The influence of the first productions of S. S. Prokofiev's opera "War and Peace" on the composition. Birth of new versions of the work. (To the history of the production of "War and Peace" on the stage of the Maly Opera House, 1946-1947).

Ivanova Nadezhda Sergeevna Postgraduate student, Russian State Institute of Performing Arts 191028, Russia, Leningrad region, Saint Petersburg, Mokhovaya str., 33-35 Zabudiaeva85.@mail.ru

Introduction. Prokofiev's opera "War and Peace" occupies a special place in the history of the Russian musical theater. Her stage versions always attract the attention of researchers, as experienced directors, and in the case of the Soviet period, outstanding conductors, turn to her most of all. This fact is explained by certain features of the score, which are closely connected not only with the history of its creation, but also with the productions of the opera on stage. The key factor is the numerous author's versions of the score, which allow us to speak about the absence of a final version of this composition. Similar examples can be found in the works of other composers: so M. P. Mussorgsky is the author of at least two editions of the opera "Boris Godunov", "Prince Igor" by A. P. Borodin exists in many editions.

The main purpose of this work is to study the key aspects of the influence of the theater and the rehearsal process on the formation of the image of the legendary composition of S. S. Prokofiev, included in the golden fund of the world musical theater.

Materials and methods. In Russian musicology, there is a large amount of literature devoted to the work of S. S. Prokofiev in general and the opera "War and Peace" in particular, in which the composer's musical heritage is considered from the point of view of analyzing the form and style of the work, musical analysis of the score and the history of the libretto – interpretation and processing by S. S. Prokofiev and M. A. Mendelson of the novel L. N. Tolstoy. In Soviet times, this topic was addressed by E. Mnatsakanova ^[1], M. Sabinina ^[2], L. Polyakova ^[3], I. Nestiev ^[4], I. Martynov ^[5], A. Uteshev ^[6]. Based on the scientific criteria of their time, these authors considered the opera "War and Peace" in sufficient detail. Today, the study of A. Volkov "War and Peace" is of particular interest to us Prokofiev: The experience of analyzing opera variants" ^[7], published in 1976. In it, A. Volkov, relying on an autograph and a handwritten copy of Prokofiev's opera clavier made by P. A. Lamm, provides a comparative analysis of the author's versions of the composition, including previously unpublished ones. This work allows us to more fully evaluate the original idea of S. S. Prokofiev in the late 1930s and, thanks to the analysis of additional sources, to trace the changes that occurred during the preparation of the score for the first concert performance of 1944, as well as later, in the work on the performance of the Maly Opera Theater 1946-1947.

Based on the changing research approach to the study of opera in the late XX – early XXI centuries, works devoted to the theme of the special theatrical expressiveness of S. S. Prokofiev's works, embedded within his scores, appear. And again, but from a different angle, the authors consider the composer's legacy. Of particular interest in this case is the article by E. B. Dolinskaya "Once again about the theatricality of Prokofiev" ^[8], which already speaks from modern musicological positions about the "energetism" of his compositions, their deep "melodic theatricality".

It is also worth noting the fundamental cultural work of E. A. Ruchevskaya ""War and Peace". The novel by L. Tolstoy and the opera by S. Prokofiev" ^[9], summarizing the scientific searches of musicologists of the XX century in the field of studying this work. An equally important study is "Prokofiev's Theater. The research essay" ^[10] belongs to E. V. Dolinskaya. In it, the author gives an overview of the entire work of S. S. Prokofiev – both theatrical, symphonic, and instrumental – immersing him in a historical and temporal context, considering in detail not only the musical basis of his works, but also the judgments of the composer's contemporaries about the score.

A small number of contemporary works are devoted to the theme of the stage embodiment of the Soviet opera. Among them are the works of E. V. Tretyakova ^[11], referring to the 1920s-1930s of the last century, and K. A. Uchitel ^[12], analyzing the period of interest to us, primarily from the point of view of the methodology of the organization of the theatrical process. There is a well-known collection "B. A. Pokrovsky puts on a Soviet opera" ^[13], published in 1989, which includes recordings of the director's rehearsals, explications of his productions and conversations with the authors of the performances.

There are very few fundamental studies covering the work of S. S. Prokofiev from the point of view of the science of theater, as well as studies devoted to the stage fate of his opera "War and Peace". The most significant in this sense is L. Danko's book "Prokofiev's Theater in St. Petersburg" ^[14], where for the first time an attempt was made to address the composer's operas from the standpoint of theatrical science. However, the main emphasis in this work is on the opera "The Fiery Angel", the rest of S. S. Prokofiev's works for the theater appear only sporadically. Thus, the theme of the influence of the Maly Opera Theater and the staging team of the 1946 performance on the opera "War and Peace", known today to the whole world, has not been studied before.

The results of the work. The idea of S. S. Prokofiev to write an opera based on the plot of the legendary novel by L. N. Tolstoy dates back to the mid-1930s. By this time, the composer was already the author of many famous works that were performed at the largest music venues and theater stages in Europe. After leaving Russia after the revolution of 1917, S. S. Prokofiev traveled a lot, was acquainted with prominent musical figures of his time. His creative personality was formed in the context of foreign musical and theatrical searches of the 1920s and 1930s. He liked a lot of things in life abroad, but it also depressed him. So the constant need to look back at the "favorable attitude of millionaires" ^[15] was one of the main reasons why S. S. Prokofiev decided to return home with his family after an 18-year absence. In the early years, the composer was in great demand among the new Soviet public. The Committee for the Arts, established in 1936, orders a number of works from him and pays generously for the work. It is at the suggestion of the Committee that S. S. Prokofiev begins composing the opera "War and Peace", however, time itself dictates this plot to him: 1941 is the most difficult year at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, evacuation begins.

The composer writes the score of the new opera with incredible speed, which indicates his passion for the topic, however, due to the repeated comments and recommendations of the Committee, he is forced to make new and new changes to it. The completion of the work requires twice as much time as the composition of the first version of the score itself. In these circumstances of the interaction of the composer's will and the demands of officials, the first edition of the opera is born. Under the influence of the Committee, the theme of the people was significantly expanded in it and military episodes were added. The score was accepted, but it was allowed to be staged only in 1945 thanks to the personal petition of the legendary Soviet conductor S. A. Samosud. It is from this period that the history of the Leningrad Maly Opera Theater is closely intertwined with the fate of the opera. The premiere of "War and Peace" took place on June 12, 1946 and included eight paintings in the editorial office created in the process of working on the play. This was only the first part of S. S. Prokofiev's opera, divided into two evenings by the decision of the directors. The second part was scheduled to be shown in 1947, however, due to the new historical situation – the strengthening of ideological control in the field of art of the post–war decade - the performance was brought to the dress rehearsal, but was not allowed to the audience.

For S. A. Samosud, who acted as not only the musical director, but also the artistic director of the production of 1946-1947, "War and Peace" was an attempt to return to the theater the legendary features of the "laboratory of Soviet opera" and the principles of work of the joint creative team. A conductor who had a keen sense of the nature of the theater, he had great musical and dramatic talent. In the 1930s, it was under his leadership that MALEGOT became not just a "laboratory of Soviet opera", but a real forge of Soviet musical performance. Since the appearance of the first operas by V. V. Zhelobinsky and I. I. Dzerzhinsky, the creation of musical works "inside the theater" was welcomed in the new Soviet art. "Instilling in the composer a sense of theater and theatricality. The feeling and awareness of the specifics of the theater is a necessary prerequisite for modern opera creativity," wrote V. M. Bogdanov–Berezovsky. – This is exactly what was so lacking for many major composers of the past, whose operatic works, with outstanding musical merits, were often clumsy, static, inactive" ^[16]. The principle of theatricality was the same both for the approach to the classics and to the works of contemporaries, in the creation of which, along with the composer, the conductor, the director, the artist, the musicologist-consultant, and even the performers of the main parts also participated. Deep immersion in the musical and dramatic fabric of the composition and close interaction of all participants of the future performance determined a high level of artistic synthesis of expressive means. The same methods were used by S. A. Lynching in 1946 during the work on the opera by S. S. Prokofiev. "From the moment the score appeared on his console, Lynching set itself the task not only to perform it well, but also to inspire everyone that a new outstanding work was being born" ^[17].

Thanks to this principle of working at the Maly Opera House in the 1930s, the conductor became one of the first in the country to work closely with the composer and director on the creation of an opera performance. Especially revealing in this sense was the joint production with Vs. E. Meyerhold in 1935 of Tchaikovsky's "Queen of Spades", in which, in accordance with the director's plan, which largely did not coincide with the composer's idea, the conductor made significant changes to the opera score ^[18]. S. S. Prokofiev also had experience of this kind – and also from Vs. E. Meyerhold: already since 1918, namely the failed attempt to stage the first edition of the opera "The Player" at the Mariinsky Theater, the composer collaborated with an outstanding director, it was under his influence that he created the second edition of his "Player". It is not surprising that S. S. Prokofiev positively accepted all the recommendations of S. A. Samosud and worked hard on their execution: they were both united by the principle of co-creation, perceived from Vs. E. Meyerhold, and assembly-associative thinking, which formed not only the basis of the drama of the score, but also the new performance. It should be noted that this influence of the conductor on the composer's work in the context of the history of the theater and the trajectories of the development of the professional activities of S. A. Samosud and S. S. Prokofiev was naturally prepared and therefore so productive.

The most active part in the work on the new performance was taken by the young B. A. Pokrovsky, who had worked as a director at the Bolshoi Theater since 1943 and was familiar to the conductor from such productions as "The Tsar's Bride" by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (1944, conductor L. P. Steinberg) and "Eugene Onegin" by P. I. Tchaikovsky (1944, conductor A. S. Melik-Pashaev). S. A. Samosud and B. A. Pokrovsky sought to build a musical score from the point of view of theatrical logic, at their insistence two new paintings appeared in the opera: "The Ball at Catherine's Grandee" and "The Military Council in Fili", as well as two key numbers are the culminating points of the "peaceful" and "military" episodes: the famous waltz of Natasha Rostova and Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, as well as Kutuzov's aria. Interestingly, the waltz was subtext right during the next rehearsal, since S. S. Prokofiev originally created it without a vocal line, and B. A. Pokrovsky wanted to connect it with the images of the main characters. The study of the rehearsal process of the performance proves that the conductor and the director rebuilt the drama of the Prokofiev opera, compared with its original edition. Therefore, it was during the production that Natasha Rostova's first waltz turned into a kind of leitmotif. The waltz music that appears in the scenes of "Borodino" and "The Death of Andrei Bolkonsky" also appeared during rehearsals, it was another bright find of the director and conductor of the performance.

It was decided to divide the score that had grown in this way into two parts and in 1946 to show only the first seven paintings "to the viewer", and a year later – the remaining six. Both of these parts should be considered exclusively together. Only in this case it is possible to fully appreciate the scale of the authors' idea. Their "War and Peace" is a monumental epic. The close interaction of S. S. Prokofiev, S. A. Lynching and B. A. Pokrovsky had a significant impact on the appearance of the work: "Without thinking about the theatrical organization of the plot, Prokofiev was in thrall to his "fix idea": people, characters, not at all similar, collided in the chaos of events; there are many of them, they are very different, and that's it"they are cooked "in a terrible cauldron of military upheavals" ^[19]. Under the influence of S. A. Lynching and B. A. Pokrovsky, "War and Peace" acquired a complete musical and stage dramaturgy, in the logic of which theatrical meanings were literally soldered with the text of the score.

The scientific novelty of the study thus clearly demonstrates unknown facts from the history of the formation of the opera "War and Peace" by S. S. Prokofiev – the influence of the Maly Opera Theater on the appearance of the work formed as a result of work on the production of 1946-1947, a significant transformation of the scale of the opera, its musical and dramatic accents, allowing us to talk about a kind of rebirth of the composer's original composition. Under the influence of conductor S. A. Samosud and director B. A. Pokrovsky, a monumental opera canvas of 13 paintings with an epigraph emerged from the chamber opera of S. S. Prokofiev (1st edition of 1943). Today, it is this score (in fact, the second edition of the opera) that is considered canonical. From a chamber-lyrical composition about the life of Natasha Rostova, the work under the influence of "time" and with the direct participation of conductor S. A. Samosud transformed into a large-scale patriotic one, despite the fact that the 1946 production, due to the division of the score into two parts, turned out to be "lyrical". During the staged rehearsals of 1946, the composer significantly changes his composition – not only new episodes appear in the opera, but also whole pictures.

In the fate of S. S. Prokofiev, "War and Peace" became a special opera: he did not leave work on it until his death. The last version of the score, which appeared after the failure, namely, not being allowed to show the second part of the performance of the Maly Opera Theater in 1947, dates back to the year of the composer's death. The admission of S. S. Prokofiev to the lists of anti-national formalist composers in the infamous Resolution of the Central Committee of the VKPB "On V. Muradeli's opera The Great Friendship" from 1948 was a heavy blow for him. His feelings were also reinforced by a sense of deep guilt towards the composer's first wife, the singer of Spanish origin Lina Liubera, who in 1948 was arrested as a foreign spy and sent to a camp after being tortured. S. S. Prokofiev again finds solace in music, turning to the theme of the war: this time – the Great Patriotic War. The answer to the Resolution is his opera "The Tale of a Real Man". Over the past few years, S. S. Prokofiev has also written such works as the cello concerto with orchestra, in close collaboration with the young talented cellist M. L. Rostropovich, the epic ballet "The Tale of the Stone Flower" based on the works of P. P. Bazhov, as well as the Seventh Symphony, which is incredible in depth. And yet the composer continues to work on "War and Peace" – this opera becomes the most important for him – he does not give up hope of seeing it entirely on the theater stage.

Conclusions. The importance of the opera "War and Peace" in the history of the Russian musical theater is difficult to overestimate. The proof can be that at the turning points of history, outstanding directors and conductors of their time turned to this Prokofiev masterpiece. The explanation lies in its special "theatricality" – the interweaving of musical images and actions – as well as the amazing structure of the work, which allows you to "compose" various versions of the score that fundamentally respond to the tasks and imaginative thinking of the author's theater. The uniqueness of "War and Peace" lies in the complexity of its structure, because both by the principle of the structure of the text and by the amount of musical material written, this work goes beyond the classical volume of an opera composition.

The study of the influence of the staging process on the formation of the appearance of a musical work, as well as the specifics of the interpenetration of musical and stage dramaturgy in the productions of the Soviet theater has the prospect of development in the framework of the study of the history of this controversial period. This study restores those pages that, due to the specifics of time, were silenced by moments, partially forgotten and obviously underestimated.