Opera that conquered fate
Among the opera performances of "Stars of the White Nights" '99, Verdi's "Force of Destiny" is the only premiere of the last season. True, since then it has not appeared on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater, so the feeling of its premiere has not yet dried up, and discussions around the “historical performance” have resumed with the same force. However, this time in a new context, which was determined by the new reconstruction carried out at the Mariinsky Theater - “The Sleeping Beauty”.

Compared to “The Sleeper,” where the choreography, scenery and costumes were recreated, in “Force of Destiny” there were significantly fewer objects of reconstruction: the main thing was the scenery of the master of the Russian scenographic school, Andreas Roller, for the premiere of the opera in 1862. But the artist Andrei Voitenko had to solve many more mysteries and research problems than with “Sleeping”, where he carried out a truly titanic work. In “Force of Destiny” he had to assemble a gallery of opera paintings from scattered black and white sketches, add color and fill in the lost fragments.
Thanks to "Sleeper", the place of "Force of Destiny" was more clearly defined. She not only took her intended position in the series of Mariinsky reconstructions, which already included “Sadko” designed by Korovin and “Ruslan and Lyudmila” by Golovin. But she also separated herself from them, joining “Sleeping” - since in hindsight it became clear that both performances, oddly enough, pose similar tasks for the modern viewer and listener and raise similar claims.
Last year, the key word in the discussion around "Forces of Destiny" was the word "museum": assessment of the new project ranged from a museum experience to a curiosity, the only justification for which is good singing. Roller-Voitenko's scenery, however, was received calmly; director Elijah Moshinsky, who integrated the production into the proposed scenery, was received skeptically. In the assessments of the performance as a whole, what suddenly came to the fore was what seemed to be left behind the scenes: the blatant absurdities and absurdities of the plot.
It would seem that there is nothing to object to here: a pistol thrown aside shoots straight into the chest of the beloved’s father, the avenger brother stubbornly resurrects after two fights, there are regular disguises, incredible coincidences, terrible secrets and unbreakable vows. As in any real romantic opera, however.
Love and death, amore and morte were present in opera from the beginning; history was soon added, and in the 19th century - adventures. You can call this a set of cliches with which librettists stuffed their products, please. But we should not forget that among them there were real masters and that it was these positions that gave rise to music in which the most vital truth of feelings reigns. The plot of “Forces of Destiny” seems ridiculous to us, but Verdi was so carried away by it that he composed music without waiting for the end of the libretto.
Romantic opera is impossible without melodrama; excess is prescribed for it. The mortal sin of melodrama, as the prominent Austrian music historian Hans Gal wrote about it, is that it knows no boundaries of the absurd. Battle, duel, poison, dagger, murder, suicide are honestly laid out in a row - enjoy. That's what romantic opera is like—take it or leave it. But no, the modern listener and critic stand up for the truth of feelings, as if it is still necessary to defend the ideals of the “Mighty Handful,” and accuse the poor opera of a lack of everyday verisimilitude and monstrous conventions.
Both “The Force of Destiny” and “The Sleeper” became a courageous gesture by the Mariinsky Theater in nurturing the theatrical feelings of its audience. Both performances had to listen to reproaches that they play by their own rules, so far from the habits of a modern theatergoer that they seem wrong to him. “Sleeping” insults good taste with its variegated colors, “Force of Destiny” outrages logic with the absurdity of its plot and implausibility. But to scold or praise it in a system where the “truth of life” operates is absurd.

OLGA Kommersant-MANULKINA

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 112 dated June 30, 1999, p. 10