Great music against war in defense of humanism

MOSCOW. At the Natalia Sats Musical Theater, the premiere of the anti-war opera by the outstanding English composer Britten, The Secret of the Wingrave Family, took place.

The appearance of Benjamin Britten’s opera Mystery of the Wingrave Family (originally Owen Wingrave) on the stage of the N. Sats Musical Theater is a long-awaited event for fans of classical music. The premiere of the pacifist essay took place in Russia only 47 years after the television show on the BBC channel.

She repeated the fate of another work of the great Englishman - the opera The Prodigal Son from the series “Proverbs for Performance in the Church”. Britten was inspired to create it by Rembrandt’s canvas in the Hermitage during one of his visits to Leningrad and youth protests in rebellious 1968. The composer dedicated the opera to Shostakovich, who had a great influence on the formation of his composing talent. Dmitry Dmitrievich, as a sign of admiration for the talent of his English colleague, dedicated his Fourteenth Symphony to him. With the "Prodigal Son", Russian music lovers could meet only half a century later.

The peak of Britten’s popularity came in the mid-60s. The premiere of the opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bolshoi Theater in 1965 staged by Pokrovsky and Rozhdestvensky with Elena Obraztsova and Galina Oleinichenko in the main roles. Festivals of English music with the participation of the composer, cooperation with Mstislav Rostropovich, Galina Vishnevskaya, Oleg Vinogradov, Svyatoslav Richter, Karl Zarin, Mark Lubotsky. For Rostropovich several works were created: symphony, suites and sonata. The famous cellist spoke with admiration of the noble humanistic nature of Britten’s works, penetrating directly into the soul and equivalent to Chekhov’s dramas, as the composer dreamed.

The negative reaction of the Soviet authorities to the composer’s protest against the entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia in 1968 and ostracism against Rostropovich and Vishnevskaya completed the Britten era in the USSR. His visits to the country, the mention and performance of his works were put to an end.

The date for the premiere of The Secret of the Wingrave Family, June 22, is symbolic. The protest against the war is a reflection of the views of Britten himself, who remained a pacifist until the end of his life. One of his most grandiose creations is the 1962 War Requiem.

The rejection of violence in any form determines the choice of the protagonist - the refusal of military service. Fidelity to humanistic principles even at the cost of one’s own life and outcast. “I offer people music that can inspire, comfort, teach.” Appeal to fellow citizens, expression of their opinion, the composer considered it his duty.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru