Semyon Kotko
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| Operas by Sergei Prokofiev |
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The Gambler (1916) |
Semyon Kotko (Семён Котко in Russian) is an opera in five acts by Sergei Prokofiev (Op. 81) to a libretto by Sergei Prokofiev and Valentin Katayev based on Valentin Katayev's 1937 novel I Am The Son Of Working People.
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[edit] Background
Prokofiev's only opera on a Soviet subject, Semyon Kotko was composed between the summers of 1938 and 1939 and received its premiere on 23 June 1940 at the Stanislavsky Opera Theatre in Moscow. The reception was moderately enthusiastic, but at that time ideology took precedence over all other considerations, and discussions in the press focused exclusively around Semyon Kotko's importance as a “Soviet Opera”. The ingenious value of music was simply ignored.
Semyon Kotko was immediately withdrawn early in 1941, and the opera was not staged again until 1958 at Brno in Czechoslovakia. It finally entered the repertory of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in 1970, and it is now one of the main repertory of Kirov Opera at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg led by renowned Prokofiev interpreter Valery Gergiev.
From the beginning, it was intended that the opera would be produced by the brilliant director and a great friend of Prokofiev, Vsevolod Meyerhold, who was at that time the director of the Stanislavsky Opera Theatre. Both Prokofiev and Meyerhold had tried to plan productions of several of Prokofiev's operas in the past, but all of them had failed. However, on 20 June 1939, just a week before Prokofiev completed the piano score of Semyon Kotko, Meyerhold was arrested and nothing would be heard about his fate from then on; many years later it came out that he was shot in February 1940. The whole production fell into jeopardy. An actress, Serafima Birman, took Meyerhold's place, but the result was dissatisfying.
Prokofiev later extracted an orchestral suite (Op. 81a) from the opera.
Although many critics have argued that Semyon Kotko is too complicated, unmelodic, and hard to understand, the opera has been rediscovered and appreciated by the audience nowadays. The famous pianist Sviatoslav Richter said, "The evening that I heard Semyon Kotko for the first time, I understood that Prokofiev was a great composer."[citation needed]
[edit] Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast 23 June 1940, Moscow (Conductor: - ) |
|---|---|---|
| Semyon Kotko,a demobilized soldier who loves Sofya | ||
| Semyon's mother | ||
| Frosya, Semyon's sister who loves Mikola | ||
| Remeniuk, chairman of the village Soviet and commander of a partisan unit | ||
| Tkachenko, a former sergeant-major and Sofya's father | ||
| Sofya, Tkachenko's daughter who loves Semyon | ||
| Tsaryov, a sailor and one of the friends of Semyon who gets hanged by the Germans | ||
| Lyubka, Tsaryov's fiancée | ||
| Mikola, a young lad who loves Frosya | ||
| Ivasenko, an old man and the other one of the friends of Semyon who gets hanged by the Germans | ||
| Workman, the former landowner in the name of Klembovsky | ||
| Von Wierhof, lieutenant in the German army | ||
| German sergeant | ||
| German interpreter, two old men, three village women, two villagers, young man, Bandura player, two Haydamaks, peasants, partisans, Red Army soldiers, Germans, Haydamaks | ||
[edit] Synopsis
The story takes place in Ukraine in 1918. The newly-established Bolshevik government has reached peace with the Germans, but some of their forces still occupy the territory. The advancing Red Army is hampered by Ukrainian nationalists and the remaining Germans. Semyon, a demobilized soldier and prominent young man in his village, is hoping to marry Sofya, daughter of the wealthy Tkachenko. The latter hopes to restore the old order and plots with loyalist elements and Germans to undermine the revolution and to thwart Semyon's marital intentions. In the end, Semyon, after Tkachenko's intrigues have cost the lives of two friends, is reunited with Sofya, and Tkachenko is arrested and executed leaving behind the merry chorus of the Red Army.
[edit] Recordings
| Orchestra | Choir | Conductor | Record Company | Year of Recording | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirov Orchestra | Kirov Chorus | Valery Gergiev | Philips | 1999 | CD |
| USSR State Radio Symphony Orchestra | USSR Radio Choir | Mikhail Zhukov | Chandos Historical | 1960 | CD |
[edit] Suite from Semyon Kotko
The orchestral suite, Op. 81a, consists of 8 movements, lasting around 40 minutes.
- Introduction
- Semyon and His Mother
- The Betrothal
- The Southern Night
- Execution
- The Village is Burning
- Funeral
- Ours Have Come
[edit] Recordings of the suite
| Orchestra | Conductor | Record Company | Year of Recording | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scottish National Orchestra | Neeme Järvi | Chandos | 1989 | CD |
| WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln | Michail Jurowski | CPO | 1997 | CD |
| USSR Radio/TV Large Symphony Orchestra | Gennadi Rozhdestvensky | Russian Revelation | 1985 | CD |
