Organization

Singer

Baritone

Roman Burdenko

Ruprecht

Tenor

Nikolai Gassiev

Agrippa von Nettelsheim

Alexander Timchenko

Méphistophélès

Mezzo-soprano

Olga Savova

The Abbess

Bass

Yuri Vorobiev

Inquisitor

Conductor

Christian Knapp

Yevgeny Nikitin

Soprano

Elena Stikhina

Renata

Anna Kiknadze

Fortune-Teller

Andrei Popov

Yevgeny Akimov

Bass-baritone

Dmitrii Grigorev

Johann Faust

Mikhail Petrenko

Stage director

David Freeman

Valery Gergiev

Lighting designer

Steve Whitson

Vladimir Lukasevich

Set designer

David Roger

Mariinsky Theatre

Others

The Mariinsky Chorus

Orchestra

Orchester des Mariinski-Theaters

Russian

The Fiery Angel

Saint Petersburg

Russia

Mariinsky-2

Main stage

The Fiery Angel (Огненный ангел)
Opera in five acts and seven scenes by Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953)
Libretto by Sergei Prokofiev after Valery Briusov
First performance in Paris, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, 15 November 1954

The Fiery Angel Prokofiev,S

Public

English

Approved

If you read the libretto of The Fiery Angel separately, a strange, without beginning or end, story from the life of the Middle Ages will come out: a certain woman sees demons, she draws a knight who has fallen in love with her into her misadventures, but she is burned at the stake like a witch, and the fate of the knight is unknown. Of course, no opera can be reduced to the text of the libretto - the opera must be listened to - but the music of the "Fiery Angel" contains a paradox.

The characters of the opera are constantly in suspense, trying to understand: do demons really exist, how to deal with them without giving yourself away to the ubiquitous inquisition, without destroying yourself and your loved one, and is he really worthy of love? This tension constantly erupts in the music: it cannot be said that Prokofiev's musical language is radical, nevertheless, The Fiery Angel remains one of the most difficult operas of the 20th century for both performers and listeners.

On the other hand, no matter how powerful the spirits of hell over the actions of the heroes, Prokofiev’s evil remains fake, carnival: music all the time balances between drama and farce, “real opera” in the spirit of late romanticism and a cheerful parody of it. Take, for example, the final scene, where the nuns almost tear the Inquisitor to pieces, calling him the devil and demanding that he show his tail, while other novices sing “la-la-la”. True, it is not easy to hear all this: Prokofiev divided the choir into six groups, and such an impressive orgy can hardly be found in any other opera. The Fiery Angel is also one of the most spectacular operas of the last century.

The scene of mysterious knocks, talking skeletons and Mephistopheles, unexpectedly singing in a tenor, is an old opera props, only colored with unprecedented musical colors. The irony of a detached observer and the lack of morality in the finale is an anti-romantic position. Obsessed with visions, Renata must climb the fire, the tragedy is almost committed, but suddenly everything breaks off (Prokofiev rejected the denouement of a literary source, Valery Bryusov’s novel) - and fanfares sound with a final chord in a dazzling major.

The Fiery Angel has not lost its power to this day - in some episodes it is hard to believe that the opera was completed almost a hundred years ago - and the questions of faith and unbelief raised by Prokofiev are still relevant. And the performance created by Valery Gergiev and director David Freeman, which created a worldwide sensation in 1991, remains the best interpretation of this opera. Freeman acted radically - he put everything according to the composer's remarks. And he added one detail: he cramped the real characters in the center of the stage, and made a flock of dumb white creatures the masters of the stage. A great privilege in a materialistic age: now we see little demons too. Bogdan Korolek

The Fiery Angel by Prokofiev, From (2021/2021), Directed by David Freeman,, Conductor Christian Knapp, Valery Gergiev, Mariinsky-2, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Cast

Crew

Ensemble

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues