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| Arts Calendar / May 21 / Opera |
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19:00 | The Rape of Lucretia |
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Opera in two acts by Benjamin Britten. Music Director and Conductor: Jan Latham-Koenig. Conductor: Alexander Zhilenkov. In the UK-Russia Year of Music 2019, the Novaya Opera presents the first Moscow production of Benjamin Britten’s outstanding opera "The Rape of Lucretia" (1946). The theatre continues the English line in its repertoire: previously the Novaya Opera produced DIDO (its second part is a baroque masterpiece, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas) and Britten’s "The Turn of the Screw". "The Rape of Lucretia" is the composer’s very significant work. He wrote an amazing chamber opera for only 8 singers and an orchestra of 13 instruments. Though he began to compose chamber operas rather for costs reasons, Britten appreciated this genre very much. “It (chamber opera) gives the opportunity to focus on human psychology. And it is precisely this that has become the central theme of modern progressive art”. Ronald Duncan’s libretto is based on Andr? Obey’s drama and William Shakespeare’s poem "The Rape of Lucrece." This is a kind of a parable, a very deep and at the same time refined analysis of human psychology. Lucretia, the spouse of Roman general Collatinus, is a paragon of virtue and true love. Sextus Tarquinius, Tarquinius Superbus’ son, tries to inveigle her and, not having succeeded, rapes her. Novaya Opera Theatre |
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