Classical music and jazz: Preview - Prokofiev's The Gambler at ROH
Published: 4 February 2010
By HELEN LAWRENCE
THE history of Sergei Prokofiev’s early opera The Gambler, a social satire based on Dostoyevsky’s story, is as intriguing as the opera itself. Seldom performed since it was written in 1915, its Royal Opera House premiere takes place on February 11 in a new production by Richard Jones, conducted by Antonio Pappano. Packed with action, it examines the ever topical addictive power of gambling.
It is also an important piece of operatic history. The 25-year-old Prokofiev deliberately chose a musical language as radical and “left-wing” as possible for the unusual score. It was championed by Russia’s most brilliant director, Vsevolod Meyerhold, and Albert Coates, the British chief conductor of the Mariinsky Theatre, who believed the opera’s innovatory form would blaze a reforming path and bring new life to the imperial stage.
But during the rehearsals in October 1916, the singers and musicians found its musical complexity and sheer novelty too difficult. And, of course, 1917 was the fateful year of revolution, first in February, then followed by the October Bolshevik revolution. There was no money for new operas. Prokofiev left Russia soon afterwards, but Meyerhold continued to try to get the work performed. However, with Stalin’s 1920s clampdown on anything avant garde, it was damned as “ideologically unsuitable”, and by 1940 Meyerhold was dead, a victim of Stalin’s purges.
Prokofiev eventually managed to get it performed at La Monnaie in Brussels in 1929, but it had to wait till 1974 before it was finally given its stage premiere by the Bolshoi Company, and 2001 by the Metropolitan Opera.
With a starry cast, a fascinating evening awaits those with an adventurous spirit. It’s affordable too, with ROH holding ticket prices down, from £5 to a top price of £50.
• Prokofiev’s The Gambler is premiered at the Royal Opera House on February 11, with performances on February 15, 18, 25 and 27. • 0844 209 1805