А. G. Rubinstein’s “The Tower of Babel”. Methods of Opera Dramaturgy

Abstract

To date, A. G. Rubinstein’s opera “The Tower of Babel” (1869) has not received any detailed discussion in musicology. The conclusions of the analysis made in this article are compared with the key provisions of Rubinstein’s letter (1882) devoted to the characteristic features of the genre of “sacred opera”. The analysis of the dramaturgy of “The Tower of Babel” opera is based on the structure of the opera as a whole, the work with the biblical plot, the confl ict of the main characters, the genre spectrum of their statements, and the signifi cance of the choral scenes and numbers. The specifi c imagery of the opera’s scenes is formed through the interaction of the main characters and choruses of different characters — human, angel and demon, while the musical characterisation of the philosophically generalised main characters — Nimrod and Abraham — forms a separate confl ict line of development. These vectors make it possible to identify a combination of lyrical-dramatic and epic features in the opera as a peculiarity of the genre of sacred opera.