UDC 793.3
DOI: 10.36871/hon.202301089
Authors
Inna M. Romashchuk,
State Music and Pedagogical Institute named after M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov, Moscow, 109147, Russian Federation
Abstract
The phenomenon of the "lifeworld" (E. Husserl) in its national branches and cultural realities
is revealed in the operas of M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov largely due to the extended mass scenes.
A special place here is occupied by dance episodes and scenes in which characteristic elements
of different folk traditions, both those previously experienced in Russian music (oriental,
Spanish themes) and those introduced by Ippolitov-Ivanov in accordance with the conditions
of plot realities (Norwegian theme), are presented in a sharp and expressive way. It has
always been important for the composer to emphasize in operas the authentic, the present,
which has a timeless value, focusing on the forms of musical folklore. Folk dances, which are
represented in many mass scenes of the composer's operas, provided him such an opportunity,
as did extended ballet scenes (for example, in the opera "The Last Barricade"). With an
obvious aspiration to the ballet genre, the score of "Nestan Darejan" based on Shota Rustaveli's
poem "The Knight in the Tiger Skin" was created: the composer called this composition a ballet,
then an opera-ballet. The archive of Ippolitov-Ivanov holds the libretto of the ballet "The
Scythians", which could probably have interested the composer because of his special attitude
to the ballet genre. There are dance scenes in all of the composer's operas, including "Ruth",
based on a Biblical plot. There are also dance scenes in the libretti of operas he conceived, but
did not realize ("Chrysanthemum", "Miriam", "The Dressmaker").
Dance scenes emphasize the national flavor, create the realities of everyday scenes ("Azra",
"Treason"), enhance the contrast between the external and deeply psychological internal action
("Ole from Nordland"), characterize the characters and determine the main figurative
and semantic "tonality" of the work ("Asya"). Thanks to the dance, "windows" are opened
into another world of culture and folklore traditions, an interest in which the composer has
preserved throughout his life.
Keywords
dances and "ballet" in the operas by M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov, foreign national basis, drama role of dance scenes, opera-ballet "Nestan Darejan", libretto of the ballet "Scythians"