Victory Over the Sun

Description

The Futurist opera Victory over the Sun, first staged in 1913 in St Petersburg, was a key event of the Russian avant-garde, notorious for its libretto, its unconventional score and its pioneering abstract sets and costumes designed by Kazimir Malevich. The iconic importance of Victory over the Sun as a theatrical event is universally acknowledged.

This volume brings together the first fully annotated translation of the libretto of this ‘anti-opera’ and other important primary source materials, including the score, the set and costume designs and contemporary newspaper reviews. The second part of the volume provides a wide-ranging collection of interpretive essays which explore the artistic, literary and musical dimensions of the staging, its theatrical and historical context, its relationship to Italian Futurism, and its position within the Russian modernist movement.

You can read more about the Pushkin House event on 22 November 2012 on the Russian Art and Culture website by following this link http:// www.russianartandculture.com/victory-over-sun-book-launch-pushkin-house/ (will open in a new window).

And you can see and hear more in Alexander Kan's report on the BBC Russian site by following this link http://www.bbc.co.uk/russian/multimedia/2012/11/121127_futuristic_dinner.shtml (will open in a new window).

In 1913, the year in which the Romanovs celebrated their tercentenary, the premieres of two revolutionary theatrical events brought Russian artists to the forefront of the European avant-garde. With its nonsensical ‘trans-sense’ libretto by Aleksei Kruchenykh and Velimir Khlebnikov, experimental score by Mikhail Matiushin and pioneering abstract sets and costumes by Kazimir Malevich, the Futurist opera Victory over the Sun may be compared in terms of its radical assault on artistic convention to Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring.

This interdisciplinary volume brings together a distinguished team of international scholars to discuss the artistic significance of this epoch-making ‘anti-opera’, which is now recognised as a key event of avant-garde cultural production, and a turning point in stage history.

The book offers new insight into the theatre practice and history of Russian Futurist performance, which, to date, has received little attention from theatre scholars despite its influence on the development of European drama in the twentieth century.

As well as an annotated translation of the libretto, the book includes reproductions of the score and contemporary newspaper reviews.

Illustrated throughout, and with a colour plate section containing twenty-seven colour images of costume designs, posters and other work by the abstract artist Kazimir Malevich.

Victory Over the Sun: The World’s First Futurist Opera

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

About the Text

About the contributors                                                                                                           

Introduction – Rosamund Bartlett and Sarah Dadswell                                                         

Texts and Scores

i.     Biographies of the Librettists, Set Designer and Composer

ii.    Annotated translation of the libretto of Victory Over the Sun (translated by Rosamund Bartlett)

iii.   Pobeda nad solntsem: facsimile of the original 1913 Russian publication, incorporating some fragments by Matiushin

iv.   Maria Ender’s transcription of Matiushin’s original score for Victory Over the Sun

v.    Contemporary reviews

vi.   ‘About the Opera Victory Over the Sun’, by Aleksei Kruchenykh           

Essays

The Russian Cubo-Futurist Opera Victory Over the Sun: Aleksei Kruchenykh’s Alogical Creation, Michaela Böhmig

Entertainment and Enlightenment in Late Imperial Russian Theatre, Murray Frame  

On the Eve: the Russian Stage 1911–1914, Laurence Senelick                                      

Victories over the Sun: the Drama of the Russian Futurists, Robert Leach   

Darkness and Light: Solar Eclipse as a Cubo-Futurist Metaphor John E. Bowlt        

Kazimir Malevich and the Designs for Victory Over the Sun, Christina Lodder    

Victory over the Sun – the Music, Catja Gaebel                             

“Be a Spectator with a Large Ear”: Victory over the Sun as Public Laboratory Experiment for Mikhail Matiushin's Theories of Colour Vision, Margareta Tillberg

Branding the Futurists, Sarah Dadswell

The Collision of Italian and Russian Futurism: Marinetti’s Visit to Russia, Aurora Egidio

Burnt by the Sun: the Transmutation of Performativity, Theatricality, and Framing in the Late Work of Kazimir Malevich, Anna Wexler-Katsnelson

A Modern Victory: Reflections on the 1999 Staging, Julia Hollander, Director and Jeremy Arden, Composer, in conversation with Sarah Dadswell

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Musique
• Culture musicale
• Histoire de la musique
• Musique
• European Studies
• Social Science
• Former Soviet Union
• Theater
• Sociologie, société et politique
• St Petersburg
• USSR
• MUSIC
• Kazimir Malévich
• Saint Petersburg
• Theatre
• History of art
• History of the Soviet Union
• Multiple signal classification
• Post-Soviet states
• Culture of the Soviet Union
• Art music
• General officer
• Cultural studies
• 20th century
• Soviet Union
• Kazimir Malevich
• Anthropology
• Classical
• Études européennes
• General
• Kasimir Malevitch
• History
• Musique savante
• Social
• Performance
• Opera
• ART
• Saint-Pétersbourg
• Culture
• Union des républiques socialistes soviétiques

Informations

• Publié par: University of Exeter Press
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780859899529
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 12 Mo

Extrait

I S B N 9780859898393

9 7 8 0 8 5 9 8 9 8 3 9 3

BARTLETT

ADSWELL

T H E W O R L D ’ S F I R S T F U T U R I S T O P E R A V I C T O R Y O V E R T H E S U N

E D I T E D B Y R O S A M U N D B A R T L E T T A N D S A R A H D A D S W E L L

Victory oVer the Sun

‘This project brings the highest possible standard of scholarship to bear on avant-garde cultural production. It includes a flawless translation of an otherwise very difficult text.’ Maria Gough, Professor of Modern Art, Harvard University

The Futurist operaVictory over the Sun, first staged in 1913 in St Petersburg, was a key event of the Russian avant-garde, notorious for its nonsensical libretto, its unconventional score and its pioneering abstract sets and costumes designed by Kazimir Malevich. A close analysis of the performance as an event reveals much about the role of Futurism in Russian and European avant-garde theatre history. This is made all the more important in the light of Russia’s entry into World War I the following year. This book brings together important source material – including an annotated translation of the libretto and contemporary newspaper reviews – and contextual essays on the opera’s significance. It will be of interest to students and scholars of Russia, art history, literature, theatre, music and cultural studies.

Rosamund Bartlettis Visiting Professor at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, London, and Visiting Research Fellow in the Music Department at King’s College London.Sarah Dadswellis a cultural historian specialising in performance and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter.

Exeter Performance Studies Series editors: Peter Thomson, Professor of Drama at the University of Exeter; Graham Ley, Professor of Drama and Theory at the University of Exeter; Steve Nicholson, Reader in Twentieth-Century Contemporary Theatre at the University of Sheffield.

From Mimesis to Interculturalism: Readings of Theatrical Theory Before and After ‘Modernism’ Graham Ley (1999)

British Theatre and the Red Peril: The Portrayal of Communism 1917–1945 Steve Nicholson (1999)

On Actors and Acting Peter Thomson (2000)

Grand-Guignol: The French Theatre of Horror Richard J. Hand and Michael Wilson (2002)

The Censorship of British Drama 1900–1968: Volume One 1900–1932 Steve Nicholson (2003)

The Censorship of British Drama 1900–1968: Volume Two 1933–1952 Steve Nicholson (2005)

Freedom’s Pioneer: John McGrath’s Work in Theatre, Film and Television edited by David Bradby and Susanna Capon (2005)

John McGrath: Plays for England selected and introduced by Nadine Holdsworth (2005)

Theatre Workshop: Joan Littlewood and the Making of Modern British Theatre Robert Leach (2006)

Making Theatre in Northern Ireland: Through and Beyond the Troubles Tom Maguire (2006)

“In Comes I”: Performance, Memory and Landscape Mike Pearson (2006)

London’s Grand Guignol and the Theatre of Horror Richard J. Hand and Michael Wilson (2007)

Theatres of the Troubles: Theatre, Resistance and Liberation in Ireland Bill McDonnell (2008)

The Censorship of British Drama, 1900–1968: Volume Three, The Fifties Steve Nicholson (2011)

British South Asian Theatres: A Documented History Graham Ley and Sarah Dadswell (2011)

Critical Essays on British South Asian Theatres edited by Graham Ley and Sarah Dadswell (2012)

Victory oVer the Sun The World’s First Futurist Opera

edited by R o s a m u n d  B a Rt l e t t and s a R a h  d a d s w e l l

First published in 2011 by University of Exeter Press Reed Hall, Streatham Drive Exeter, Devon, EX4 4QR

www.exeterpress.co.uk

© 2011 Rosamund Bartlett, Sarah Dadswell and the individual contributors

The right of Rosamund Bartlett, Sarah Dadswell and the individual contributors to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 0 85989 839 3

Typeset in Aldine and Gill Sans by JCS Publishing Services Ltd

Printed in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements About the Text About the Contributors

Contents

Introduction Rosamund BartlettandSarah Dadswell

PART I Texts and Scores  1Biographies of the Librettists, Set Designer and Composer  2 Annotated Translation of the Libretto ofVictory over the Sun  Rosamund Bartlett  3Pobeda nad solntsem:Facsimile of the Original 1913 Russian Publication, incorporating score fragments by Matiushin  4 Maria Ender’s transcription of Matiushin’s original score for Victory over the Sun  5 Contemporary Reviews  6 ‘About the OperaVictory over the Sun’  Aleksei Kruchenykh

PaRt II Essays

 1 The Russian Cubo-Futurist OperaVictory over the Sun: Aleksei Kruchenykh’s Alogical Creation Michaela Böhmig  2 Entertainment and Enlightenment in Late Imperial Russian Theatre Murray Frame  3 On the Eve: The Russian Stage 1911–1914 Laurence Senelick  4 Victories over the Sun: The Drama of the Russian Futurists Robert Leach

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Darkness and Light: Solar Eclipse as a Cubo-Futurist Metaphor John E. Bowlt Kazimir Malevich and the Designs forVictory over the Sun Christina Lodder Victory over the Sun: The Music Catja Gaebel ‘Be a Spectator with a Large Ear’:Victory over the Sunas a Public Laboratory Experiment for Mikhail Matiushin’s Theories of Colour Vision Margareta Tillberg Branding the Futurists Sarah Dadswell The Collision of Italian and Russian Futurism: Marinetti’s Visit to Russia Aurora Egidio Burnt by the Sun: The Transmutation of Performativity, Theatricality, and Framing in the Late Work of Kazimir Malevich Anna Wexler Katsnelson A ModernVictory: Reflections on the 1999 Staging Julia HollanderandJeremy Ardenin conversation with Sarah Dadswell

Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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285 315 323

Illustrations

Figures  1Tsar iudeiskii(‘King of the Jews’)137by the Grand Duke Konstantin  2 Nikolai Massalitinov as Claudius and Olga Knipper-Chekhova as Gertrude in the Gordon Craig/StanislavskyHamletat the Moscow Art Theatre, 1912 139  3 Caricature of Kornei Chukovsky as ‘an admirer of the Futurists’ 143  4Futurists at the Stray Dog 143  5The Cellar of the Stray Dog 143  6The Imaginary Invalidat the Moscow Art Theatre, as directed and designed by Aleksandr Benois, 1913 146  7 Fedor Komissarzhevsky’s production ofLe Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Nezlobin’s Theatre, Moscow, 1911 150  8 Kazimir Malevich,Black Circle,c166. 1923  9 Kazimir Malevich,Blue Cosmos, 1917 167  10 Anon.,‘The Largest Phase of the Solar Eclipse on 8 August, 1914 in Odessa (2.55 a.m.)’ 170  11 Anon., ‘Part of the Leo constellation in which the sun will be during its eclipse’ 171  12 Kazimir Malevich,Transrational Drawing172(Two Zeros), 1915  13 Anon., ‘Diagram tracking the sequence of the eclipse on 8 August, 1914’ 173  14 Anon., front cover of A. Mikhailov et al.,Polnoe zatmenie solntsa 8-go avgusta 1914 goda v Evropeiskoi Rossii 174  15 Anon., front cover of A. Orlov:O zatmenii solntsa 8 avgusta 1914 goda dlia goroda Odessy 175  16 Archive photograph of Aleksei Kruchenykh, Kazimir Malevich and Mikhail Matiushin, 1913 179  17 Kazimir Malevich, costume design forVictory over the Sun, the Traveller through All Centuries, 1913 180  18 Kazimir Malevich, costume design forVictory over the Sun, the Strong Man of the Future, 1913 181  19 Kazimir Malevich, costume design forVictory over the Sun, the Strong Man of the Future, 1915 181  20 Kazimir Malevich, design for a backcloth forVictory over the Sun, 1915 182  21 Kazimir Malevich, design for a backcloth forVictory over the Sun182, 1915

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Kazimir Malevich, set design forVictory over the Sun, Act Two, Scene Five, 1913 182 Kazimir Malevich,The Pilot,1913 183 Photograph of the actual performance ofVictory over the Sun, 1913, Act One, Scene One 185 Photograph of the actual performance ofVictory over the Sun, Act One, Scene Four 185 Kazimir Malevich, set design forVictory over the Sun, Act One, Scene One, 1913 186 Kazimir Malevich, costume design forVictory over the Sun, Nero and Caligula, 1913 186 Kazimir Malevich, set design forVictory over the Sun, Act One, Scene Two, 1913 186 Kazimir Malevich, set design forVictory over the Sun, Act One, Scene Three, 1913 187 Kazimir Malevich, set design forVictory over the Sun, Act One, Scene Four, 1913 187 Kazimir Malevich, set design forVictory over the Sun, Act Two, Scene Six, 1913 189 Drawing of a tesseract or four-dimensional square 191 The visible spectrum 214 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, ‘Chart IIA’ 221 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, colour chart 222 David Burliuk in Futurist garb with painted face, 1914 225 ‘Gordost’ khudozhnika’ (‘The Pride of the Artist’), cartoon, 1913 225 ‘Futuristicheskii disput’ (Futurist Debate), cartoon,1913 228 Lebedev, ‘Futuristy burliukaiut’, cartoon, 1913 228 ‘Mir iskusstva. Glavar’ (The World of Art), cartoon, 1913 229 Newspaper advertisement for international premieres of Futurist Theatre, 1913 230 Arnshtan, ‘Pervyi vecher futuristov’ (First Futurist Evening), cartoon, 1913 232 A. Lebedev, ‘Tozhe “lekstiia”’ (‘Call this a “Lecture”’), cartoon, 1913 236 Nero, ‘Triumf Marinetti’ ‘Marinetti’s a Hit’, cartoon 241 ‘Marinetti in Moscow’, 1914 243 Futurists on a tour of the Russian provinces, 1914 243 ‘Marinetti Gives a Lecture at the Hall of the Polytechnical Museum’, 1914 245 Lecture by Marinetti, St Petersburg, 1914 246 Cangiullo, Marinetti and Folgore performing at an Italian Futurist evening, 1914 252