Waseda Institute for Research in Opera and Music Theatre (WIROM), Comprehensive Research Organization, Waseda University
- Time and Date: June 18th (Sat.) 2022, 17:30-19:00 (JST)
- Format: Online meeting (Zoom)
- Presenter: Hirano, Emiko
- Affiliation, Position: Chukyo University, Professor in Residence
- Title: “Grand Opera and Ballet in 19th-century Russia”
- Language: Japanese
- Abstract:
“Grand opera”—an opera genre that flourished in mid-19th century Paris—went across national borders and was widely appreciated in Europe. In Russia, the first grand opera, La Muette de Portici, was performed in St. Petersburg in 1834, followed by Robert le Diable (1834?) and Guillaume Tell (1836), which gained huge popularity among Russian audiences.
These grand operas, however, were not performed in the same original form as in their native France. In the Imperial Theatres, which belonged to the Russian tsar, there was strict censorship of religious and political matters, and an operatic work’s content was often drastically modified.
This presentation will introduce the context of the performance and perception of grand opera in Russia, its influence on Russian opera, and the number of performances, which amounted to more than half of all the operatic productions in late-19th-century Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as its ties with Russian ballet, which led world ballet from the beginning of the 20th century onwards. (The presentation will be based on the recently published book L’Opera de Paris and Grand Opera, Shinwasha, 2022.) - Profile of Presenter:
Emiko Hirano holds a Ph.D. in Literature (The University of Tokyo, 2010) and is a Professor in Residence at Chukyo University. Dr. Hirano is a specialist in modern Russian and European art and literature, with a particular focus on the history of ballet and the performing arts. Her translations include: Reminiscences on Rachmaninoff (2017, Suiseisha). She is the author of The Imperial Theatres and the Ballets Russes: from Michel Fokine to Marius Petipa (2020, Michitani), which was awarded The Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s Art Encouragement Prize of Criticism for New Artists (March 2021). - Moderator: KUGIMIYA, Takako
＊Comment: There were 35 participants.
