zhurbin. "Orpheus and Eurydice": an old story in a new interpretation

K. Gluck opera "Orpheus and Eurydice"

The famous opera “Orpheus and Eurydice” by Christoph Willibald Gluck especially vividly glorifies the sublimity of feelings, devoted love and dedication of the heroes Greek mythology. Antique plot, rich in dramatic elements, is the most common in opera and is found in the musical works of many composers.

Summary

The legendary musician Orpheus finds no peace; his beloved Eurydice died and the unfortunate husband does not leave her tomb. In tears, Orpheus appeals to the gods with a request to bring his wife back to life or kill him. The velvety voice of the musician was heard by the heavens. At the behest of Zeus, Cupid appears, who is called upon to voice the will of the gods. The heavenly messenger notifies Orpheus that he is allowed to go down to hell and find his wife. If the sounds of the lyre and beautiful voice the inconsolable husband will be touched by the spirits, he will be able to return Eurydice. However, on the way from the kingdom of the dead, Orpheus must not look back, he is also forbidden to look into the eyes of his wife. The last condition is the most difficult, but mandatory. Looking back, Orpheus will forever lose his Eurydice.
Orpheus in love is ready for any challenge, and now a gloomy area appears before him, shrouded in thick fog. The mystical entities that live here block the path of the uninvited guest and try to frighten him with their wild dancing and visions. Orpheus begs the spirits for mercy, but only the power of art can soften his suffering. The amazing melodies of the lyre and the divine voice of the singer defeat the guards of hell, the spirits give in and the road to underground kingdom.

After a difficult ordeal, Orpheus finds himself in the village of blessed shadows. This amazing area is called Elysium. Here, among the shadows of the dead, is the peaceful Eurydice. In this place, Orpheus feels calm and bliss, but without his beloved, his happiness is incomplete. The wonderful landscape and melodious singing of birds fascinate and inspire Orpheus. The musician enthusiastically sings a hymn to the beauty of nature. The chant of the loving husband attracts the blissful shadows, which bring Eurydice. One of the shadows removes the veil from the deceased and joins the hands of the lovers, reminding the faithful spouse of an important condition. Orpheus quickly leads his wife away without looking back. On the way from the afterlife, Eurydice gradually turns into a living woman with passionate feelings and emotions.

The lovers again find themselves in a terrifying and mysterious gorge with steep cliffs and dark, winding paths. Orpheus strives to leave this place as quickly as possible, but Eurydice is disappointed by her husband’s composure; she asks her beloved to look into her eyes and show her old feelings. We won't beg Orpheus. Has his love faded away? Why did my beloved husband become indifferent? Eurydice refuses to leave the afterlife. It is better to return to the kingdom of the dead than to live in the contempt of a loved one. Orpheus experiences terrible mental anguish and finally gives in to the pleas of his beloved, taking her into his arms. The prophecy of the gods comes true and Eurydice falls dead.

There is no limit to Orpheus' grief. Just a few steps were not enough for him to find happiness, and now his beloved wife is forever dead. Desperate, he tries to take his own life, but the god of love, Cupid, stops the unfortunate lover. The great musician’s ardent feelings and dedication amaze the gods, and they resurrect Eurydice. A choir of shepherdesses and shepherds solemnly greets the lovers. There are songs and dances praising the wisdom of the gods and the power of all-conquering love.

Photo:

Interesting Facts

• Gluck significantly simplified the singing technique, and the overture created the atmosphere of the mood of the next act of the play.
• Enough interesting story has a rock opera "Orpheus and Eurydice", created back in the days Soviet Union. The production was a huge success in the country and was performed 2,000 times. The performance in the genre of rock music was awarded a British Musical Award, but has never been staged abroad. The rock opera was updated eight times, and in 2003 it was included in the Guinness Book of Fame for performing the musical 2,350 times by one troupe.
• In the Soviet Union, the term “rock” evoked unpleasant emotions among representatives of the Ministry of Culture, so a rock opera with a plot about Orpheus was called “zong opera.”
• The first performer of the role of Orpheus in the zong opera was Albert Assadulin. Talented actor with a crystal clear voice, he is an artist-architect by training. In 2000, this performer presented his own version of the work.
• Gluck's opera "Orpheus and Eurydice" is considered reformatory due to the author's desire for a harmonious fusion of dramatic elements and music. Despite the success of the premiere in 1762 and the presentation of the second edition in 1774, the opera created the ground for much controversy. The public did not immediately accept the Austrian composer's innovative decisions, but after the opera was revised again in 1859, the conflict finally ended in Gluck's favor.
• Raniero Calzabigi warmly supported Gluck during the plotting and staging of the play. The legend of Orpheus had many different variations, but the librettist chose the plot from the collection “Georgics”, written by the great ancient Roman poet Virgil. The author describes bright mythological images and at the end of the book he retells famous myth about Orpheus.
• Orpheus personified power musical art, he became the founder philosophical direction– orphism. This religious school played a certain role in the development of Greek science.
• In 1950, the myth “Orpheus and Eurydice” was filmed in a modified form in France. The plot of the film is significantly different from the ancient Greek myth.
• Gluck was the first composer to combine poetry and music into a single whole. The author's efforts were rewarded with stunning success, honorary titles and cash prizes. In 1774, Maria Theresa awarded the great maestro the title of court composer with a salary of 2,000 guilders, and Marie Antoinette awarded famous author 20,000 livres for "Orpheus" and the same for "Iphigenia".

Popular arias and numbers

Overture (listen)

Orpheus' Aria - Che farò senza Euridice (listen)

Choir of Furies - Chi Mai dell "Erebo (listen)

Eurydice's Aria - Che fiero momento (listen)

History of creation

According to Greek mythology, Orpheus was revered as great musician. This to the legendary hero worshiped like a deity, so opera productions about him are very natural. The earliest opera score based on the story of Orpheus dates back to 1600. Later, XVIII and 19th centuries, composers repeatedly create their own musical works with the participation of this character, and among the most newest authors appears French composer And musical critic Darius Milhaud.

Today we can see only one version of the plot about Orpheus - this is the work of Christophor Willibald Gluck “Orpheus and Eurydice”. Together with his like-minded librettist Raniero da Calzabigi, Austrian composer slightly changed the plot of the myth. The number of actions has been reduced, but many choral numbers and ballet inserts have been added. The opera, based on the Greek myth, premiered on October 5, 1762 in Vienna. Ancient heroes appeared before the viewer as mere mortals with feelings and emotions inherent ordinary people. Thus, the author expressed his categorical protest against pathos and arrogance.

“Orpheus fell in love with Eurydice - what old story"... So begins this rock opera by Alexei Zhurbin and playwright Yuri Dimitrin, which appeared in 1975. The first Soviet rock opera, which laid the foundation for this genre on the domestic stage.

In the 70s, almost nothing was known about the rock opera genre in the USSR. Foreign discs with recordings of popular Western rock operas were available to few, and this genre was not officially popularized in the country: the leadership of the USSR Ministry of Culture considered it ideologically hostile Soviet state. The term “rock” alone evoked rejection and hostility in them. However, musicians and music lovers still found the opportunity to listen to the best Western rock operas: discs and tape recordings were brought from tours and foreign tours.

The new genre, actually banned in the Soviet Union, impressed not only ordinary music lovers, but also inspired many professional musicians. One of them was Anatoly Vasiliev, artistic director of the Soviet VIA “Singing Guitars,” who literally fell in love with Webber’s rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” and decided, contrary to the official opinion of the Ministry of Culture, that the time had come to create domestic works in this genre. With a proposal to write a rock opera, Vasiliev turned to famous composer Alexander Zhurbin, who not only supported the musician’s idea, but also found the author of the libretto - Yuri Dimitrin. The authors based the plot on famous legend about the golden-voiced Thracian singer Orpheus. However, the legend and the libretto of the opera are two completely different stories. Leningrad playwright Yuri Dimitrin (by the way, a chemist by training) told the viewer a story of all-conquering love that can bring a person back from hell. The first rock opera in the USSR was called “Orpheus and Eurydice.”

By the end of 1974, work on the work was completed. Presenting his brainchild at a meeting of the Lenconcert artistic council, Zhurbin played the piano and sang, and Dimitrin read the stage directions and sang along where he could. Surprisingly, despite the alien genre and absolutely “non-Soviet” plot, the strict artistic council allowed “Orpheus and Eurydice” to pass and gave the go-ahead for the production. The only hitch occurred in the regional party committee: they rejected the word “rock” in the definition of the genre. However, after the librettist proposed replacing the disgraced word with the neutral “zong” (which means “pop song” in German) by analogy with Brecht’s “The Threepenny Opera,” party officials had no more questions.

Premiere of "Orpheus and Eurydice"

Mark Rozovsky took charge of directing the play. With his directorial talent, he enhanced the effect of convention laid down by the author of the libretto, as a result of which at the premiere the viewer saw a minimum of scenery and a maximum of excellent acting.

The role of Orpheus was brilliantly performed by Albert Asadullin. His excellent acting skills and strong, unusually clear voice with a huge range literally made the viewer fall in love with the character. legendary singer. Note that Asadullin is the second “non-professional” in the team of creators and performers of “Orpheus and Eurydice”: just like Yuri Dimitrin, Albert did not have a special education (he had previously received a diploma as an artist-architect). And his stage and singing talent shone just as brightly, which the admiring audience appreciated from the first minutes of the performance.

The image of the beautiful Eurydice was embodied in the play by Irina Ponarovskaya, soloist of VIA“Singing Guitars”, who by that time graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory.

Separately, it is worth talking about the performer of the role of Charon, Bogdan Vivcharovsky - the only Soviet and Russian artist, who received the title “Honored Artist of Russia” in 2001 for his work in a rock opera. The owner of a powerful velvety baritone has played this role since the premiere for more than 30 years, and this record was recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.

Triumphant procession of "Orpheus" across the theater stage

The first Soviet rock opera was a stunning success. For ten theater seasons The play "Orpheus and Eurydice" was performed 2000 times on all major stages of the country. Interesting fact: despite its enormous popularity, the performance was never shown abroad, but it was awarded a foreign diploma with the British Musical Award “for outstanding services in the genre of rock music.” A year after the premiere, Musical Week magazine named the Soviet rock opera best performance 1975.

Later, in 1979, Orpheus was staged by the Czechoslovak Musical Theater of Bratislava.

In 1999, the premiere took place at the St. Petersburg Rock Opera Theater new version performance.

In 2000, the audience saw the premiere of the updated play, staged by Albert Asadullin.

Unfortunately, there is no video recording of the first performance left. And the album of two records, released by Melodiya, conveys only the magnificent sound of voices and orchestra, but does not give a complete idea of ​​the dynamism of the plot and the intensity of passions.

Throughout its history, the rock opera “Orpheus and Eurydice” has survived eight theatrical productions, half of which were... ballet. basis ballet performances, staged on the stages of the Perm, Kharkov and Samarkand opera and ballet theaters, as well as the Leningrad Maly Opera Theater, became a phonogram with a recording of the opera version of “Singing Guitars”.

In 2003, the first Soviet rock opera “Orpheus and Eurydice” was included in the Guinness Book of Records for an unprecedented record: at the time of registration of the record, the musical, as the “Orpheus” genre was defined in the West, was performed by one group for the 2350th time.

Imagine: two people - he and she - met and fell in love with each other. But he is a singer, a genius, hungry for fame and recognition; he leaves his beloved and does not notice how he is wasting, selling off his gift, becoming alien to her... “What an old story!” - you will interrupt me. And you’ll be absolutely right: it’s old. But also forever new.

This is the story that is told modern myth about Orpheus, the first Russian rock opera - “Orpheus and Eurydice”.

The artistic director of the Singing Guitars VIA, Anatoly Vasiliev, having first heard Andrew Lloyd-Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, truly fell in love with the genre and decided that the time had come for a similar production in the USSR. He turned to composer Alexander Zhurbin, and he invited librettist Yuri Dimitrin.

Alexander Borisovich Zhurbin is a composer who works in different, even polar genres, from pop songs to symphonies, the first of which he wrote when he was fifteen years old. Talented man talented in everything, and Alexander Zhurbin is another confirmation of this. Nowadays he is also known as a journalist, collaborating with such publications as Obshchaya Gazeta, Izvestia, Literary newspaper", "New Russian word”, who worked in America for Radio Liberty, and even wrote two books, one of which - “How it was done in America” - was published in 1999 in Moscow, and the second - “Alexander Zhurbin.compositor” - was just released . He was born in Tashkent, graduated from the Tashkent Conservatory in cello, then studied at the Institute. Gnessins in Moscow, then in graduate school at the Leningrad Conservatory. Since 1990, A. Zhurbin has lived in New York, where in 1992 he created the first and only Russian-American theater “Wandering Stars” (alas, after nine productions it exists only nominally - there have been no new performances since 1997). Now the composer has six operas, sixteen musicals, three ballets, more than two thousand songs, music for fifty films; he is the organizer of the annual Russian Film Festival in America.

His co-author, Yuri Georgievich Dimitrin, is perhaps the only person in the world who is engaged not only in practice, but also in the theory of libretto: a genre in which he has been working since 1966 (although by training he is... a chemist). He wrote more than fifty plays for musical theater - original and translated librettos, for operas and operettas; many articles and reviews; memoir essay about D. Shostakovich “My musical history"and the book "We are not allowed to predict" about the libretto of D. Shostokovich's opera "Lady Macbeth Mtsensk district" Since 1996 in St. Petersburg theater academy reads to theater students unique course"Dramaturgy of the Opera Libretto".

On November 28 and December 11, 1974, meetings of the Lenconcert artistic council were held, at which the authors presented their creation: the Composer sang and played the piano, and the Librettist sang along where he could and read the stage directions. Now it’s hard to imagine that our history might not have existed due to the grace of a very large and very round seal of some Troika... But everything went well: the opera was “missed.” Moreover, in the protocol you can find such reviews as “I liked it extremely”, “excellent work”... A hitch occurred in the Regional Party Committee - they did not like the word “rock” in the title. In order to avoid troubles, Yu. Dimitrin proposed replacing it with the politically neutral word “zong”, borrowed from the dramaturgy of Bertolt Brecht.

The plot of the opera is far from the plot of the myth. Only the formal scheme has been preserved: the love of the heroes, separation, Orpheus’s attempt to find Eurydice again, his return to life without her and, finally, their reunion forever. There's not much in the play characters: four main ones (Orpheus, Eurydice, Fortuna and Charon), three supporting ones - singers who compete with Orpheus... And one more who reigns on stage throughout the entire performance. These are the Messengers - a choir that performs the notorious zongs, tells the story of the heroes and seems to decide their fate.

In search of glory, Orpheus leaves his beloved Eurydice, goes to a singing competition and wins it. However, the admiration of the fans, the glorification of the insensitive crowd and the favor of Glory-Fortune change his heart, and when he comes to his beloved with victory, she does not recognize him. Charon - the carrier of souls to the afterlife - warns Orpheus, telling his fate: he himself was once a singer, but, having lost love, he lost his song, voice, talent. His words make the devastated Orpheus come to his senses: he again goes to Return trip, “in the hope of finding oneself who has left.”

But what can Eurydice do? "You don't love, Orpheus, your heart in the ice,” she says, and disappears, saying only in parting: “Go, Orpheus, go and don’t look back...” Orpheus is alone. The past shock seems to restore his resolve. He finds himself able to challenge fate again. He shouts to Fortune: “I have lost everything, and you are no longer scary to me!..” - and then the song of Eurydice begins to sound in his soul again, tender and beautiful, as it once was. With her, Orpheus goes to a new competition - now he is not afraid of the fire of glory: love lives in his heart, and he knows that it is worth living only for her sake.

The first performer of the role of Orpheus was Albert Asadullin, an artist-architect by training. His beautiful clear voice with limitless range and unique acting abilities allowed him to create a unique, memorable image on stage.

Asadullin’s partner was Irina Ponarovskaya, the daughter of the famous jazzman Vitaly Ponarovsky, who graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory in piano and sang in “Singing Guitars.” However most performances, this role was played by Alla Kozhevnikova, who played Eurydice and Fortuna in the new version of the play. Fortuna - Olga Levitskaya - also came from “The Singers”; He still works in the song department of this group. And finally - Charon. This role was given to Bogdan Vivcharovsky, the owner of an amazingly beautiful and strong baritone. His “operatic” manner seemed to be reminiscent of that “yesterday” from which his character came. Being not much older than A. Asadullin, B. Vivcharovsky nevertheless managed to saturate the image of his hero with the intonations and feelings of an “old man ridiculed by life.”

Mark Rozovsky undertook the staging of the performance, strengthening the convention inherent in the zong-opera genre itself: Orpheus, crucified on microphone stands, harnessed to the cart of Fortune, the Singing God (mime O. Sergeev), surrounded by a microphone palisade of Eurydice... In the depths of the stage on long threads there was a golden fleece, reminiscent of the past of the mythological Orpheus (he, after all, helped the Argonauts) and served as a screen for the fantastic moving ornaments that lighting artist P. Pchelintsev created on it.

"Orpheus" was a dizzying success and was played about 2,000 times over ten seasons. Although the performance toured almost the entire Union with constant success, it was not shown abroad. That, however, did not prevent him from receiving a foreign diploma of the British Musical Award: in 1976, the magazine “Musical Week” “for outstanding services in the genre of rock music” declared “Orpheus” the performance of 1975.

The recording of the opera that remains in memory of the performance, released by the Melodiya company, only partially conveys the dynamism and intensity of passions of the theatrical original: the characters looked more faded in it; In many musical numbers They sped up the tempo, making them sound less natural.

The production of a new version of “Orpheus” was carried out at the Rock Opera Theater in 1999 by Vladimir Podgorodinsky - the same man who, at one time, from the dying ensemble “Singing Guitars” created the living and well-being Rock Opera Theater, the only one in Russia a repertory theater working in the genre that its name eloquently declares.

Podgorodinsky's production tells a completely different story: not about the victory of love, but about the invincible power of fate, for which Charon and even Fortune are the same toys as Eurydice and Orpheus. And now the motto of the performance can, perhaps, be considered the verse of the zong, sounding from the lips of the Messengers: “You are right, wanderer, oaths are stupid, words of repentance are empty, and only a sacrificial act could still save you.” Could. But it didn’t save: the opera ends, as in the “1975 version,” with the chords with which it began, but they mean something completely different. Orpheus became Charon. And anyone in his place is doomed to go the same way.

In total, Orpheus went through eight productions, four of which were... ballets. They danced to the soundtrack of “Singing Guitars” with the full text of “Orpheus” on the stages of the opera and ballet theaters of Perm, Samarkand, Kharkov; staged a ballet based on Orpheus and the Leningrad Maly Opera theatre. In 1979, Orpheus was staged Musical theater Bratislava (Czechoslovakia). In December 2000, the premiere of the version of Orpheus, directed by Albert Asadullin, took place.

Almost everyone knows the story of Orpheus, the legendary Thracian singer, who sang so that not only people, animals and sea waves could hear him, but even the gods. Orpheus' wife Eurydice dies from a snake bite, and he goes after her to Hades, the dark underground kingdom, where translucent shadows of the dead walk, wanting only one thing - sacrificial blood... Touching the heart of the queen of the underworld Persephone with his singing, our hero receives permission to bring out the shadow of his beloved back to Earth. True, only under one condition - not to look back at Eurydice walking (or not walking? - but how can you find out if you can’t even look back?). This test is not easy to withstand - and Orpheus looks back. Eurydice returns to Hades, now forever, and Orpheus returns to Earth, but only to soon join his wife: according to the most common version of the myth, the Bacchantes kill him, angry that he refused to sing Dionysus and did not pay attention to women. This subject was addressed by Tsvetaeva, Rilke, Shelley, Bryusov, Blok, Monteverdi, Gluck, Haydn, Offenbach, Liszt, Stravinsky. It was about Orpheus that one of the world's first operas was written - "Euridice", presented in 1600 in Florence on the occasion of the wedding of Maria de' Medici and Henry IV. Its authors were the poet Ottavio Rinuccini, the first librettist in the history of opera, and the singer-composer Jacopo Peri. You can read more about the myth of Orpheus in the literature of the 18th - 20th centuries here. What is zong as a theatrical term? This is a song that seems to wedge itself into the stage narrative and takes it to a new, partly surreal level. Thus, the heroes of Brecht’s “The Threepenny Opera”, performing their zong songs, seem to be identified with the author, with the narrator. Zong is both a resonant text, and the author's morality, and a commentary on what is happening on stage. It is interesting that even now, when both the authors and the public have long called “Orpheus” a “rock opera,” the zong opera genre has received independent development and is now perceived by many as the “legitimate” name of one of the opera genres.

The history of writing the rock opera "Orpheus and Eurydice"

Hello! With you in the program "Music Hall" Mikhail Predtechensky.

It happens that such a coincidence happens: this year, 2015, all three living classics of the Russian musical and rock opera celebrate the same date - their 70th anniversary. Celebrated it in January Maxim Dunaevsky. Just recently, in July, - Alexey Rybnikov. Well, on August 7th I turned 70 years old Alexander Zhurbin- author of more than 20 musicals and rock operas.

A. Zhurbin: It is too amazing story. Albert Asadullin appeared completely by accident. We understood that the role of Orpheus is the main role in this performance. And I wrote a rather difficult part for a high tenor. It was difficult to find such a performer. And then Albert Asadullin came, who at that time was still an architect, but somewhere he sang in some amateur group. He said he wanted to try out for the role of the second singer. There were only three singers there, besides Orpheus. I listened and said: nothing. And when A. Asadullin left, I turned to Vasiliev and said: “Tolya, this is the real Orpheus. He is him.” “Well, he’s so young and completely inexperienced,” I heard in response. “Orpheus was also young and inexperienced, and it’s good that he was very young and inexperienced,” I insisted. In general, we tried it, and he really did an excellent job with this game. Not long ago I was organizing a big concert of mine at the Variety Theater in Moscow, and Albert Asadullin came. Of course, it cannot be said that the person has not changed at all. But, nevertheless, he looks amazing, slim, handsome, and from a distance completely young. And his voice sounds absolutely divine. He again sang Orpheus’s exit aria “And I Lost Eurydice.” I was amazed at how much talent he retained.

4. The first duet of Orpheus and Eurydice from the rock opera “Orpheus and Eurydice” by A. Zhurbin and Yu. Dimitrin sounds.

"Success" Orpheus and Eurydice" was huge. Thousands of performances, hundreds of reviews, dozens of cities where the rock opera “Singing Guitars” toured. By the way, the rock opera was never released abroad. Nevertheless, in 1976, "Music week" magazine recognized "Orpheus" "best performance of the year". Well, later "Singing Guitars" become St. Petersburg Theater rock opera directed by Vladimir Podgorodinsky. By the way, did you know that it is the rock opera “Orpheus and Eurydice”, and not “Cats” by E. Lloyd Webber, that is the longest-running musical in the history of this genre? It has been running at the St. Petersburg Rock Opera Theater for 35 years!

A. Zhurbin: Look at that wall over there, unfortunately, radio listeners cannot see this; there hangs a diploma about the inclusion of “Orpheus and Eurydice” in the Guinness Book of Records as “the longest-running musical or rock opera.” It's not important, but it's incredible in itself. And there was one artist left, although only one, who played the role of Charon at the premiere. This Bogdan Vivcharovsky. He still plays this role, and he plays it wonderfully. And his voice still sounds powerful. If you have the opportunity, play some track in this place where Charon is involved. It sounds very powerful there. And he still sings this part.

5. The song of Charon (“Another young man meets in dreams…”) from the rock opera “Orpheus and Eurydice” by A. Zhurbin and Y. Dimitrin is played.

WITH Nowadays, reworking what has already been written is in fashion, it’s time for remakes, as musicians say. Old songs and musicals are covered in new way. Is Alexander Zhurbin going to modernize Orpheus and Eurydice? As it turned out, no...

A. Zhurbin: I think there is no need to redo it. Of course, I would write a lot differently now, but here it is, as it is. Very many, and during this time I met great amount people, and in the most different places Globe- from Siberia to Australia and Argentina, where I have been, when they find out that I am me, Alexander Zhurbin, who wrote “Orpheus and Eurydice,” they say that they grew up on my rock opera, that they listened to it on a vinyl disc, which is still stored. Many bring vinyl records so that I can autograph the discs. They are so drunk, they can barely breathe, as they say, but, nevertheless, people keep this record of a rock opera. And they are the ones who say that they still like her. And I really like it.

Although I see that this work is youthful. After all, I was then a very young man. There are a lot of things I would do wrong now. But as my teacher said Dm. Shostakovich(I call him my teacher, although I consulted with him for a very short time, but I have the right to choose my teacher), “correct this in the next essay.” There is never a need to correct what has already been written. That's why I wouldn't remake the rock opera.

But I recently attended a performance in St. Petersburg. Huge Palace of Culture, full hall. The performance that was on there seemed very fresh to me. A lot of very young people are now participating in it. For example, there I V. Podgorodinsky showed new Eurydice, who is only 18 years old. It's amazing that rock opera is passed down from generation to generation. And the audience sat in the hall, mostly young - 20-25 years old. And she received the performance very well, the audience clapped well. And I realized that there is no need to change anything.
So “Orpheus” will live and win in endless singing competitions for many more years. The story of how Orpheus fell in love with Eurydice is not only sad, but also eternal. In a week - continuation of the story about the musicals of Alexander Zhurbin.

Until then next week and the next musical.

6. The song “Orpheus fell in love with Eurydice…” is played from the rock opera “Orpheus and Eurydice” by A. Zhurbin and Yu. Dimitrin.

culture Music hall Alexander Zhurbin rock opera guest music

True love is an amazing feeling, before which the forces of Evil retreat... even death has no power over it! Sacrifice and fearlessness in the name of the beloved - I remember such feats ancient greek hero Orpheus. The wonderful legend has survived centuries and... many productions on stage, the most recent of which has certainly become the most grandiose. This is a real sensation, which the Ukrainian stage has never seen before: more than 100 artists, including soloists from unique technology, choir, ballet, musicians symphony orchestra"neighboring" with a rock band and even the most real DJ. Add to this visual projections and an impressive but absolutely safe “fire” show and you will get an amazing “Orpheus and Eurydice Forever” in Kyiv.

Their predecessors

U ancient greek myths are known to have no date of birth - they seem to exist throughout human history. No wonder that a beautiful legend Many generations of sculptors, artists and composers tried to capture the two lovers in their works. For the first time, music lovers lined up to buy tickets for the opera “Orpheus and Eurydice Forever” already in 1762, the authors of this version were composer K. Von Gluck and librettist R. de Calzabigi. Operas based on a similar plot were created by immortal classics Joseph Haydn and Ernst Kshenek. Even in the Soviet Union, which was closed to creative experiments, Alexander Zhurbin and Yuri Dimitrin accomplished quite successful attempt to create a rock opera based on mythological material in the tightly censored year of 1975... incredible! It is clear that after such exploits of their predecessors, quite comparable to the descent of Orpheus into the kingdom of Hades, Ukrainian artists were simply obliged to create something incredible.

Orpheus and Eurydice in the 21st century

The task of surpassing previous productions was handled superbly by composer Mikhail Brunsky and choreographer Andrei Tsar, whose name is now well-known not only thanks to the collapsed alliance with. Of course, the creators of special effects, scenography and costumes put a lot of effort into it. On October 21, 2018 at 19:00 on stage in the rock opera “Orpheus and Eurydice Forever” the audience will see the artists in the characters greek heroes. The most impressionable will cry during the lyrical scenes, those thirsty for “action” will be impressed by Orpheus’s journey into the underground afterworld. Will this production end with a happy ending (unlike classical myth) - this will become the main intrigue of the evening!