Leonid Desyatnikov

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Leonid Arkadievich Desyatnikov (Russian: Леони́д Арка́дьевич Деся́тников, born: October 16, 1955, Kharkiv) is a Russian composer.

Desyatnikov graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory in 1978. In recent years he has worked closely with Gidon Kremer. He has written the music to a number of films, including Sunset (Zeldovich, 1990). His opera Rosental's Children commissioned and staged at the Bolshoi Theatre made an enormous and scandalous success.

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[edit] Work

He is the author of five operas, the ballet A Love Song in Minor, the symphony Sacred Winter, vocal cycles to the poems of Rilke and the OBERIU poets, and several instrumental variations on the themes of Ástor Piazzolla.

The style of his music is defined by the composer himself as “an emancipation of consonance”, transformation of banality and ‘maximalism’ with a human face”. His favourite genre is “a tragic naughtiness”.

[edit] Operas

  • Poor Liza (Бедная Лиза) one-act chamber opera, libretto by Leonid Desyatnikov after Nikolai Karamzin (1976; 1980)
  • Nobody Wants to Sing or Bavo-bravissomo, a Pioneer Anisimov (Никто не хочет петь, или Браво-брависсимо, пионер Анисимов a comic opera for children in two acts, libretto by B. Chaban (1982)
  • Vitamin of the Growth (Витамин роста) one-act classical opera for children, for the soloists and piano after the poem by Oleg Grigoriev (1985)
  • Tsar Demyan (Царь Демьян) - a frightful opera performance (a collective project by five authors - Leonid Desyatnikov and Vyacheslav Gaivoronsky from St. Petersburg, Iraida Yusupova and Vladimir Nikolayev from Moscow, and the creative collective "Kompozitor," a pseudonym for the well-known music critic Pyotr Pospelov), libretto by Elena Polenova after a folk-drama Tsar Maksimilyan, premiere June 20, 2001 Mariinski Theatre, St Petersburg. Prize "Gold Mask, 2002" and "Gold Soffit, 2002".
  • Rosenthal's Children (Дети Розенталя) opera in two acts, libretto by Vladimir Sorokin. Commissioned by the Bolshoi theatre, premiere March 23, 2005

[edit] Other genres

  • Gift (Dar), after Gavrila Derzhavin
  • The Love and Life of a Poet, a vocal cycle to the poems by Daniil Kharms and Nikolay Oleynikov
  • A Leaden Echo, for voice and instruments after Gerard Manley Hopkins,
  • The Rite of Winter 1949, a symphony for chorus, soloists and orchestra.

[edit] Film music

  • Lost in Siberia ("Затерянный в Сибири", Mitta)
  • Katia Izmailova (Todorovsky, 1994)
  • Hammer and Sickle ("Серп и молот", Livnev, 1994)
  • Giselle's Mania ("Мания Жизели", Uchitel, 1995)
  • The Prisoner of the Mountains ("Кавказский пленник", Bodrov, 1996)
  • His Wife's Diary (Uchitel, 2000).
  • Sunset ("Закат", Zeldovich, 1990)
  • Moscow ("Москва")
  • The Evening near Moscow ("Подмосковные вечера")

[edit] Quotations

"A farce, a popular opera, a folk play or a parable - all of these descriptions are valid for the bright, joyful production of Tsar Demyan which premiered on the stage of the Maly Drama Theatre on June 20 and 23 as part of the "White Nights" Festival. The folklore play about the apostate Tsar and his martyred son has its roots in the persecution of the first Christians under the Roman Emperor Diocletian, and was extremely popular in factories and villages alike, even gaining popularity among the military. Essentially, the play was a true piece of folk theater - and folklore, as we know, is always anonymous. It was decided to write the music for this play in the spirit of folk primitivism." (Giulara Sadykh-zade in St. Petersburg Times Issue No. 682 (49), Friday, June 29, 2001)

"Leonid Desyatnikov's Rosenthal's Children, composed to a libretto by the highly controversial fiction writer Vladimir Sorokin, has just opened at the Bolshoi Theatre. The production is arguably the season's most provocative. Here, Mozart is a clone brought to life at Doctor Rosenthal's laboratory. With the government subsidies for cloning and stem cell exploration, as well as for other areas of basic research, cut off during Boris Yeltsin's presidency in the early 1990s, clones of Mozart and other great composers-such as Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, and Pyotr Tchaikovsky - find themselves loose on Moscow's streets, exposed to the murky post-Soviet reality, memories whereof are still fresh for many Muscovites." (Dmitry Kosyrev, RIA Novosti, political commentator, Saturday, June 10, 2006)

"The Bolshoi was nominated for Leonid Desyatnikov's new Rosenthal’s Children, which was accused of being "pornographic" and prompted an investigation by the Russian State Duma when it opened last year..." (By Ben Mattison, March 24, 2006)

"Gold Mask 2006: Special Awards of the Musical Theatre Jury. Bolshoi Theatre – for the initiative of developing contemporary Russian opera with Rosenthal’s Children by Leonid Desyatnikov and Vladimir Sorokin." (Official announcement)

[edit] External links

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