__NOTOC__ ''Victory over the Sun'' (, ''Pobeda nad Solntsem'') is a

Russian Futurist Russian Futurism is the broad term for a movement of Russian poets and artists who adopted the principles of Filippo Marinetti's "Manifesto of Futurism", which espoused the rejection of the past, and a celebration of speed, machinery, violence, ...

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

premiered in 1913 at the Luna Park in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. The

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

written in ''

zaum () are the linguistic experiments in sound symbolism and language creation of Russian Cubo-Futurist poets such as Velimir Khlebnikov and Aleksei Kruchenykh. Zaum is a non-referential phonetic entity with its own ontology. The language con ...

'' language was contributed by Aleksei Kruchonykh, the music was written by

Mikhail Matyushin Michael Vasilyevich Matyushin (; 1861 in Nizhny Novgorod – 14 October 1934 in Leningrad) was a Russian painter and composer, leading member of the Russian avant-garde. In 1910–1913 Matyushin and his wife Elena Guro (1877–1913) were ...

, the

prologue A prologue or prolog (from Ancient Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier st ...

was added by

Velimir Khlebnikov Viktor Vladimirovich Khlebnikov, better known by the pen name ( rus, Велими́р Хле́бников, p=vʲɪlʲɪˈmʲir ˈxlʲɛbnʲɪkəf; – 28 June 1922), was a Russian poet and playwright, a central part of the Russian Futurist ...

, and the stage designer was

Kazimir Malevich Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (

. The opera has become notable as the event where Malevich made his first

Black Square ''Black Square'' () is a 1915 oil on linen canvas painting by the Russian avant-garde artist and theorist Kazimir Malevich. There are four painted versions, the first of which was completed in 1915 and described by the artist as his breakthrou ...

, as part of a design for a curtain. The first performance was organised by the artistic group

Soyuz Molodyozhi Soyuz Molodyozhi (Union of the Youth, ) was an artistic group and an art magazine of Russian avant-garde organized in 1910. There were more than 30 members of the group and most of other Russian avant-garde participated in their exhibitions. Th ...

Plot and reception

The plot concerns a group of protagonists who want to destroy reason, by disposing of time and capturing

the Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

. The opera was intended to underline parallels between literary text, musical score, and the art of painting, and featured a cast of such extravagant characters as ''

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...

and

Caligula Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), also called Gaius and Caligula (), was Roman emperor from AD 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Augustus' granddaughter Ag ...

in the Same Person'', ''Traveller through All the Ages'', ''Telephone Talker'', ''The New Ones'', etc. The audience reacted negatively and even violently to the performance, as have some subsequent critics and historians.

Translations

The original 1980 English translation of the opera by poet

Larissa Shmailo Larissa Shmailo (born 1956 in Brooklyn, New York, United States) is an American poet, translator, novelist, editor, and critic. She is known for her literary translations from Russian to English, particularly her translation of ''Victory over the S ...

was performed for the celebrated reconstruction of the First Futurist Opera at the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

as well as the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...

. It was performed in full staging with digital sets and synthesized music at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

23 April 2015.

Recent performances

In 2015, during the

Art Basel Art Basel is a for-profit, privately owned and managed, international art fair staged annually in Basel (Switzerland), Miami Beach (US), Hong Kong and Paris. Art Basel provides a platform for galleries to show and sell their work to buyers, an ...

fair, the Swiss

Beyeler Foundation The Beyeler Foundation or Fondation Beyeler, with its museum in Riehen, near Basel (Switzerland), owns and oversees the art collection of Hildy and Ernst Beyeler, which features modern and traditional art. The Beyeler Foundation museum includes ...

presented a production of the opera that was shown in the

Theater Basel Theater Basel is the municipal theatre of the city of Basel, Switzerland, which is home to the city's opera and ballet companies. The theatre also presents plays and musicals in addition to operas and operettas. Because the theatre does not h ...

on 17 June 2015. It was a kind of preview to the ''In Search of 0,10 – The Last Futurist Exhibition of Painting'' exhibition that ran from 4 October 2015 to 10 January 2016 at the Beyeler Foundation. A documentary film about the opera was made in 1980.

References

External links

Costume Design by MalevichA modern reconstruction of the opera
* Article by Isobel Hunter

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' article
Vienna 1993 staging
including pictures of performance
Rober Benedetti - Reconstructing ''Victory over the Sun''
at

JSTOR JSTOR ( ; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources founded in 1994. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary source ...

(requires subscription)
''Victory over the Sun''
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' article on the 1999 London recreation
Valeri Shishanov. VITEBSK’ BUDETLANE
{{Authority control Operas 1913 operas Russian avant-garde Russian Futurism Russian-language operas Operas by Mikhail Matyushin

Plot and reception

Translations

Recent performances

References

Further reading

External links