# 20th Century Operatic Masterpieces: Part Nine - Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel



## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

20th Century Operatic Masterpieces: Part Nine - Prokofiev's _The Fiery Angel_



















Prokofiev's opera The Fiery Angel is one of the composer's most problematic and controversial works. His repeated attempts to have it staged (by the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, the Städtische Opera, Berlin) came tantalizingly close to actualization, but none of the productions materialized. Apart from an excerpt that Sergey Koussevitzky presented in Paris in 1928, Prokofiev never heard his opera performed. It lay forgotten until the score was discovered in Paris after the composer's death. Charles Bruck conducted the concert premiere in Paris in 1954, and Teatro La Fenice presented the staged premiere in 1955. Reaction to the opera has been divided, with some critics calling it Prokofiev's masterpiece and others dismissing it as a deservedly neglected musical and dramatic failure.

Given the amount of attention and time Prokofiev devoted to the composition and revision of the opera and his dogged attempts to find a producing company, it's clear he considered it an important work. When it became apparent that a production was not forthcoming, he used thematic material from the opera as the basis for his Third Symphony (1928).

The libretto, which Prokofiev wrote himself, is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Valery Bryussov (1907). Set in sixteenth century Germany, its subject is the escalating sexual hysteria of Renata, a young woman whose obsession with an angel of fire virtually destroys Ruprecht, a knight who loves her, and finally culminates in an orgy in a convent. The highly dramatic libretto includes mystical communications with the spirit world, esoteric cabalistic rituals, shrieking skeletons, cannibalism, self-mutilation, and an encounter with Faust and Mephistopheles. Stylistically (if not thematically) the libretto owes more to the naturalism of Chekhov than to the conventions of traditional opera, and is full of deft dramatic turns and sly humor. (When a fortune teller begins muttering gibberish, two characters argue about whether she is speaking Russian or English.) Prokofiev's setting of the naturalistic dialogue is frequently declamatory, and this attribute is sometimes cited as a flaw in the work. The text setting is indeed fast paced, but it is always supported and driven by an underlying musical logic. While the vocal lines by themselves may sometimes lack a high melodic profile, they are a critical part of a compelling and evocative musical structure that moves the drama forward.

The role of Renata is a tour de force and has been called one of the most grueling in opera because every scene is essentially a mad scene, and she is onstage for almost the entire work. Given the theme of the work -- what we would call sexual hysteria, and what the characters in the opera understand as demon possession -- it is entirely appropriate that the music be frenzied and demonic sounding, and Prokofiev pulls out all the stops. The Fiery Angel is perhaps his most expressionistic score, using the broad definition of expressionism, and certainly one of his most passionate. The scenes of Renata's ravings in the first act are appropriately manic and driven. Her summoning of demons in the first scene of Act Two is frighteningly otherworldly; it sounds more like electronically generated sounds than something that could have been written in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The music is gentle when the situation calls for it; the serenity of the opening of the final act is in dramatic contrast to the music that precedes and follows it.

Part of the criticism of the work may be based on the lack of effectiveness of the end of the final act, in which the Grand Inquisitor interrogates Renata, the nuns react by ripping off their clothes and attacking him, and he sentences Renata to death at the stake. Prokofiev's music in the previous four acts has mirrored the mystery and fevered anxiety of the drama at a high level of intensity, and the music for the final act doesn't fully evoke the elevated agitation that the situation requires. The music is energetic and driving, but its lyrical impulse is less compelling and less memorable than that of the previous acts. Prokofiev must have been aware of this dilemma; in the final movement of the Third Symphony, he doesn't use the music from the end of the opera, ostensibly the work's climax, but music from the interlude and second scene of Act Two, which is genuinely hair-raising.

[Article taken from All Music Guide]

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Embarrassingly, I've heard this opera for the first-time recently (the Gergiev recording), but I was blown away by it! I've been listening to Prokofiev for years and years and I know pretty every facet of his oeuvre except for the operas, which have remained a blindspot for me. I don't want to say this is Prokofiev's greatest opera as I haven't heard the others (aside from operatic suites from works like _Semyon Kotko_, _The Gambler_, _War and Peace_ and _The Love for Three Oranges_). Anyway, looking forward to exploring these works in length, but, for now, what do you guys think of _The Fiery Angel_?


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## cybernaut (Feb 6, 2021)

I'll tell you after I watch this:


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## cybernaut (Feb 6, 2021)

and/or this


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

It's a work I have always enjoyed (also the Gergiev) but somehow don't return to all that often. As noted in the OP, the 3rd symphony has a close affinity to it.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

I noticed this opera exists, because it was listed somewhere among the most difficult roles for the soprano. Leyla Gencer believed, she had destroyed her voice singing it.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Neo Romanza said:


> 20th Century Operatic Masterpieces: Part Nine - Prokofiev's _The Fiery Angel_
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 Actually, the final scene of the opera is the most hair raising scene in all opera in my humble opinion . No opera composer has ever written anything so horrifying and profoundly disturbing .


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