And now, Glinka's other opera, based on a fairie tale poem by you-know-who. He was supposed to write the libretto, but never got around to it on account of being killed. As faerie tales often go, it's sort of hard to summarize, but I shall try. So the two title characters are going to get married! Ruslan is a knight and Lyudmilla is a princess of Kiev. There are also two other knights, Ratmir and Farlaf, who are jealous of Ruslan. But oh no! The court is paralyzed by magic while Lydumila is kidnapped by forces unknown! Her distraught father says that whoever rescues her can marry her, so Ruslan, Ratmir, and Farlaf all set out. Ruslan meets a good wizard named Finn who tells him that an evil dwarf, Chernomor, has kidnapped Lyudmilla, and also--unrelated and yet somehow not--there's an evil sorceress, Naina. Ruslan goes off to find Chernomor while Naina promises Farlaf that she'll help him win Lyudmila. For unclear reasons, in Chernomor's court, in addition to Lyudmila, there's another prisoner, Gorislava, Ratmir's forsaken lover. They meet again and fall back in love. Ruslan defeats Chernomor, but unfortunately, Lyudmila is under a sleeping spell that no one can break. Rusland, Ratmir, and Gorislava take her back home, but before they can get there, Farlaf, with Naina's help, captures her and takes her back so HE can win the prize (Naina just kind of disappears after this). But he can't wake her up! Fortunately, Finn appears and gives Ruslan a nodoz ring that'll break the spell and everyone's happy. Well, I guess Farlaf isn't super-happy (it's not specified in the libretto), but at least in this production, he's forgiven, which is a nice grace note.
Oh, and Ratmir's another trouser role, if you were counting.
I feel like faerie-tale operas are a bit hit-and-miss for me. If you have a comedy like La Cenerentola or Handel und Gretel, it's fine, but sometimes the unreality of the situation in a more serious opera robs it of potential dramatic power. This is even an issue in Rimsky-Korsakov operas that I like. Point being: I felt that that was the case here, and I definitely liked this less than A Life for the Tsar, which was a bit of a surprise, since it seems better-known/regarded.
It's certainly not that the music's bad: the overture opens things with a bang, and there are some real musical highlights herein, notably what I can only describe as a patter-song from Farlaf about how he's going to get Lyudmila and the inevitably Triumphant Chorus at the end. And yet, I feel that sometimes it's too much of a good thing, supporting a not-that-interesting story. In particular, there are several ballet sequences that go on for a VERY long time and that I couldn't help think could have benefitted from some judicious editing.
I dunno. It's all right, but it's hard for me to feel that much enthusiasm for it. Not, as I say, bad--and, as ever, the Mariinsky Theatre puts on a hell of a show (with a young Anna Natrebko as Lyudmila, for what that's worth, but don't get too excited--it's actually a fairly small role, what with the character being a prisoner for most of the runtime, and doesn't really give her much chance to shine), but I cannot help feeling vaguely disappointed.
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