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Iolanta
one act opera
Music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Libretto by Modest Tchaikovsky
after the play Kong Renés datter by Henrik Hertz
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Performed in Russian (the performance will have synchronised
English supertitles)
Co-production of the Festspielhaus Baden Baden
Premiere of this production: 17 April 2009, Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky´s Iolanta and Sergei Vasilievich Rakhmaninov´s Aleko
are, arguably, two of the most widely-loved Russian chamber operas.
There performance together in one evening is first and foremost
a tribute to these two great composers as well as an observance of
the composer´s own wishes.
Iolanta was Tchaikovsky´s last opera, one of the most vivid and
unusual works he wrote. The bibretto was created by the composer´s
brother Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky after the drama King René´s Daughter
by Danish playwright Henrik Hertz. At the composer´s own admission, he
was seeking a subject “not of this world”, of purely lyrical quality
and specifically for a chamber opera. He found all of this in Iolanta,
which reflects Tchaikovsky´s moral and philosophical searches from
the closing years of his life. The opera was first performed at
the Mariinsky Theatre on 6 December 1892.
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