Ru
EnE. Okuneva, D. Semko
Alexey Krasheninnikov’s opera-reading “Cursed Days”: genre poetics and dramaturgy
The article focuses on the chamber opera “Cursed Days” by the St. Petersburg composer Alexey Krasheninnikov, which is viewed through the prism of the peculiarities of the genre and drama. The composition was created in 2015 by order of the Wiener Collage ensemble. Designated by the composer himself as an opera-reading and involving a concert performance, it demonstrates a new model of opera in which the features of mono-opera, monodrama, documental music theatre, melodic declamation and cantata are synthesized. The article analyzes the multi-part nature of the libretto, which includes, in addition to the book of the same name and poems by Ivan Bunin (“Svyatogor and Ilya”, “The Eve”, “Whisper a spell in the glare”), poetic texts by Vladimir Mayakovsky (“The Left March”), Dmitry Merezhkovsky (“The Return”), spiritual verse of the 16th century, and a phonogram of V. Lenin’s speech “What is the Soviet Power?”. It is noted that the specifics of the opera’s dramaturgy are determined by the interaction of contrasting plans – subjective psychological and symbolic (images of Catastrophe, Revolution, Penitential Soul, Homeland), specifically historical and timeless, represented by a complex of diverse musical thematic and stylistic means. (In particular, along with the author’s material, the opera quotes a spiritual verse, as well as the revolutionary songs “Yablochko” and “Brave, Comrades, in Step”, which serve as a documentary characteristics of the era). The principle of differentiation of speech and singing according to semantic and dramatic characteristics, consistently pursued by the composer, belongs to innovative methods. Special attention is paid to the processes of symphonization of opera. Conclusions are drawn about the new research of A. Krasheninnikov in the field of musical theatre, as well as the similarity of his composition with the traditions of the Russian opera school.
Key words
Alexey Krasheninnikov, Ivan Bunin, “Cursed Days”, opera-reading, genre synthesis, opera dramaturgy.
For citation
Okuneva E., Semko D. Alexey Krasheninnikov’s opera-reading “Cursed Days”: genre poetics and dramaturgy // South-Russian Musical Anthology. 2025. No. 2. Pp. 36–51.
