Mazeppa

Since the moment of its creation to the beginning of the 21^st century, Mazeppa by Tchaikovsky has returned to the playbill of the Bolshoi Theatre many times. It was the Historic Stage where its world premiere took place in 1884. It is no coincidence, Mazeppa was on the Bolshoi stage – this opera was written for big voices and is incredibly difficult for singers (their parts can be justifiably compared to Wagner’s). For one and a half centuries, the leading part was performed by many of the legendary singers, such as Pantelejmon Norcov, Alexei Ivanov, Pavel Lisitsian and Yuri Mazurok; and the other parts were performed by Ksenia Derzhinskaya, Tamara Milashkina, Nina Rautio (Maria), Ivan Petrov, Arthur Eisen and Yevgeny Nesterenko (Kochubey), Nadezhda Obukhova, Vera Davydova, Irina Arkhipova (Lyubov), Georgy Nelepp and Vladimir Atlantov (Andrei)…

Pushkin’s “Poltava”, which became the foundation of the libretto, had inspired the composer to create a tragic canvas about the death of the powerful grandee Vasily Kochubey’s family, one of the most large-scale and bloody events in the history of the operatic genre. The scenes of dramatic disputes in the opera are shaded in by romantic and scenic lyricism, which is reminiscent of the imagery of the landscapes of Russia’s south and its hinterland from the masterpieces by Arkhip Kuindzhi. Tchaikovsky softened the treacherous disposition of Mazeppa by providing the love scenes of him and Maria with passionate and lyrical music.

The new production of the opera on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre will be realised by the chief conductor, the music director Tugan Sokhiev, director Evgeny Pisarev and designer Zinovy Margolin. After the concert performances of Mazeppa, that had a successful run in March 2020, the opera is finally coming back to the Historic Stage of the theatre.