Pyotr Gekker. The Damned Apostle

Libretto by Yuri Dimitrin after motifs of The Gospel According to St Matthew, Song of Songs and the apocryphal story The Gospel According to Judas

PERFORMERS:

Conductor: Roman Leontiev

Judas Iscariot: Boris Pinkhasovich
Mary Magdalene: Yekaterina Shimanovich
Trebles: Sasha Zaryadnov, Kuzma Kuzovatov
The Magi: Alexander Mikhailov, Alexei Chuvashov, Yevgeny Chernyadiev
Hebrew Priests: Vasily Gorshkov, Vitaly Yankovsky, Yuri Vlasov
Roman Guards: Andrei Zorin, Mikhail Troyan, Alexander Gerasimov

The St Petersburg Boys and Young Men’s Choral Studio
Artistic Director: Vadim Pcholkin

The Mariinsky Chorus and Orchestra
Principal Chorus Master: Andrei Petrenko
Musical Preparation: Dmitry Yefimov
Concert Mistress: Irina Slutskaya

Pyotr Gekker, composer: “In the middle of the last century came the discovery of a manuscript dated the 3^rd century AD entitled The Gospel According to Judas. It declared that Jesus himself decreed that his favourite disciple betray him and surrender him to the authorities of Judah. News of this discovery quickly traversed the globe and was published on innumerable occasions. On the Russian-language internet, for example, there are dozens of articles on this topic. The Christian Church was rather more reserved about this ‘Gospel’. It is, of course, an apocryphal work – one of many such. It was recorded by a gnostic early Christian sect. And here Judas does not fit in with the Christian canon. I was immediately drawn by the story. Many years ago I read the amazing tale Judas Iscariot by Leonid Andreyev, though in the Soviet era such a plot could never have been turned into an opera plot. The idea matured over a period of many years. Finally, Yuri Dimitrin and I came to a wholly unexpected reading of the plot, albeit using texts with which everyone is familiar – The Gospel According to St Matthew, Song of Solomon and The Book of the Prophet Isaiah. Imagine an opera in which the protagonist is damned to terrible suffering: to execute his Teacher’s orders for the sake of Christ’s very teachings, to see Him crucified and to see himself damned for all eternity. I began to discover other materials about Judas, and among them I found a statement made by the Metropolitan Antonii of Sourozh which only served to fuel my interest in the subject. The Metropolitan believed that when Christ descended into Hell he should immediately have visited Judas. ‘Can’t we hope,’ he ponders, ‘hope with all the pain and rejoicing of the heart that at this moment Christ turned to Judas and said “You intended to advance My victory, and you have advanced it. But you did not know how. Come, peace be unto you!”’”

Yuri Dimitrin, librettist: “The libretto-script for the opera The Damned Apostle had no literary source, and there was nothing to which to refer. The opera contains numerous quotations: here we have texts from The Gospel According to St Matthew and lines from Song of Solomon and the Psalms of David, but these are all great texts and exerted no influence on the ‘songful’ character of the work – the plot, the sequence of events, the dramatic intrigue and the denouement. The recreated plot is built around two characters – Judas and Mary Magdalene. A non-singing actor who depicts Christ appears on-stage in two fleeting scenes and sometimes his voice can be heard (as if ‘from on high’), and the composer proposed an incredibly unusual way of creating this sound. There are also crowd scenes in the opera. Naturally, the creators of the opera have no theological arguments with the canons of Christianity. This opera is a secular work. But the sanctity of the image of Christ it contains is so very unreserved, just as it is in the four canonical Gospels.”

Synopsis of the opera

PART I

1. PROLOGUE
Off-stage a child’s voice reads out the letters of the Hebrew alphabet: “Alef, Bet, Gimel, Dalet, He...” Visions of Hell appear and then vanish. The Virgin Mary emerges with an infant in her arms. She is surrounded by a mass of lost people (the chorus) in dress from different ages. They praise the Mother of God. The Star of Bethlehem can be seen in the sky. Ordered to follow it, the Magi have come to the Mother of God to praise her and her child, bringing them gifts.

2. JUDAS’ MONOLOGUE
Judas is praying in front of the temple in Jerusalem. He contemplates the faith and sadness tearing his heart wide open.

3. THE FRESCO THE GALILEAN APPEARS
A crowd of Hebrews is excitedly discussing the appearance of the Messiah – a Galilean prophet who creates miracles.

4. MARY MAGDALENE’S MONOLOGUE
“At the going down of sun the call of love mists the heart”; the immoral Mary Magdalene is at the height of the temptation of song and dance and speaks of the joys of those who have shared her bed.

5. THE FRESCO A PRAYER FOR JERUSALEM
The delighted crowd praises the Heavenly Father in prayer. God’s word has come from Jerusalem.

6. MARY MAGDALENE AND JUDAS’ DUET
Judas responds to Mary Magdalena’s call “Oh, how we seek at night those who in their beds set our hearts aflame with love.”

7. THE FRESCO “THE STONING”
The Hebrews appear and expose Mary as a “queen of fornication”. Inflamed, they are ready to stone her to death. Judas, trying to flee, is killed.

8. THE FRESCO JOURNEY INTO JERUSALEM
The triumphant crowd follows its Teacher. Seeing a crowd with stones he stops and, looking into the auditorium, raises his hand. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Jesus the Teacher on-stage is a non-speaking actor and “his words” are spoken by a trio of baritones and basses). The amazed Mary joins the crowd following the Teacher.

9. BOOKS AND THE PHARISEE
The High Priest Caiaphas, members of the Sadducees’ Sanhedrin and the Pharisee cast out Judas after them: “And if that fate is dangerous to our faith let us know.” In the dusk once again we hear the children’s voices: “Alef, Bet, Gimel, Dalet, He...”

PART II

10. THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM
Caiaphas, the Pharisee and the Sadducees are among those praying at the temple. Their prayer is interrupted by the voices of Jesus’ pupils: “The Teacher is speaking. Listen!”

11. THE FRESCO THE TEACHER
Jesus’ pupils, among them Judas and Mary, delightedly repeat the words of their Teacher. The High Priests convince Judas that Jesus is inciting the people and is becoming dangerous. Judas resists, citing Jesus’ own words: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.”

12. MARY AND JUDAS’ DIALOGUE
Judas and Mary are transfigured by their meeting with Jesus. Judas approaches Mary with words of love, repeating the words of his Teacher “... a man shall cleave unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh.” She stops him: “I implore you: do not invoke love with fervent words,” and addresses the auditorium “Disturb love not until it has awoken.” Mary sends Judas to his Teacher for their union to be blessed.

13. THE FRESCO THE SADDUCEES
Members of the Sadducees, hearing the High Priest’s indignation, still fail to accuse the Prophet of abusing their faith. They plan to take care of him via the hands of Pontius Pilate. “Let Rome decide!”

14. MARY’S ARIOSO
Mary tries to resolve the emotions that are overflowing her. “From whence such tenderness? And what to do with this, favoured lad?”

15. THE FRESCO THE CHOICE
Judas appears among the crowd of Jesus’ disciples and addresses members of the Sadducees. The crowd bars his path. Breaking through them, Judas throws himself at Caiaphas.

16. THE SCENE DID YOU SPEAK TO HIM?
Judas admits to Mary that he cannot be with her. “Another fate is destined for me. Worldly and eternal.” The shocked Mary casts words of aspersion at Judas who has so betrayed her and leaves in fury.

17. THE FRESCO THIRTEEN PIECES OF SILVER
A crowd with tin mugs surround Judas. Rhythmically ringing out an imaginary payment, they accuse him of corruption and betraying Jesus.

18. THE SCENE OF JUDAS AND MARY I DID IT!
Mary appears with the news that the Teacher has been taken. He has been betrayed. “I did it!” Judas declares to Mary. Mary cannot belief this is true, but on seeing the purse full of money she curses Judas and flees.

19. JESUS’ DIALOGUE SCENE
Jesus’ talk with Judas clarifies Judas’ behaviour who has abandoned any desire for a union with the woman he loves. The Teacher tells Judas of the inevitability of his crucifixion and that he will be betrayed by one of his pupils and that only then will Christ’s teachings attain a human heart. Judas is horrified to discover that he himself must take on this terrifying burden of treachery. Jesus kisses Judas – “Do what you have decided to do.”

20. JUDAS’ MONOLOGUE I WILL BE DAMNED
Left alone, Judas is horrified and fear-stricken to learn that he will forever be seen as a traitor for the sake of Christ’s teachings.

21. A ROLL OF THE DICE
Three Roman legionnaires are rolling dice at the base of the cross on which Christ has been crucified. The sounds of the dice rolling are interspersed with the groans of the dying man.

22. EPILOGUE
The body of Christ is on the knees of the Virgin Mary, having been removed from the cross. Mary Magdalene appears along with Judas and the other apostles (depicted by a choral ensemble). Each of them, looking towards the future and narrating their deeds and destinies, is doomed to a martyr’s death. Judas will live and suffer for eternity – his immortality lies in his being cursed.
A children’s voice, melting away, completes the passionless list of letters of the ancient alphabet: “Pe, Tsade, Kaf, Resh, Shin, Tav...”