DOI: 10.36871 / hon.202203016
Authors
E. B. Dolinskaya
Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Moscow, 125009, Russian Federation
Abstract
The article is devoted to the revival of the opera "Asya" by M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov in a concert
version at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. The article compares the text of the
story "Asya" by I. S. Turgenev and the libretto of the eponymous opera by M. M. Ippolitov-
Ivanov, which was first staged at the Russian Private Opera on September 28, 1900 under the
direction of its author with the scenery by M. Vrubel.
The dramatic features of the opera "Asya" are briefly characterized as lyrical scenes,
partly inheriting the genre features of Tchaikovsky's opera "Eugene Onegin". The questions
of the internal relationship of the musical material are raised: through repetitions or
figurative allusions of waltz, through contrasting mass scenes (with an abundance of participants:
students, walking crowds, men, women, children) and lyrical chamber episodes
(Asya, her brother Gagin and Mr. N. N.). The role of the direct quotations in the score by
Ippolitov-Ivanov (the student's anthem "Gaudeamus igitur" and "Landesvater", the ceremony
of stringing student's hats on a sword), and light allusions to Tchaikovsky's "Eugene
Onegin", are discussed.
In conclusion, the concert performance of "Asya" at the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory
on June 6, 2022, is briefly reviewed.
Keywords
jubilee, opera "Asya", Ippolitov-Ivanov, Turgenev, Tchaikovsky, Simonov, performance