Opera "The Slippers": content, video, interesting facts, history

P.I. Tchaikovsky opera "Cherevichki"

The work of the outstanding classic of Russian literature, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, has always attracted composers, but the tradition to use the works of the great writer in operatic art Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The merry fairy tale "The Eve before Christmas" so fascinated by the maestro with its poetic and gentle humor that he wrote on this story the wonderful lyric-comic opera "The Slippers" - a real winter fairy tale in which magic and a beautiful romantic love story are intertwined.

Summary of Tchaikovsky's opera "Cherevichki"and many interesting facts about this work read on our page.

Summary "Cherevichek"

The events of the opera take place in the 18th century in the Ukrainian village of Dykanka and the capital of Russia, St. Petersburg.

Dykanka. Evening on the eve of Christmas. Clear sky covered with bright stars adorns the horned month. Solokha goes out into the street, Bes quietly sneaks behind her. Noticing Satan, the widow flirts with him, and then goes to the hut. Stopping near the door, Bes reflects on the fact that he came from hell to settle accounts with his son Solokha Vakula. The fact is that the damned blacksmith very ugly painted it on the walls of the church. Now the devils in hell scoff at him and laugh. Bes decided to make a blizzard to prevent Vakula in love from meeting the beautiful Oksana.

A witch, Solokha, flies out of the pipe at home on the broomstick, Satan rushes towards her in the sky, stealing a month along the way. The impenetrable darkness falls on the ground, which prevents the Cossack Chub and his godfather Panas from finding their way to the Dyak's hut.

At this time, the daughter of Chuba Oksana, waiting for her friends, dressed up and admiring herself, looking in the mirror. Unnoticed, Vakula enters the hut and gazes admiringly at his beloved girlfriend. Upon seeing the blacksmith, Oksana begins to tease him, but Vakula confesses her love. Capricious beauty goes into another room. Meanwhile, Chub returns home, but Vakula does not recognize him in the dark and escorts him from his home. Oksana, too, drives out the blacksmith, but left alone, she was sad: she realized that she loved Vakula.

Solokha and Bes returned to the hut after walking through the sky. They have a wonderful mood, but as soon as the fun begins there is a knock at the door, and one by one the guests appear in the house of the widow: Ban the Head, the Teacher and Chub. To Solokhi fans do not meet each other, enterprising hostess hides them in bags. Vakula returns home after seeing the coolies, the blacksmith, not noticing the gravity, perching them on his back, takes them out of the hut.

On Christmas night, the females and the girls walk along the street, kolyada. Oksana joins them together with her friend Odarka. Vakula is walking towards the merry crowd with bags over her shoulders. The willful beauty again begins to poke fun at the blacksmith, claiming with all that if Vakula brings the cherries from the queen herself, then without hesitation she will become his wife. Offended by the reproach of his girlfriend, the blacksmith throws heavy bags on the snow, leaving only one small one, says goodbye to the lads and heads for the river. Curious young men untie the coolies and laugh merrily, when one of them one by one, Pan Head, Chub and Teacher emerge.

Immersed in bitter thoughts, Vakula comes to the river. He drops a bag from his shoulders from which a demon pops out. Climbing the blacksmith on his back, Satan promises the boy that his girlfriend will be his, if he in return gives his soul. However, Vakula outwitted Bes, saddled him and ordered him to fly directly to St. Petersburg to the palace to the queen.

Satan and the blacksmith landed in the palace reception room. Bes hid, and Vakula talked with the newly arrived Cossacks, whom the Most Serene himself deigned to provide.

All pass to the throne room. Potyomkin announces a new glorious victory of the Russian army, and then talks favorably with the Cossacks. During the conversation, in between times, Vakula asks the Most Serene royal cherevichki for his bride. Having received a gift, the happy blacksmith rushes home with Bes to his beloved bride.

Festive Christmas morning. Heartbroken Solokha at the smithy mourns his son, who is said to have laid hands on himself. Nearby is Oksana, suffering from Vakula. The bell chimes and people leave the church. The girls and the lads call Oksana for a walk, but she is crying and walks away. Suddenly Vakula appears, and, bringing gifts to Chub, asks for the hand of his daughter. Covered father agrees. The approached Oksana does not believe her eyes, she does not need anything, because she already loves the blacksmith very much. All gathered joyfully congratulate the bride and groom.

Interesting Facts

• Cherevik or cherevichki - in the Old Slavonic language, this word meant leather shoes. Later, women's shoes with sharp noses and heels were called so.
• Jacob Polonsky dedicated his libretto based on N. Gogol's novel "The Eve before Christmas" to the memory of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, an outstanding woman who made a huge contribution to the development of the Russian state.
• "The Night Before Christmas" - this work by Nikolai Gogol was included in the second volume of the cyclic composition, which the author called "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka". All the stories that make up the collection are based on fairy tales and legends of the people inhabiting Little Russia. The writer has always been interested in folk legends and superstitions, he even asked his relatives to write down various legends and beliefs, so that later on their basis to create their magical creations.
• Chaikovsky always with great interest belonged to the works of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, but, unfortunately, the opera "Cherevichki" was the only work of the composer, which was based on the work of the great Russian writer.

• "Things" were the seventh of ten operas that Tchaikovsky wrote. However, an important event in the composer’s life is connected with this work. Pyotr Ilyich was so worried about his beloved offspring that he himself expressed the desire to play the role of an opera conductor for the first time. The composer, because of unsuccessful youthful experience, did not like to get up to the conductor's console and, although he did it, but very rarely. It was after the premiere of "Cherevichek", which was held with great success, Tchaikovsky began to regularly engage in conducting activities.
• After the successful premiere performance of the opera "The Chereshchiki", Peter Ilyich received many gifts, but two of them were especially remembered by the composer. Artists employed in the opera, presented Tchaikovsky brooms (supposedly witch's broomstick). The author accepted this humorous present with great enthusiasm. The second souvenir that delighted the maestro, were silver shoes, which are engraved with the musical themes of the main characters of the opera.
• Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted at the Bolshoi Theater only three premiere performances of The Sorceress, and then transferred the opera to Hippolyte Karlovich Altani. Perhaps this was the reason that the production endured only seven performances, and then was completely removed from the repertoire.

Popular numbers

Vakula's blacksmith's song "Does your heart hear, maiden"

Oksana's aria "Bloomed apple tree in the garden"

Blowing Solokhi and Oksana "Who says ..."

History of creation "Cherevichek"

On February 1, 1871, Russian musical culture suffered a heavy loss. Alexander Nikolaevich Serov, a wonderful composer, author of operas Judith, Rogneda and Vrazhya Strela, passed away. A year before his death, the board of the Russian Musical Society of St. Petersburg commissioned the maestro to compose an opera for the libretto, which the illustrious wrote for this project writer Jacob Polonsky based on Nikolai Gogol's novel “The Night Before Christmas.” However, due to the composer’s sudden death, this idea was not carried out. In 1873, the RMI announced a competition to write this opera, in which Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky decided to take part.

The composer was encouraged to work for other reasons. Peter Ilyich, who often visited Ukraine, knew the culture and life of the people living there: he was attracted by the melodism of local folklore. Compose an opera Tchaikovsky went to Kamenka, to his beloved sister Alexander Ilyinichna Davydova. Work on the new work, which was called "The Blacksmith Vakula" began in June, and ended in August 1874. The competition commission, headed by the Most High Prince Konstantin Nikolayevich, included such authoritative musicians as ON. Rimsky-Korsakov, E.F. Napravnik and A.G. Rubinstein. Applicants for the main prize in the amount of 1,500 rubles were six people, but the jury in its opinion was unanimous and awarded Peter Ilyich. In this creative contest, the composer was fascinated by the fact that the opera was promised to be staged at the Mariinsky Theater.

The premiere performance was thoroughly prepared, but what Tchaikovsky saw on the stage during the first performance in November 1876 did not at all please him. The audience was also perplexed, as it expected to hear light music in the genre of comic opera, and saw a serious work, where Oksana and Vakula’s love was brought to the forefront. The scenic life of "The Blacksmith Vakula" was very short: for several seasons only 18 performances were played.

In the future, Pyotr Ilyich did not leave the feeling of dissatisfaction with the fact that his favorite brainchild - the opera “Blacksmith Vakula” did not meet expectations. The idea of ​​remaking the work began to agitate the composer in the early eighties: he was annoyed at the thought that the opera had sunk into oblivion. At the end of 1884, Tchaikovsky drew up a plan for processing, early next year, while at the Maidanovo manor, he began to implement it and completed it in March. He added new scenes and vocal numbers to the performance, and also greatly simplified the orchestral texture of the composition. The changes also affected the title of the work: now it has become known as "The Stiffens".

Having completed the new edition of the opera, Pyotr Ilyich expected that there would be no problems with its production, however, despite the benevolent attitude of the director of the imperial theaters Vsevolozhsky, the premiere performance of the play was delayed for various reasons. Tchaikovsky was so worried about the production that he got behind the conductor's console, although he didn’t like to do that. And so, at the Bolshoi Theater on January 19, 1887, accompanied by deafening ovations, the long-awaited premiere took place. However, due to the lack of fees, having sustained only seven performances, "Cherevichki" were removed from the repertoire and during the life of Tchaikovsky were no longer performed.

Productions

Despite the fact that the first production of the opera "Cherevichki" triumphantly passed in the Bolshoi Theater, her fate on the stage at first evolved not very well. After the premiere performances, this work by Pyotr Ilyich returned to the theater stage only a year later, and then on the occasion of a tour in Moscow of famous artists from the Mariinsky Theater Midei and Nikolai Figner.

Several submissions were successfully given from February 15 to March 6, 1888. During the lifetime of the great maestro, more than "Cherevichki" were not staged in any theater. The opera was remembered only fourteen years later, and in 1902 it was staged in the Moscow Association of Artists of the Private Russian Opera. The premiere took place in late January, Mikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov conducted the orchestra. The success of the performance attracted the attention of the Directorate of the Mariinsky Theater, and the Enchantress in 1906 under the direction of Eduard Frantsevich Napravnik was put in St. Petersburg, but she was not included in the repertoire list of the theater. Opera has found a happy life only on the stages of Soviet theaters. It was successfully staged in different cities, but the Bolshoi’s performance in 1941 was particularly successful. The orchestra was led by the outstanding musical figure Alexander Shamilyevich Melik-Pashayev. Today "The Enchantress" is included in the repertoire of many theaters. Recently, the performances of the Chamber Musical Theater directed by Boris Pokrovsky in 2009, as well as the Nizhny Novgorod Opera and Ballet Theater in 2013, have been especially bright.

Opera Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky "Cherevichki"is a bright Christmas fairy tale that the spectators could not help but love characters.