Gallery of Mirrors: A Night at the Chinese Opera by Judith Weir and Its Textomusical Prototypes
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Abstract
A Night at the Chinese Opera is the most famous work of the largest contemporary British composer Judith Weir. Until now, this opera has not been known in Russia, although the interest of the Western public and critics in it since the moment of its first production in 1987 has become more and more active. Using an integrated approach and relying on cultural-historical, comparative and musical-analytical methods, the author of the article considers Night at the Chinese Opera as a work based on the interpenetration of various cultural and historical layers.
The stratum of the main stage time (acts 1 and 3) relates to the life of China in the 13th century, the stratum of conditionally play time (a performance included into the opera, based on the play by Ji Junxian in act 2) reflects the events of the history of the 6th century BC. The composer’s approach to portraying China is far from exotic. China and Europe, different eras of the past and the present, become a single postmodern text, in which no preference is given to any of the components. The events of an old Chinese play under Weir՚s pen acquire new meanings and refer to the works of Shakespeare, Fowles, Sendak, and elements of the stylistics of Chinese traditional opera, the styles of Verdi, Stravinsky, the Second Viennese School, Britten, etc. are included in the orbit of the musical language. Thus, Weir՚s Night at the Chinese Opera marks a new stage in the development of the traditions of distant cultures by the European musical theater. The differences between “alien” and “our own”, between “modern” and “old” are erased, the whole turns into a gallery of mirrors, where reflections of reflections give rise to more and more new meanings.
Keywords: Judith Weir, A Night at the Chinese Opera, contemporary opera, East and West, interaction of cultures.
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