Chepinoga A.V. The problem of libretto through the eyes of the opera director

Abstract: The subject of this research is the opera libretto, its importance, role and place in the process of staging a spectacle. The author emphasizes that opera libretto cannot contend for priority in interpretation of the initial literary material, or life story, because it is created only under the influence of a composer who writes the music for the opera. The opera libretto in the literary text is oriented on the idea of a composer, rather than a librettist, the idea that is placed in the score. Thus libretto can never become an independent carries of the opera plot, and the director of a play cannot base on the storyline captured in the libretto. For preparation of this research the author studied a large volume of literature dedicated to the issue of libretto writing, as well as the problem of realization of composer’s idea in opera theatre. The growing trend towards modernization of libretto via rewriting of the historical classical text, created in union with the composer, can result in the perishing of the very form of the art of “opera spectacle”. In an attempt to make the opera “more acceptable” for the modern audience, the librettists strive to endow the plot with “modern” “entertainment”, and in doing so, destroy the very goal and purpose of the opera work.  

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