Philippe Dollo

Opera

New

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Dmitri Chostakovitch

Opéra Bastille

from 06 to 25 April 2019

3h13 no interval

Certain scenes may be inappropriate for the young and the easily offended.

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Opéra Bastille - from 06 to 25 April 2019

Synopsis

Of Shostakovich’s initial undertaking – a trilogy on the tragic destinies of Russian women through the ages – only one opera was ever written: the hard-hitting Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Although one of the mainsprings of the work, the Shakespearean parallel is here bitterly ironic: unlike Lady Macbeth, Katerina Ismaïlova who, in the remote reaches of rural 19th century Russia, falls in love with one of her husband’s employees and is finally forced to commit suicide, is less a manipulator than a victim of a violent and patriarchal society. Krzysztof Warlikowski liberates all the subversive power of this scorching and scandalous work, which marked the early years of the Opéra Bastille.

Duration : 3h13 no interval

Language : Russian

Surtitle : French / English

  • Opening

  • First part 100 min

  • Intermission 30 min

  • Second part 63 min

  • End

Artists

Opera in four acts and nine parts


Creative team

Cast

Orchestre et Chœurs de l’Opéra national de Paris

In Russian
French and English surtitles

Media

  • Red Lady

    Red Lady

    Read the article

  • Draw-me Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

    Draw-me Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

    Watch the video

  • Requiem for a Russian woman

    Requiem for a Russian woman

    Watch the video

  • Sergei, the villain

    Sergei, the villain

    Watch the video

  • Podcast Lady Macbeth de Mzensk

    Podcast Lady Macbeth de Mzensk

    Listen the podcast

  • Katerina or passion

    Katerina or passion

    Watch the video

© Thibaut Chapotot pour la Rmn-Grand Palais

Red Lady

Read the article

An interview with Nicolas Liucci-Goutnikov

05 min

Red Lady

By Simon Hatab

A fascinating opera that reflected the thinking of the time but also incurred the wrath of the Soviet regime, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District is currently on the bill at the Opéra Bastille in a pro-duction by Krzysztof Warlikowski. Nicolas Liucci-Goutnikov, the curator of the exhibition Red. Art and utopia Soviet country which runs from March 20 until July 1 2019 at the Grand Palais, sheds some light on the historical context of the work.


Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District was first performed on January 22, 1934. Can you tell us something about the political context of that Premiere?

Nicolas Liucci-Goutnikov: During the 1920s, a degree of cultural pluralism accompanied the power struggle that raged between the different factions of the party. Trotsky and Bukharin were among those who considered that it was not up to the party to impose one particular form of art over another. That situation changed after 1929. Joseph Stalin eliminated all opposition. He wanted to control and direct artistic creation. In 1932, artistic groups were dissolved in favour of professional unions. In 1934, a few months after the premiere of “Lady Macbeth”, one of Stalin’s henchmen, Andrei Zhdanov advanced the mantra of socialist realism, a doctrine that although still vague was destined to hold sway over all the arts. The extraordinary period of experimentation triggered by the Revolution came to a close.

What was Shostakovich’s relationship with the Soviet regime?

N. L.-G.: Shostakovich was one of the so-called “Leftist artists”, heirs to the avant-gardists whose work developed frenetically during the heady enthusiasm of the 1920s when the future seemed full of possibilities. He collaborated with numerous artists of note. As such, the play The Bedbug enabled the young composer, who was barely 23 years old, to collaborate with author Vladimir Mayakovsky, director Vsevolod Meyerhold, and stage designer Alexander Rodchenko. But a cruel fate awaited many of the Leftist artists: Mayakovsky committed suicide in 1930 and Meyerhold was executed in 1940. For Shostakovich, like Rodchenko, it was now, for better or worse, a question of composing in accordance with the wishes of the authorities.

“Lady Macbeth” depicts the difficult social condition of a Russian woman. How does that theme sit with the political concerns of those times?

N. L.-G.: The years following the October Revolution saw a genuine relaxation in terms of customs and mores: divorce became widespread, conventional family structures were fragmenting, sexual freedom was asserting itself, and women were becoming emancipated. The Stalinist period, by contrast, were years of intense conservatism: the regime promoted the return of lifestyles that were ultimately more bourgeois. It celebrated the virtues of marriage and promoted the return of traditional family values. Shostakovich’s opera, composed during the first years of the Stalinist era, stands at the cusp of two epochs.

We know that after its initial success, performances of the work were banned for thirty years. How do you explain that about-turn?

N. L.-G.: On January 28, 1936, an article masterminded by Stalin appeared in Pravda, entitled “Chaos replaces Music”. It assailed “Lady Macbeth” both in terms of substance—a plot narrative deemed scandalous—and in terms of form—the work was dismissed as “formalistic”. At that time, the word had extremely negative connotations. Formalism was looked upon as a “bourgeois” sickness which gave rise to works that were incomprehensible to the masses. The article in Pravda unleashed an extremely virulent campaign that would touch all the artistic disciplines. It was only after Nikita Khrushchev came to power that the State’s grip would ease slightly and the scope for experimentation would reappear for artists, albeit in a limited way. The version of “Lady Macbeth” performed during this period was renamed Katerina Ismailova and toned down considerably.


Red… About the exhibition

The exhibition Red. Art and Utopia in the Land of Soviets presents a collection of over 400 works conceived in a specific social and political context. Its chronological timeline begins in 1917 with the October Revolution and ends in 1953, the year of Stalin’s death.

It explores the way in which Communist society spawned specific forms of art. From the 1920s, which were marked by a large number of avant-garde concepts, to the 1930s which saw the affirmation of an aesthetic dogma, the exhibition covers all genres of the visual arts: painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, cinema, design, and the graphic arts with works that, for the most part, have never been previously displayed in France.

Through their works, artists such as Rodchenko, Malevich, and Klutsis wanted to help build socialism and contribute to the transformation of the lives of the masses. It is that history, its tensions, its fervour and its reversals which the exhibition presents by exploring the question of the potential politicisation of the arts.

Exhibition organised by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais and the Centre Pompidou Musée d’art moderne. Grand Palais, Galeries Nationales, from March 20 through July 1, 2019

Curator of the exhibition : Nicolas Liucci-Goutnikov - scenography : Valentina Dodi and Nicolas Groult

Draw-me Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Watch the video

Understand the plot in 1 minute

1:15 min

Draw-me Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

By Octave

Of Shostakovich’s initial undertaking – a trilogy on the tragic destinies of Russian women through the ages – only one opera was ever written: the hard-hitting Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Although one of the mainsprings of the work, the Shakespearean parallel is here bitterly ironic: unlike Lady Macbeth, Katerina Ismaïlova who, in the remote reaches of rural 19th century Russia, falls in love with one of her husband’s employees and is finally forced to commit suicide, is less a manipulator than a victim of a violent and patriarchal society. Krzysztof Warlikowski liberates all the subversive power of this scorching and scandalous work, which marked the early years of the Opéra Bastille.

© Markus Werner / OnP

Requiem for a Russian woman

Watch the video

Interview with Ingo Metzmacher

6:52 min

Requiem for a Russian woman

By Marion Mirande

Inspired by the profile of an adulterous and murderous woman, "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" is a work whose sexual energy did not escape Stalin when he discovered it in 1936. From then onwards, publicly accused of pornography, Dmitry Shostakovich lived in fear of being deported to Siberia, just like his heroine Katerina Izmailov. Ingo Metzmacher, conducting this new production, discusses the score's subversive force and his choice to punctuate the third and fourth acts with the Soviet composer's Quartet No. 8.

© DR

Sergei, the villain

Watch the video

Meet with Pavel Černoch

3:16 min

Sergei, the villain

By Cyril Pesenti

In Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, an opera by Dmitri Chostakovitch, Sergei is an object of desire. In this subversive production by Krzysztof Warlikowski, Pavel Černoch has free rein to interpret a powerful and passionate Sergei. The Czech tenor, normally best known for his prince roles, seems delighted to play this evil character.

Podcast Lady Macbeth de Mzensk

Listen the podcast

"Dance! Sing! 7 minutes at the Paris Opera" - by France Musique

07 min

Podcast Lady Macbeth de Mzensk

By Nathalie Moller, France Musique

"Dance! Sing! 7 minutes at the Paris Opera" offers original incursions into the season thanks to broadcasts produced by France Musique and the Paris Opera. For each opera or ballet production, Nathalie Moller (opera) and Jean-Baptiste Urbain (dance), present the works and artists you are going to discover when you attend performances in our theatres. 

© Bernd Uhlig / OnP

Katerina or passion

Watch the video

Interview with Aušrinė Stundytė

5:38 min

Katerina or passion

By Marion Mirande

Shostakovich claimed to see a profound humanity in his criminal character Katerina Ismailova. When the burden of a degrading patriarchal society becomes too great, is there any feeling more human than that of wanting to be passionately loved and desired? Guided by Krzysztof Warlikowski, the flamboyant Lithuanian soprano makes her Paris Opera debut in the title role of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk .

  • Lady Macbeth de Mzensk by D. Chostakovitch (Aušrinė Stundytė)
  • Lady Macbeth de Mzensk by D. Chostakovitch (Aušrinė Stundytė & Pavel Černoch)
  • Lady Macbeth de Mzensk by D. Chostakovitch (Aušrinė Stundytė & Pavel Černoch)
  • Lady Macbeth de Mzensk by D. Chostakovitch (Alexander Tsymbalyuk)
  • Lady Macbeth de Mzensk by D. Chostakovitch - Trailer
  • Lumière sur : Les coulisses de Lady Macbeth de Mzensk #shorts #ParisOpera #opera #shostakovich
  • Lady Macbeth de Mzensk (saison 18/19)- Acte I

  • Lady Macbeth de Mzensk (saison 18/19)- Acte IV - Alexander Tsymbalyuk (Le Vieux Bagnard) Et Chœur

  • Lady Macbeth de Mzensk (saison 18/19)- Acte II - Pavel Černoch (Serguei)

  • Lady Macbeth de Mzensk (saison 18/19)- Interlude Orchestral

  • Lady Macbeth de Mzensk (saison 18/19)- Acte II - Dmitry Ulyanov (Boris Ismailov)

  • Lady Macbeth de Mzensk (saison 18/19)- Acte I - Aušrinė Stundytė (Katerina Ismailova)

Access and services

Opéra Bastille

Place de la Bastille

75012 Paris

Public transport

Underground Bastille (lignes 1, 5 et 8), Gare de Lyon (RER)

Bus 29, 69, 76, 86, 87, 91, N01, N02, N11, N16

Calculate my route
Car park

Q-Park Opéra Bastille 34, rue de Lyon 75012 Paris

Book your parking spot

In both our venues, discounted tickets are sold at the box offices from 30 minutes before the show:

  • €35 tickets for under-28s, unemployed people (with documentary proof less than 3 months old) and senior citizens over 65 with non-taxable income (proof of tax exemption for the current year required)
  • €70 tickets for senior citizens over 65

Get samples of the operas and ballets at the Paris Opera gift shops: programmes, books, recordings, and also stationery, jewellery, shirts, homeware and honey from Paris Opera.

Opéra Bastille
  • Open 1h before performances and until performances end
  • Get in from within the theatre’s public areas
  • For more information: +33 1 40 01 17 82

Opéra Bastille

Place de la Bastille

75012 Paris

Public transport

Underground Bastille (lignes 1, 5 et 8), Gare de Lyon (RER)

Bus 29, 69, 76, 86, 87, 91, N01, N02, N11, N16

Calculate my route
Car park

Q-Park Opéra Bastille 34, rue de Lyon 75012 Paris

Book your parking spot

In both our venues, discounted tickets are sold at the box offices from 30 minutes before the show:

  • €35 tickets for under-28s, unemployed people (with documentary proof less than 3 months old) and senior citizens over 65 with non-taxable income (proof of tax exemption for the current year required)
  • €70 tickets for senior citizens over 65

Get samples of the operas and ballets at the Paris Opera gift shops: programmes, books, recordings, and also stationery, jewellery, shirts, homeware and honey from Paris Opera.

Opéra Bastille
  • Open 1h before performances and until performances end
  • Get in from within the theatre’s public areas
  • For more information: +33 1 40 01 17 82

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