Synopses & Reviews
The futurist opera Victory Over the Sunand#8212;written by Aleksei Kruchenykh and first performed in St. Petersburg in December 1913and#8212;was central to the Russian avant-garde, important for its libretto, its fragmentary, modernistic score, and its innovative sets and costumes. This book features an excellent translation of the text, accompanied by a number of essays from international contributors such as Laurence Senelick and John E. Bowlt that offer new insights into the practice and history of Russian theater in the first half of the twentieth century.
Review
and#8220;This project brings the highest possible standard of scholarship to bear on avante-garde cultural production.and#8221;and#8212;Maria Gough, Harvard University
Synopsis
The Futurist opera Victory over the Sun, first staged in 1913 in St Petersburg, was a key event of the Russian avant-garde, notorious for its libretto, its unconventional score and its pioneering abstract sets and costumes designed by Kazimir Malevich. The iconic importance of Victory over the Sun as a theatrical event is universally acknowledged. This volume brings together the first fully annotated translation of the libretto of this 'anti-opera' and other important primary source materials, including the score, the set and costume designs and contemporary newspaper reviews. The second part of the volume provides a wide-ranging collection of interpretive essays which explore the artistic, literary and musical dimensions of the staging, its theatrical and historical context, its relationship to Italian Futurism, and its position within the Russian modernist movement.
Synopsis
The Futurist opera Victory over the Sun was a key event of the Russian avant-garde, notorious for its libretto, its unconventional score and its pioneering abstract sets and costumes. This volume brings together the first fully annotated translation of the libretto of this 'anti-opera' and other important primary source materials.
About the Author
Rosamund Bartlett is a fellow of the European Humanities Research Centre at the University of Oxford. Sarah Dadswell is a research fellow in the Department of Drama at the University of Exeter.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
About the Text
About the Contributors
Introduction
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Rosamund Bartlett and Sarah Dadswell
Part I: Texts and Scores
1. Biographies of the Librettists, Set Designer and Composer
2. Annotated Translation of the Libretto of Victory over the Sun
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Rosamund Bartlett
3. Pobeda nad solnstem: Facsimile of the Original 1913 Russian Publication, incorporating score fragments by Matiushin
4. Maria Ender's transcription of Matiushin's original score for Victory over the Sun
5. Contemporary Reviews
6. 'About the Opera Victory over the Sun'
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Aleksei Kruchenykh
Part II: Essays
1. The Russian Cubo-Futurist Opera Victory over the Sun: Aleksei Kruchenykh's Alogical Creation
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Michaela Bandouml;hmig
2. Entertainment and Enlightenment in Late Imperial Russian Theatre
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Murray Frame
3. On the Eve: The Russian Stage 1911andndash;1914
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Laurence Senelick
4. Victories over the Sun: The Drama of the Russian Futurists
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Robert Leach
5. Darkness and Light: Solar Eclipse as a Cubo-Futurist Metaphor
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; John E. Bowlt
6. Kazimir Malevich and the Designs for Victory over the Sun
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Christina Lodder
7. Victory over the Sun: The Music
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Catja Gaebel
8. 'Be a Spectator with a Large Ear': Victory over the Sun as a Public Laboratory Experiment for Mikhail Matiushin's Theories of Colour Vision
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Margareta Tillberg
9. Branding the Futurists
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Sarah Dadswell
10. The Collision of Italian and Russian Futurism: Marinetti's Visit to Russia
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Aurora Egidio
11. Burnt by the Sun: The Transmutation of Performativity, Theatricality, and Framing in the Late Work of Kazimir Malevich
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Anna Wexler Katsnelson
12. A Modern Victory: Reflections on the 1999 Staging
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Julia Hollander and Jeremy Arden in conversation with Sarah Dadswell
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index