The Fiery Angel (opera)

Sergei Prokofiev's opera, The Fiery Angel (Russian: Огненный ангел, tr. Ognenny angel), Op. 37, could be considered one of the composer’s largest challenges. Writing, production, and location were all factors in the piece’s progress. The journey to completion was not truly over until after Prokofiev’s time, when the piece was first presented in a full performance at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on 25 November 1954, and was first premiered at the Venice Festival in 1955.[1]

The Fiery Angel
Opera by Sergei Prokofiev
Scene in a 1973 production, photographed by Paolo Monti
Native title
Огненный ангел (Ognenny angel)
LibrettistProkofiev
LanguageRussian
Based onThe Fiery Angel
by Valery Bryusov
Premiere
25 November 1955 (1955-11-25)
Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris

Bryusov’s novel

Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel was based on a novel of the same name by Valery Bryusov. Prokofiev was more intrigued by the “orgies” (here, indulgence of passion) presented in the novel rather than the story ideas.[2] The novel was inspired by Bryusov’s own experiences with one Nina Petrovskaya, and was considered one of the beginnings of the Russian Symbolist movement known as Vesy, or “The Scales.” Nina was the mistress of Andrey Bely. In their time together, Nina also came to know Bryusov in 1904, and this started to cause obvious concerns for Bely. There was an anticipated brawl on a remote road in Moscow, but a mutual friend of Bryusov and Bely prevented the fight. Nina, Andrey, and Bryusov inspired Prokofiev’s characters in his opera, making the novel the prime source of inspiration for the work.[3] The novel was also the basis for the libretto of Prokofiev’s opera, which Prokofiev himself wrote[4] with the help of Demchinsky.[5]

Synopsis

Originally the opera was in three acts and eleven scenes, but was eventually reorganized into five acts and seven scenes.

Act 1

Renata, a young woman searching for a missing love, resides at an inn. Ruprecht, a knight errant, meets Renata at the inn. She tells him that, since her childhood, she has been in love with an angel. This angel, Madiel, encouraged her to do good deeds, and at the age of seventeen she finally asked for his physical love. The angel, in response, glowed in fury, but agreed to return in human form. After Madiel’s promise, Renata had met Count Heinrich von Otterheim. Convinced that this was her angel returned to Earth, Renata immediately gave herself to him. One year later, Otterheim left. In denial, Renata begs Ruprecht to help her search for Otterheim.[6]

Act 2

As the two search for Otterheim, Ruprecht soon falls in love with Renata, although she does not share the feeling. They decide to resort to sorcery to find Otterheim, and a spell is cast. Three knocks are then heard at the door. Renata assumes the spell has worked and nearly goes insane at the thought of Otterheim returning. But nobody is there. Ruprecht and Renata seek out the powerful sorcerer Agrippa von Nettesheim. Once in his lair, they are met with his refusal to help; his concerns lie with the power of the Inquisition.

Act 3

Ruprecht learns that Renata has finally found Count Heinrich von Otterheim, who has rejected her. She begs to be avenged, learning that he was never her angel. Ruprecht attempts to exact revenge for Renata by dueling with Otterheim. The duel is one-sided, as Otterheim easily overcomes Ruprecht and injures him.

Act 4

Ruprecht and Renata have moved in together, but Renata now insists on joining a convent to better herself and for her soul’s sake. There is a comic relief, involving Faust and Mephistopheles at a tavern. (This tavern scene, used to break up the dark sarcastic nature of the opera, is sometimes left out.)

Act 5

Renata is in the convent, where the leaders accuse her of demonic possession. As an attempt to heal Renata ensues, all Hell essentially breaks loose (both on stage and in the orchestra) as the other nuns are also possessed. She is condemned by the Inquisitor to be burned at the stake.[7]

Progress

With no previous commissions or any actual production being present, Prokofiev set out to write The Fiery Angel at one of the only times of his life in which religion was considered for his works. The thematic style is more like Prokofiev’s pre-Revolution operas (such as The Gambler), even with the ambiguity. The only theme that strays from the ambiguous is the theme involved with the evil forces.[8]

The opera as a whole is a contrast to some of Prokofiev’s earlier operas (such as his opera The Love for Three Oranges) just by being a tragedy, and the story was considered very appropriate for Prokofiev’s dark and sarcastic style.

The production of the opera was one of the biggest hurdles, for different reasons, Prokofiev faced. There was a large amount of extra material in the work, there were what was considered violations of theater, negotiations with different theaters both in Europe and America continued to fail. In the midst of it all, Prokofiev felt like he was unappreciated and unwanted, but his pride kept him striving for recognition.[9]

In 1926, Bruno Walter made Prokofiev an offer to have The Fiery Angel produced at a Berlin theater, which prompted Prokofiev to work on the orchestration. The orchestration was finished in 1927. The production was still unsuccessful.[10] The opera and inspiration came and went, but it was the promises of production that kept Prokofiev writing.[11]

Prokofiev, who had been working on the opera for years, was reluctant to let the music languish unperformed, and after hearing a concert performance of its second act given by Serge Koussevitzky in June 1928, he adapted parts of the opera to make his Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 44, later that year.

Reception

The Fiery Angel was met with mixed reviews for different reasons. Largely, The Fiery Angel was, despite lack of productions, reviewed as Prokofiev’s “… strongest and most dramatically intense scores.”[12] In a review of the Bolshoi performance of The Fiery Angel, it is said that Prokofiev’s “…score is crazy, but shouldn’t sound chaotic.”[13] Prokofiev may have only been interested in the overarching story rather than the smaller details. It was also criticized that maybe the language would have been better in French rather than Russian.[14] Some even called the opera a “16th-century Carmen with supernatural trimmings” amongst other mixed reviews.[15] Another criticism is that The Fiery Angel is nothing but confusion and noise with the “modern” title.[16] Using staging should not be there to make up for the music, but to mix with it and make a grand production.[17] Prokofiev was able to write the music how he saw fit, which appealed to many more than the staging has, according to different reviews.

Recordings

Source: Recordings of The Fiery Angel on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk

References
  1. Ed. Larue, Steven C. International Dictionary of Opera, Vol. 1: A-K. St. James Press: Detroit, 1993, 439.
  2. Taruskin, Richard. “Another World.” Opera News, Vol. 60, No. 7 (December 1995). 8, accessed October 6, 2012, http://search.proquest.com/docview/1164853/1399C72BE8E1219F6AD/4
  3. Nice, David. Prokofiev: From Russia to the West, 1891-1935. Yale University Press: New Haven, 2003, 166.
  4. Larue, International, 439
  5. Elsworth, John. “Prokofiev and Briusov: The Libretto of The Fiery Angel.” Slavonica 10, no. 1 (April 2004).
  6. Larue, International, 439
  7. Larue, International, 440
  8. Ed. Holden, Amanda. The New Penguin Opera Guide. Penguin Group: London, 2001, 693
  9. Nestyev, Israel V. Sergei Prokofiev: His Musical Life. Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1946, 82
  10. Nestyev, Musical, 107
  11. Elsworth, “Libretto”, 2
  12. Ed. Holden, Penguin, 693
  13. Conrad, Peter. "Laughing at Stalin: Soviet Russia ruined Prokofiev's life but inspired his most comic, and lyrical, music." New Statesman, Vol. 135 no. 4805 (2006), 35.e
  14. Clark, Fascinating, 13
  15. McAllister, Rita. “Natural and Supernatural in ‘The Fiery Angel’.” The Musical Times, Vol. 111, No. 1530 (August 1970), 785JSTOR 955299
  16. Taruskin, Another, 8
  17. Clark, Fascinating, 13
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