Not Love Alone

Premiere of the opera «Not Love Alone» by Rodion Shchedrin will take place on the 6, 7 and 8 of March at the Musical Theatre named after Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko. The work on the Main Stage of the Theatre is performed by Yevgeny Pisarev and Felix Korobov, the scenography for the play is created by Maxim Obrezkov, costumes by Maria Danilova. 

Shchedrin wrote the opera «Not Love Alone» in 1961 to the libretto by Vasily Katanyan based on the stories of Sergei Antonov. The first work of the composer in the opera genre takes place in a Soviet collective farm village 10 years after the end of the Great Patriotic War. The plot is based on the story of the main heroine – the chairman of the collective farm Varvara Vasilyevna, who faced with a difficult choice between feelings for the young man and professional duty. 

According to the director’s idea of Yevgeny Pisarev, the play is completely tied to the historical period described in the libretto. Impressionistic scenography  and almost documentary costumes will reflect the duality of music, in wich ditties and songs of that time are woven. «Of course, the main thing is a lyrical story about a failed love, – clarifies the director. – About the roughness of the souls of strong people. These people are crushed by war, by the harsh reality of the collective farm life. But they are still harmonious and full of desire to live and to love».

The main conductor of the Theater Felix Korobov dreamed of setting this work for a long time: «Inside this opera, which goes on for about two hours, lies a huge spectrum of emotions and feelings, different storylines, a spectrum from irony, jokes and a real sincere tear to a great tragedy. We immerse ourselves in the abyss of passion of the opera, in this peculiar tangle of no less strong passions than those described in «Lady Macbeth of Mtsensky county».