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Libretto by laura harrington
with additional material by braham murray
houston grand opera Patrick summers, conductor
With additional material by
Based on the novel resurrection by
though hundreds of thousands had done their very best to disfigure this small piece of land on which they were crowded together; paving the ground with stones scraping away every last vestige of vegetation, cutting down the trees, turning away birds and beasts, filling the air with the smoke of naphtha and coal - still spring was spring, even in the town. leo tolstoy, Resurrection
notes on resurrection Tod Machover 8
words on resurrection Braham Murray, Harlow Robinson,
Alan Rich, Anthony Brandt 13
president/prince korchagin/0fficer Dale Travis
first judge James F. Love
simon petrov kartinkin/train conductor Matthew A. Kreger
prince dmitry nekhlyudov Scott Hendricks
second judge/lawyer Clifford Derix
euphemia ivanovna bochkova/women's warder Darlene James
jurors Carlton E. Sterling
katerina maslova, also called katusha Joyce DiDonato
patinkin/kriltsov James C. Holloway
sofia ivanovna Katherine Ciesinski
peasant girl Kimberly Lane
foreman/bailiff/guard Derrick Parker
baklashov/prison inspector/prisoner #2 Daniel Belcher
nikiforov/prisoner #3 Chuck Winkler
princess missy korchagin/young woman Kerri Marcinko
korchagin's doorkeeper Harrison Moore
princess sophia korchagin/old woman Judith Christin
prince myagkaya/peter simonson Raymond Very
princess myagkaya/nekhlyudov's sister/woman in labor Jessica Jones
female prisoner/woman with kriltsov Sybil Elizabeth Crawford
nekhlyudov's housekeeper Barbie Brandon
maria, kriltsov's daughter Elizabeth Turner
conductor Patrick Summers
World Premiere Production
assistant director Garnett Bruce
choreographer/movement coach Sandra Organ
fight choreographer Brian Byrnes
set and costume designer Simon Higlett
lighting designer Chris Parry
sound designer Ed Hammond
wig and makeup designer Dotti Staker
musical preparation Peter Pasztor
chorus master Richard Bado
principal stage manager Kimberley S. Prescott
houston grand opera orchestra
houston grand opera chorus
the stage production of resurrection was made possible
by a generous gift from louisa stude sarofim.
the commission was funded in part
by drs. susan and dennis carlyle.
the recording was funded in part
by the aaron copland fund for music, inc.
3 Flashback 1: For a Day and a Night (Chorus) [5:04]
4 Is This A Dream? (Nekhlyudov/Maslova) [3:15]
8 Guilty (Nekhlyudov) [1:52]
10 Korchagin Dinner [4:41]
11 Touch Me (Nekhlyudov /Missy) [5:01]
13 Prison Duet (Nekhlyudov /Maslova) [4:31]
16 Study: Nekhlyudov Changes His Life [3:19]
17 Everything in My Life (Nekhlyudov then Sextet) [2:38]
18 Prison 2 (Nekhlyudov /Maslova) [6:38]
19 Too Late (Maslova) [4:24]
2 March - Continue [6:16]
3 Simonson's Entrance [3:15]
4 Lullaby (Maslova) [2:55]
5 March - Continue [3:16]
6 Awakening (Nekhlyudov) [2:55]
7 Musical Interlude [1:52]
8 Siberian Prison Camp [2:39]
10 Prisoners As Long as I Live [1:58]
11 She Knows (Simonson) [3:17]
12 Nekhlyudov/Simonson [4:14]
14 Nekhlyudov/Maslova [6:20]
Edited and remixed by Tod Machover
Post-production and sound design: Tod Machover and Ed Hammond
Editing of original recordings: Ysabelle Von Wersch-Cot
Mixing and Post-production: RondoMondo Studios, Dublin, Ireland;
MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
My music has always been about human possibility and transformation, and I have tried to explore a realistic, optimistic path to individual growth and betterment without ignoring the inevitable pain and struggles of such a journey. With these personal and artistic interests, it is not surprising that I was drawn early — in my late teens and early twenties — to Russian literature, with Tolstoy always striking me as the most inspiring, most complex, and most truthful of all novelists.
When David Gockley of Houston Grand Opera first expressed interest, over ten years ago, in having me compose an opera, I immediately decided that I wanted this not only to be a piece about an individual's personal and spiritual journey, but about how one's own personal growth could have — must have — a powerfully positive effect on others and on the whole world. I thought of various scenarios, most of which were rooted in contemporary American society, before my eyes fell on an old copy of Tolstoy's Resurrection in my library and I realized that this was the story I had been looking for. The depth of the questions posed; the riveting, intimate, unusual love story of Prince Nekhlyudov and the serving girl/prostitute Maslova; the indelibly horrifying descriptions of cruelty and stupidity providing the backdrop for an unbelievable flowering of human vitality, warmth, and love; the piercing analysis of both Moscow society and the wild natural forces of Siberia; and the incredible, courageous risks taken by so many of the book's characters, and by Tolstoy himself in this, his last novel, and in his own final chapter of life — all of these characteristics convinced me that I had “come home” to the right story. And like so many of Tolstoy's late writings, Resurrection has a timeless quality and an indelible call to conscience and to action that cuts across centuries and cultures, at least as relevant today as when it was published just over one hundred years ago.
With librettist Laura Harrington and director/dramaturge Braham Murray (as well as the incredibly helpful collaboration of David Gockley), we shaped a two-act structure from the novel's original three parts. However, these three parts are still reflected in the opera's dramatic structure and in the music — the awakening of both Maslova and Nekhlyudov to the horrible emptiness of their lives (Act I), the descent into hell (Siberia, actually) that both must make, together and apart (Act II, Scene 1), and both of their resurrections (Act II, Scene 2) back to life and love, leading each to a different conclusion and a different future. The subtly powerful transformation of their relationship holds the opera together, while the external world — of family, courtroom, salon, prison camp, and nature itself — forces the two to action, and in turn will be changed by them for the better.
The music of the opera attempts to convey the large steps on these paths to resurrection, while also illuminating the delicate and subtle changes in each character, often revealed through intimate conversations. To this end, certain musical characteristics evolve gradually (such as the general brightening and increasing consonance of the harmonies and an increasing rhythmic and melodic freedom), while being clarified through carefully defined and differentiated scenes and “numbers.” The music itself is primarily tonal but full of surprises. My fundamental musical instinct (perhaps since I'm a cellist) has always been melodic, and I have tried to fill the opera with a lyricism that is memorable and singable without being derivative. The rhythmic palette is quite varied, shifting and unpredictable in much of Act I, pulsating ominously in Siberia (Act II, Scene 1), and spinning fast, delicate, almost weightless as love and dignity are reborn (Act II, Scene 2).
When I composed my opera VALIS (1987/8) for Paris' Pompidou Center, I took it as an invitation to rethink the content and context of opera, since the Pompidou had neither an opera house nor an opera orchestra. This led to my choice of the science fiction subject, the use of virtual scenography, and the invention of Hyper-instruments, which allowed two musicians to perform and shape the dense, intricate musical score. With Resurrection, my idea has been different. I always imagined this as a work which would sit comfortably in a traditional opera house, which would use the opera's resources in a fresh but idiomatic way, and which would speak directly and immediately to opera lovers, while not being “conventional” in the pejorative sense. The work does indeed use a traditional opera orchestra and features the unamplified voices of the cast. Yet there is also considerable electronic enhancement of the orchestration, performed by three keyboard players (using some special sound-shaping devices built by my team for this project). This extra sonic layer is always present (and further enhanced in this recording), and is designed to blend into the overall texture, sometimes providing clarity and punch to the bass line, sometimes shadowing a melody, often providing extra dimension and texture in the larger ensemble scenes, and always emphasizing the dramatic evolution of the story and characters. Resurrection represents an attempt to create electronics that are subtle and sophisticated enough to blend almost imperceptibly with the physical, acoustic presence of instruments and voices, rising to the fore now and then to make a special expressive statement. In fact, the overall shape of the piece — its dramatic contour — is defined just as much by its hybrid timbres and characteristic sonorities as it is by melodies, harmonies and rhythms.
While working on Resurrection (on sabbatical, in a studio on an oceanside cliff in Big Sur, California, far from the hi-tech world of M.I.T.), I immersed myself in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Russian music, listening to a lot of Tchaikovsky, Scriabin, early Stravinsky, and early Shostakovich (among others). While fairly certain that none of this ended up explicitly in the score, I do believe that there is a directness, melodiousness, harmonic adventurousness, bass-centeredness, and rhythmic energy that may have been partially inspired by this repertoire. And I believe there is a certain “Russian” quality in much of the music, although it is difficult to say exactly why. Since most of my family came from Russia — all four grandparents emigrated to the U.S. in the ten years after Resurrection was published — the “feel” of the score may simply be a return to roots and deep interests, as was my chance rediscovery of Tolstoy's novel.
Working on this opera, and coming to grips with Tolstoy's towering and demanding novel, was a transformative experience for me as an artist and as a person. I hope that Resurrection will touch people by the quality, variety and beauty of its music, and by the struggles and triumphs of its characters. I further hope it draws people to consider the higher goals and simple truths that Tolstoy reminds us of so powerfully (and that are so often buried or forgotten in our hectic, complicated lives). The opera is meant above all as a call to action, to make the world a better place. And if we can't change everything at once, we can at least — as Nekhlyudov does at the end of Resurrection — “take the first step… wherever it leads.”
Resurrection is dedicated to my mother, Wilma Machover. She is the one who started me on this musical journey, and on so many others.
When I was asked to do this opera, Resurrection, it was a great moment in my life because I'd known the novel for many years. Although it's not the most perfect novel that Tolstoy wrote, it's perhaps his greatest in terms of the scope of the theme.
At the end of the 19th Century, Tolstoy was looking at a society in complete decay: the judicial system was corrupt, the penal system was appalling, and the inhumanity of the ruling classes to those less fortunate was shocking. The situation seemed past redemption, but Tolstoy's novel shows how an entire society can be resurrected.
He does this through a very unconventional love story between Prince Nekhlyudov and Maslova, who, at the beginning of the opera, are spiritually dead — Nekhlyudov because he has slowly been ensnared by the easy life, and has become self-indulgent, hedonistic, degenerate; and Maslova because Nekhlyudov seduced her in his youth, left her with child and abandoned her, and being a girl of the lower classes, she had no means of survival except taking to the streets. The opera concentrates on that relationship, and we have tried to show how, if two people can help resurrect each other, then by the same means society can be resurrected.
This very unusual love story ends with Nekhlyudov and Maslova not being together, for extremely good reasons — because there is something else that they have to do. At the end of the opera, hopefully every member of the audience will understand, just like Nekhlyudov and Maslova, that the future is in everyone's hands — nobody is powerless, and every single human being has a part to play in the future of the world. It's a grand aim, indeed, but it's the aim of Tolstoy's novel, and we thought it was our job to try to match that.
Harlow Robinson is the author of biographies of Sergei Prokofiev and Sol Hurok, and of many essays
and articles on Russian music and culture. He teaches at Northeastern University.
A realistic, old-fashioned Russian novel published in 1899 about spiritual redemption and rebirth might seem an unlikely subject for composer, conductor, cellist, and inventor Tod Machover. After all, the 45-year-old Machover is the creator of such cutting-edge high-tech projects as the Brain Opera, an interactive production for three hyperperformers with audience participation — live or via Internet — that beguiled critics and audiences at the 1996 Lincoln Center Festival. And Machover's highly experimental VALIS, a science fiction tale written for six voices, hyperkeyboard, hyperpercussion, and live electronics, has been called “the first computer opera.”
So what has now led this media whiz and adventurous explorer of hyperspace to write a new opera based on Leo Tolstoy's Resurrection for Houston Grand Opera? Directed by Braham Murray of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, England, Resurrection had its world premiere on April 23, 1999, with additional performances April 25, 28, and May 1, 4, and 7.
“I was trying to find a project about the kind of difference an individual could make in the outside world,” says Machover, who is Professor of Music and Media at the Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He talks at a rapid pace only slightly ahead of the thoughts tumbling from his brain. “I wanted to show how you can make the best of yourself in a way that will also help others.”
In Resurrection, his last novel, Tolstoy focuses on the religious and moral issues that preoccupied him after his “spiritual crisis” of 1878. Having completed Anna Karenina, with its sympathetic portrayal of a woman involved in an adulterous relationship, the enormously wealthy and world-famous Tolstoy broke with his personal and literary past. He devoted the rest of his long life to the propagation of his social, economic, and religious beliefs. All the works of fiction Tolstoy produced after 1878 have a strongly tendentious, even propagandistic, tone, although most of them, including Resurrection, still contain frequent flashes of the sensual, worldly talent exhibited in earlier masterpieces like War and Peace.
“I first read Resurrection when I was 18 or 19, when I was reading all of the big Tolstoy novels,” Machover recalls. “But observing the recent incredible events in Russia, and reading David Remnick's book about them (also entitled Resurrection) brought me back to it once again. Suddenly the novel seemed so right as a subject for an opera. Because Tolstoy here asks the fundamental questions that we forget about when we get so wrapped up in daily life and current events. Resurrection is a story about seeing past your nose. And the issues raised are very relevant to America right now.”
As in most of Tolstoy's late fiction, the plot of Resurrection is quite simple. The story was based on an actual incident of which Tolstoy learned in 1888. Prince Dmitry Nekhlyudov, a prosperous, aristocratic, and self-satisfied young man on the brink of an advantageous marriage to a well-placed if unexciting princess, is called to serve on a jury. The case involves the murder and robbery of a client in a hotel. When the three individuals (a peasant, a chambermaid, and a prostitute) accused of the crime file into the courtroom, Nekhlyudov is shocked to realize that he knows the prostitute, Katerina Maslova. She is a young servant girl whom he seduced and abandoned years earlier on his aunt's estate. Partly owing to his actions, she was forced to take up a life of sin.
After Maslova is wrongly found guilty and sentenced to prison and exile, Nekhlyudov experiences a spiritual awakening. Rejecting his life of privilege and turning his property over to his peasants, he follows Maslova to Siberia, prepared to marry her and repent for the wrong he has done.
Resurrection almost immediately became popular with readers in Russia and abroad. The novel's vivid characters and atmosphere also captured the attention of composers. Risurrezione, by Franco Alfano (1875-1954), best known for his completion of Puccini's Turandot, had its premiere in Turin in late 1904. Some years later, Slovak composer Jàn Cikker (1911-1989) created another opera based on the novel: Vzkriesenie, first performed at the National Theater in Prague in 1962.
In bringing Resurrection to the stage, Machover collaborated with librettist Laura Harrington and director Braham Murray. They have distilled the essence of Tolstoy's 500-page novel into two acts. Act I (in five scenes) opens in the courtroom, flashes back repeatedly to the youthful days of Nekhlyudov's selfish seduction of Maslova, and ends with Nekhlyudov's spiritual transformation.
Act II has two scenes. The first, “A Vision of Hell,” shows Maslova marching through the winter with a convoy of convicts (many of them wrongly imprisoned) across the desolate Siberian landscape, with Nekhlyudov following. The second takes place in a Siberian prison camp in early spring. Refusing to accept Nekhlyudov's persistent proposal of marriage, Maslova decides instead to marry a fellow prisoner, Simonson, a schoolmaster who is serving a sentence for teaching subversive literature.
For Machover, it was essential to stress in the libretto and the music that both the downtrodden peasant Maslova and the privileged aristocrat Nekhlyudov are spiritually “resurrected” at the end of the opera. Both had been cut off from their feelings by their life experiences, and both rediscover real and meaningful moral values through their relationship. Maslova gains a sense of self-worth and dignity, while Nekhlyudov gains humility and an appreciation of the emptiness of society's values. “The novel uses an enormous palette, with the courts, the prisons, society, and Siberia,” Machover observes. “But the intimate story of these two people has to be at the center.”
Machover's score — for ten solo singers, chorus, orchestra, and computer-enhanced sound — does not include specific references to Russian folk or liturgical music, and he does not strive for a specifically “Russian” sound. “Musically, the biggest challenge for me was not to skip over the psychological detail so characteristic of Tolstoy, the subtleties of the characters' reactions. I didn't want something with too many words and too much recitative, which would slow down the pace. I have tried to combine arias, duets, and continuous musical structure. What I've come up with is something new for me. I've tried to convey musically the gradual process of spiritual reawakening, to write the kind of music that happens when people start caring for each other.”
The orchestral texture gives particular prominence to the bass line, especially in the emotional and frequently repeated Prisoners' March in Act II. In favoring the bass line, Machover kept in mind the example of Bach, especially the St. Matthew Passion. Although the singers were not amplified (as was the case in his opera VALIS), some of the orchestration was electronically enhanced.
In setting Resurrection to music, Machover has sought above all to remain true to Tolstoy's philosophical and religious message. “Tolstoy believed that people should devote themselves to the highest possible goals, and not waste life on trivia,” the composer said emphatically. “He wanted us to set our sights as high as possible, even if we couldn't get there. In the character of Prince Nekhlyudov, he shows us that the right answers are always the simplest ones, and that we know the right thing to do. We must just listen to the voice inside. Society will never get better unless we take these fundamental moral responsibilities seriously. And you can never say that too often.”
Alan Rich reviews for Newsday and LA Weekly.
“A search for unity, harmony, and beauty amidst seemingly insurmountable complexity and fragmentation.” So wrote Tod Machover to define his own musical ideal, for a 1984 concert in New York's Symphony Space. The program that night consisted of more-or-less “ordinary” works among the 30-year-old Machover's already considerable legacy: a major work for piano solo (played by Alan Feinberg) and a string quartet (played by the fearless Kronos). At that tender age Machover had already made his mark at music's outer edges: several years as director of musical research at IRCAM, Pierre Boulez's underground (in more ways than one) electronic workshop; a growing repertory of works for stand-alone instruments, orchestras-plus-computer technology, computer alone; a deskload of designs for new-fangled “hyperinstruments,” invented by Machover to explore the vast possibilities in interaction between live performer and circuitry.
One peak, however, remained unscaled - understandably so, perhaps, since the chances that a composer best-known for his unbridled innovations could make any kind of mark in the world of opera (where the icon of the C-major toe-tapper reigns against faint opposition) were slim, to say the least. Four years later, however, Machover had created VALIS, an opera like none other and, even more remarkable, a stunning success. The dramatic substance came from one of the last novels by sci-fi master Philip K. Dick, in whose own inscrutable brain the convoluted, psychological, self-revealing action seemed to take place. The work was performed worldwide (Europe, Japan, U.S.), recorded, and hailed with some awe as “the first computer opera.” Among its early admirers was David Gockley, whose Houston Grand Opera was creating its own awesome place as a remarkably open-handed inspirer and performer of brand new American operas - including such off-the-wall works as John Adams' Nixon in China and Philip Glass' sci-fi fantasy The Making of the Representative from Planet 8. “I saw VALIS in Europe,” Gockley later said, “and knew I had to commission an opera from this composer.” The result of that commission, Resurrection, became the 24th Houston Grand Opera world premiere.
In between, Machover worked on several other musical dramas which he was pleased to refer to as “opera.” In 1994 there was Media/Medium, a mini-opera composed for the magician/comedians Penn and Teller, and brought by them to Bally's casino in Las Vegas and then on a national tour. Brain Opera, created in 1996, was the sensation of that year's Lincoln Center Festival, and is a work that drew its ever-changing substance from the interaction of each viewer using specially designed hyperinstruments and the all-knowing computer that transformed their contributions into a collective music -related, thus, both to the inner churnings of the hero of VALIS and to the performers of other works of Machover on “hyperviolin,” “hypercello” and their related gadgetry. Two years later there came Meteor Music, a “walk-through opera” composed as a permanent installation at the Meteorite Museum in Essen as the sonic counterpart of that remarkable high-tech visual display, creating a total immersive environment.
All of the above serve brilliantly to exemplify the basic nature of opera, as a dramatic device carried forward in music. None of them, however, would be instantly recognizable as congenial territory to the seasoned operagoer commuting between, say, La Traviata and Parsifal. Resurrection, given its world premiere in 1999 by the Houston Grand Opera that had commissioned its existence, bridged that gap with astonishing success.
Here, at long last, was opera with plot, heroes and heroines, choruses and a steaming orchestra - with, to be sure, an admixture of contemporary instrumentation, a subtle wash of computer-generated sound enhancement. Based on Leo Tolstoy's dense, speculative novel on the redemption of souls, invoking the need for musical treatment along traditional Romantic operatic lines, Resurrection represents for Machover both a step ahead and a memoir of past accomplishments. One work in particular comes to mind, the 45-minute piano work Chansons d'Amour that Alan Feinberg had performed in that 1984 all-Machover concert cited earlier in these words.
Tolstoy is said to have detested opera as an encumbrance to his words; previous treatments of Resurrection, including a lurid misrepresentation by Franco Alfano that reduces Tolstoy's moralizings to soap opera, justify his distaste. Librettists Laura Harrington and Braham Murray have provided Machover with a more honorable, literate treatment of Tolstoy's alternately dramatic and intimate probing of guilt and salvation. Machover, in turn, has given their words a richly intelligent setting, gritty at times but soaring, intensely lyrical at others, remarkable in its sure sense of propulsion.
Perhaps his creation of a full-scale opera on a Tolstoy novel - scored for traditional orchestra with a very skillful use of electronics, managing with sure musical insights the novel's tense, dark emotions and liberating catharsis - may strike his cutting-edge confreres as a backsliding. As refutation - if such be necessary, an arguable matter - consider Machover's own post-partum concerns in the transition from live performance on the stage of Houston's Wortham Theater Center to the two discs herein.
“My goal in producing this CD,” Machover writes, “was to combine the directness and spontaneity of the original performance with sonic enhancements that would really make the work come alive, and also be as close as possible to my musical image of the piece.” To this end he confronted, in his home studio, the seven live-performance recordings made during each night of the Houston run, extracting the optimal presentation of each musical phrase in turn, adding electronic enhancement to virtually every measure to shadow singing voices, strengthen bass lines, and endow the entire performance with the proportion of color and vitality of the live performance in relation to the home-listening experience. The result, therefore, is more than the usual live-performance or off-the-air recorded document; it is, instead, a resurrection of Resurrection as a compact-disc artwork - an interactive process, in other words, in the same sense as the interactivity of the Machover hypercello in the hands, say, of Yo-Yo Ma.
Live in the opera house, or equally live as newly created on disc, Resurrection is a work of genuine originality, remarkably skillful in the vocal writing, its music imaginatively tinged - enhanced, in fact - with a light wash of Mussorgsky here, and Prokofiev there. It adds to the paltry store of worthwhile new operas a work of great attractiveness and power.
Anthony Brandt is Assistant Professor of Composition at the Shepherd School of Music of Rice University. Recent honors
include a Koussevitzsky commission from the Library of Congress and the University's Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize.
The Music of Resurrection
Resurrection is music of the end of the 20th century. Composers of the present day are striving both to assimilate the experimental explorations of the past 100 years, which created some of the century's most abiding achievements, and the music of the great tradition, which continues to be relevant, both for the cogency of its great masterpieces and its lasting vernacular life in popular culture. Few American composers can match the curiosity and energy of Tod Machover in this quest: his influences have ranged from high modernism in his Soft Morning, City, to Renaissance polyphony in Flora, to rock music in Towards the Center and VALIS, to chance music in aspects of the Brain Opera. Machover's music always sounds contemporary, yet it is often highly accessible, because
of its dramatic shape and, amidst the future-looking swirls of sounds, the referential power of tonality.
Crucial to Machover's musical language in Resurrection is the boldness of contrasts. The music ranges from innocent, clear tonal purity to stirringly dissonant upheaval. In Act I, the action cross-cuts between a folk dance, written in a simple, evocative style, and the court room scene, a tireless cascade of unsettled rhythm and harmony. When the Prince and Katerina, newly in love, profess “Can such happiness exist on earth?,” the music lingers in the simplicity of a distant era. Later, when the Prince contemplates the court's unjust verdict, his vocal line is hemmed in by a claustrophobic, suffocating haze of harmony. At the end of Act I, Katerina reflects on her lost youth with a Mozartean calm and directness; then she awakens to her present condition with an agonized distress, achieved in far more modernist terms. Immediacy of feeling is clearly paramount. Listeners accustomed to feeling put-off by the blazing dissonances and irregular rhythms of highly abstract contemporary music may find themselves surprised by the necessary grit and emotional depth they contribute to Machover's panorama.
The opera is held together by a complex web of motives and recurring harmonies. Each scene establishes a strong identity; yet, connections to the drama as a whole are carefully interspersed, reminding us of the larger story. For instance, in the court room scene, the overture's theme - seeped in the feeling of the opening to Bach's “St.Matthew's Passion” — briefly surges when Katerina takes the stand. In Siberia, the prisoners' music conjures up that of the tribunal, momentarily recalling for us the origin of their punishment. In Act II, when Katerina sings “It means so much to me” that the Prince has followed her, her vocal line has a signature gesture which reminds us of their first meeting. Similarly, when the Prince declares “I have made up my mind to marry you,” the descending bass line which accompanies him is an echo of many earlier moments, reaching back to their first encounter. These motivic references are fleet, contributing to a sense of persistent development.
The story unfolds with great momentum. The rhythm, especially in Act I, is propulsive, letting up only for brief moments of reflection. Adding to the feeling of inexorable drive and yet also binding it into clearer units is the use of pedal tones, repeated notes in the bass which underlie climactic moments. The Prince's seduction of Katerina builds its jazzy, foreboding power over an insistently fixed bass. The departure of the Prince's train is depicted over a relentlessly accelerating bass pedal. Even at the height of chaos of the prison scene, the bass holds firm. At the opening of Act II, the grim marchers trudge along to a steady bass; and later, when Simonson declares that “You change the world one man to another,” a pedal tone supports his impassioned feelings.
The vocal writing for the leads is highly virtuosic, covering the singer's full range and creating, at times, almost delerious embellishment. In the arias, Machover frequently repeats text. Yet the music is through-composed, with minimal exact repetition, giving an impression both of tunefulness and constantly evolving feeling. Katerina's lullaby is a strong example: it appears to reprise the same melody, yet the fragmentary returns are brief and most of the music constantly new. Only at the very end of the opera does the music become more strophic, as a way of finally releasing the tension.
Surprisingly, Machover's orchestra uses only 33 players, including double winds and brass, percussion, and a small complement of strings. His writing demands great agility and concentration, with frequent shifting meters and melodic fragments which dart rapidly around the orchestra.
In works such as his Hyperstring Trilogy, Machover has conceived of electronics less as an independent element and more as an extension of human capacities, enriching and elaborating upon the live musical gesture. In Resurrection, the electronics are most often in the background, subtly enhancing important melodic lines and adding heft to the orchestral sonorities. The digital keyboards in the pit sometimes provide sound effects, such as the ominous train whistle in Act I and the cold Siberian wind in Act II.
At other times, the electronics supplement the instrumental sonorities: when the prisoners await Peter Simonson's whipping in Act II, the guitar, which accompanies them, is synthesized. Most strikingly, the electronics provide a layer of rhythmically independent material superimposed over the orchestra during the most chaotic scenes. The only time that the electronics are exposed on their own is as a delicate and haunting background to Katerina's much celebrated lullaby in Act II.
There has been a tendency to regard experimentation as the negation of the communal, the familiar, the recognizable. But just as Machover regards technology as an extension of human possibilities, so he regards musical innovation as building upon, intensifying, and enriching our shared musical awareness. Our common language is not set aside; rather, its consequences are made more far-reaching. The tonal music, though often linked with innocence, frequently gains a modern flair with its rhythmic intricacy, unpredictable chromaticism, and minimal exact recurrence. Meanwhile, the more dissonant passages remain grounded by Machover's sense of highly pulsed rhythm and resonant chord structures.
In Resurrection, Machover achieves an almost cinematic vividness of feeling and situation in entirely musical terms. One doesn't have to be watching to feel completely drawn in by the seduction scene, the departure of the train, the prison scene, and the somber Siberian march. In a language at once approachable and very much his own, Machover makes a powerful statement about music's ability to capture the full range of our experience.
act 1 Prince Dmitry Nekhlyudov, a wealthy nobleman, is being dressed for the day by his valet. Suddenly, all the trappings of a courtroom move into place around him and a trial begins. Nekhlyudov is a juror.
Three people have been charged with robbing a man and poisoning him to cover up the theft. Two defendants, Simon Kartinkin and Euphemia Bochkova, are employees of the hotel where the crime took place. The third is a beautiful young prostitute, Katerina Maslova (Katusha). Nekhlyudov is shocked to recognize her. In a flashback, he remembers meeting her for the first time, nearly a decade before. She was an orphan living on his aunt's estate; he was on furlough from officer training. They danced together and fell in love.
The jury is leaning toward a guilty verdict for he first two defendants and an acquittal for Maslova. One holdout believes that Maslova, too, is guilty, To appease him, the others agree to a hastily-worded verdict.
During the jurors' debate, Nekhlyudov's mind wanders to the night he met Maslova. Completely lost in his own passion, he went to her bedroom, ignoring her protests; she finally submitted to his demands. Afterwards, Nekhlyudov thrust 100 roubles into her hand and left her.
His memory fades; he is in the courtroom again. The verdicts are read, and Maslova is sentenced to eight years of servitude in Siberia. The court is shocked. Screaming her innocence, Maslova is led away. Nekhlyudov tells the president of the court that there has been a mistake; the president replies that the sentence may be appealed. Nekhlyudov realizes he to blame for the course Maslova's life has taken.
That evening, he arrives late for a dinner party given by the Korchagins, whose daughter Missy is generally assumed to be his intended bride. He explains his experience in the court, and how the unjust verdict has unsettled him, but his aristocratic hosts do not understand. When Missy is alone with him, she attempts to seduce him, to cement his commitment to her. Nekhlyudov, disgusted, leaves her. He has suddenly comprehended that he can never marry Missy, and that he must set things right with Maslova, whatever the cost.
Nekhlyudov goes to visit Maslova in prison. When she realizes who he is, her manner turns harsh. He asks for her forgiveness but she insists she is proud of her life. Nekhlyudov is repelled, but promises to do everything he can to help her. As he leaves, Maslova remembers the night she knew Nekhlyudov had abandoned her for good. She was pregnant, and went to find him on a passing army train, but he never saw her. She ran alongside the moving train, pounding on the window and crying out. That night, she gave up believing in God, faith, help, hope.
Nekhlyudov consults a lawyer to appeal Maslova's sentence, but he realizes that he must do more. He wants to do his part to destroy a society that allows the rich to use the poor in any way they please. He renounces his former lifestyle and makes a plan to sell all his possessions and divide his land among the peasants who work it.
Nekhlyudov returns to the prison to have Maslova sign her appeal. He asks her again to forgive him, and tells her he will marry her. Infuriated, she mocks his “noble” offer. Nekhlyudov hands her a photograph of herself taken long ago. She is moved — the photo reminds her of the young woman she once was.
Later, the inspector enters with news that her appeal has been denied, and that she will leave on the next transport to Siberia.
act 11 The prisoners are marching to Siberia through the snow. Nekhlyudov carries a petition to the Emperor which Maslova must sign. He is shocked by the brutal treatment of the prisoners. Maslova is overjoyed to see him, and to his amazement he sees that the old Maslova is being reborn. She introduces him to Peter Simonson, a schoolmaster convicted for teaching “subversive” literature. As Maslova rejoins the line, Nekhlyudov feels stirrings of love for her.
Later, in the prison camp, Nekhlyudov arrives with Maslova's pardon, which he has been successful in negotiating. Suddenly, several guards drag Simonson out for a flogging; Nekhlyudov follows. He can't believe what he has seen. When Simonson is returned to the room, Maslova begins to dress his wounds. Nekhlyudov asks the prisoners how this awful system can be changed. They reply that revolution is the only way. Simonson, in agony, says there is another way: Maslova's way, transforming people with kindness, one person to another.
Simonson asks to speak to Nekhlyudov in private. He wants to marry Maslova, but she will not agree unless Nekhlyudov approves. Nekhlyudov now believes he loves Maslova. He tells her about the pardon and the two men ask her to choose between them. Maslova, now no longer a prisoner, decides to stay with Simonson. Nekhlyudov pleads with her, but to no avail. She charges him to go back into the world and use his wealth and position to change it as she does in her small way: one person to another.
As the prisoners go wearily to start another day's work and Maslova tends Simonson's wounds, Nekhlyudov walks off into the dawn.
“Though hundreds of thousands had done their very best to disfigure this small piece of land on which they were crowded together; paving the ground with stones, scraping away every vestige of vegetation, cutting down the trees, turning away birds and beasts, filling the air with the smoke of naphtha and coal - still spring was spring, even in the town.”
Leo Tolstoy, Resurrection
The Court is a long, large room. At one end is a raised platform for the three judges. At the other end is the prisoner's bench behind an oak railing. The jury sits between them. The court is in mid-session. 2 women and 1 man sit in the prisoner's dock.
The 3 members of the Court are on the platform.
President Read the indictment, please.
First Judge (standing) On the 17th of January, 1899, the accused did murder and rob Therapont Smelkov, a Second Guild merchant from Siberia.
President (internal) Let's get this over quickly. Quickly! My mistress will be at the Hotel Italia at 5 o'clock. For just an hour. (musing) Clara. Lovely. Redheaded. (to the jury) Gentlemen of the jury: May I remind you: Your duty is to judge not falsely, but justly. (turning to the prisoners) Let the first accused rise. (Simon jumps up, his lips moving nervously) Your name?
Simon Simon Petrov Kartinkin.
Gerasimovich (internal) My wife says not to expect dinner at home tonight.
Simon Petrov Thirty-three.
Simultaneously with the following, a spot focuses on Nekhlyudov and we hear his internal thoughts:
Nekhlyudov What a bore this is! (looks at watch)
Simon Petrov I work at the Hotel Mauritania.
President Do you have a criminal record?
Simon Petrov God forbid! No!
President Sit down. (turning to the next prisoner) Let the second accused rise.
Nekhlyudov (internal) The Korchagins are expecting me to propose to Missy tonight. There's nothing really wrong with her… although she's no longer young.
(Simon continues standing in front of Bochkova)
Second Judge (hisses) Kartinkin! Sit down! (he sits hurriedly)
Euphemia Ivanova Euphemia Ivanova Bochkova, 43 years old. Peasant. I, too, had a job at the Hotel Mauritania. (she sits without waiting to be told)
Nekhlyudov (internal) I wonder if this necktie is quite right with this suit?
President (turning to Maslova) Your name? (speaking softly and gently as a man who loves women and appreciates this particularly beautiful one) Please, you'll have to rise. (Maslova stands quickly)
Juror 1 (aside) My God, she's gorgeous!
President What is your name?
Maslova I used to be called Katerina
Nekhlyudov looks at this beautiful young woman.
Nekhlyudov (internal) No, it's impossible… she looks like…
President What is your family name?
Nekhlyudov (internal) It can't be.
Maslova I'm illegitimate. I'm called by my mother's name, Maslova.
Nekhlyudov (internal) It's Katusha!
Nekhlyudov (internal) What can she be guilty of?
Maslova I was in an establishment.
President (severely) What sort of establishment?
Maslova You know what sort.
President Will you state it for the record, please?
Nekhlyudov (internal) She is a prostitute?!
President Do you have a criminal record?
Nekhlyudov (internal) What happened to her?
President On the night in question were you paid to visit the merchant Smelkov in the Hotel Mauritania?
President You may sit down.
Nekhlyudov (internal) I had forgot, I had forgot her. She was so young, that May Day in Panovo…
Maslova leans back to pick up her skirt the way a fine lady picks up her train and sits down, folding her small white hands in the sleeves of her cloak.
Lights Shift and we are in a…
Spring: The annual May Day celebration.
Location: A nostalgic 19th century rural Russian estate.
A May Day dance/peasant celebration is taking place. Everyone is dressed in beautiful, but simple, traditional white costumes. The workers and the owners of the estate celebrate together.
Prince Dmitry Nekhlyudov, on furlough from his officer training in the Guards, is visiting his Aunt Sofia with an army buddy and fellow officer, Patinkin.
Opening Chorus Dance: “For a Day and a Night” (Chorus)
For the snow and the rain are done with us, done with us,
Seasons turn from darkness to Light.
The Sun returns in the music of May for us.
For a day and a night Spring flirts with us, plays with us,
Plays with our lives and our nights while light stays with us.
Stays with us, plays with us, Season of Light.
For a day and a night that's all we ask.
For a day and a night while the earth is turning,
Turning from Dark, turning to Light.
Stays with us, plays with us, for a day and a night, day and a night.
Seasons of Light, Seasons of Light, Seasons of Light.
The dance consists of a ritualized crowning of the King and Queen of May Day.
Katerina Maslova is among the dancers.
Nekhlyudov, Aunt Sofia, and Patinkin enter and stand on the lawn, watching.
Nekhlyudov Who is that girl, auntie?
Patinkin She's too young for you.
Aunt Sofia She's my servant. An orphan.
Nekhlyudov At least she's not a peasant.
Patinkin What does it matter? You're not going to marry her, are you?
Nekhlyudov What do you know about her?
Patinkin Perfect for a night, nothing more…
Aunt Sofia Do you think of nothing else?
Nekhlyudov Horses, cards, married women.
Patinkin Every young man in the army is expected to…
Aunt Sofia Nephew! You are young. Take your pleasure as you will. But I beg you, for the memory of your parents and the future of our line, Marry well.
Peasant Girl Come and find your partner.
Nekhlyudov I can't dance.
Patinkin Yes he can! Come! Meet your fate!
Chorus/Dance: “For a Day and a Night” (second time)
For a day and a night love sings to us, plays with us.
Folds us round from darkness to light.
Our hearts rejoice in the music love makes with us,
Makes with our hands and our lips while love stays with us.
Stays with us, plays with us, stays with us,
Makes with our hands and our lips while love stays with us.
For a day and a night that's all we ask
For a day and a night while the earth is turning,
Turning from dark, turning to light.
Stay with us, play with us, for a day and a night, day and a night, day and a night.
As the chorus continues and the dance swirls on, Nekhlyudov prevents Maslova from going.
Maslova (nervous) What are you doing?
Nekhlyudov Come with me… just a moment…
Maslova Should I believe you?
Nekhlyudov With all my heart…
Maslova Don't pretend with me, tell the truth.
Nekhlyudov Yes. (he approaches her, she moves away)
Maslova Touch you… and run away from you.
Nekhlyudov You are so beautiful. May I… (he reaches out to caress her face. She allows it, then leans her face into his outstretched palm.)
Maslova This is impossible. Such happiness does not exist on earth.
Duet. “Is This a Dream?” (Maslova, Nekhlyudov)
Let me… (approaching her) Let me… (backing away)
Look at you, Look at you,
You are so beautiful, Look at me,
Look at you, Is this a dream,
I want to laugh and cry, Stay and flee, stay and flee
Let me look at you. Let me look at you and look at me.
They come together and share a kiss. Nekhlyudov reluctantly pulls himself away and exits. He turns back to see Maslova, lit by the setting sun.
This is a dream. Dear God, is this a dream?
Can such happiness exist on earth? Can such happiness exist on earth?
This is a dream. Is this a dream?
Everyone has left except the jury. Most of the jurors couldn't care less about the deliberations. They are anxious to be done with it and get home. Baklashov nips frequently from a bottle of vodka. We interrupt them mid-deliberation.
Foreman Gentlemen: Please attend to the questions.Number 1: Is the peasant Simon Petrov Kartinkin guilty of murdering the merchant Smelkov with poison and stealing two thousand six hundred roubles and a diamond ring?
Baklashov (drunk) Guilty!
Etc., as each man answers guilty.
Foreman Guilty. Euphemia Ivanova Bochkova?
Each Man Guilty! Guilty! (etc.)
Foreman Concerning Katerina Maslova
Nekhlyudov (internal) I must say I know her and that she could not possibly commit a robbery or a murder…
Baklashov Not guilty?! She was in the room with him!
Kulashov It was a set up. The old woman masterminded the whole thing.
Nekhlyudov (internal) They'll laugh at me if I admit I knew her.
Baklashov Guilty, I say. They're all guilty!
Nikiforov If we agree she's not guilty of theft, Then we must also agree she is not guilty of poisoning, For she had no motive for the poisoning!
Nekhlyudov (internal) Thank God! They'll get it right without my having to interfere.
Foreman Gentlemen, gentlemen, it's getting on towards five o'clock.
Baklashov I'm not leaving until we agree she's guilty.
Foreman We all want to get away, so shall we say she is guilty but without intent to rob? And without stealing any property? Will that do? It means she's not guilty of murder. And the court won't sentence her to Siberia.
Jurors Get it done. Let's get it done.
Lights Shift and we are in a…
It is the night of the May Day celebration. Nekhlyudov and Maslova are each alone, thinking of the other.
Reprise (Nekhlyudov/Maslova)
Can such happiness exist on earth? Can such happiness exist on earth?
Nekhlyudov reaches the servants' quarters and taps on Maslova's door.
Nekhlyudov Come to the door.
Nekhlyudov Open the door. I have to leave tonight.
Maslova No. Please just go.
Nekhlyudov (he tries the latch) Please…
Maslova (frightened) No…(he taps on the door again) What are you doing? Your aunt will hear.
Nekhlyudov Let me in just for a moment! Please!
Nekhlyudov I promise you. It will be all right. (pause)Open the door. Katusha, Open the door.
(We hear the latch click open. He enters the room.)
Maslova Stop, what are you doing?
(He pays no attention to her words, only the feeling of desire within him.)
Maslova Oh don't… Dmitry… please…
Nekhlyudov Katusha… Katusha…
Maslova You mustn't! Let me go! Let me go!!
(She begins to struggle against him but he is reckless, completely enveloped in his own passions, and cannot stop. Ultimately, she embraces him and submits to him because she loves him, feeling the tragedy of this choice.)
Maslova (a cry) No! No! No!
He pulls away from her, stands, buttons his pants. She lies at his feet, weeping. He turns away from her.
Nekhlyudov (internal) Is this the best thing or the worst thing that has ever happened to me?
(She straightens her clothes, wipes her face.)
Maslova What do we do now?
Nekhlyudov My God, what have I done?
Maslova I never asked for your promise, only the truth. Do you love me?
Nekhlyudov (intensely embarrassed) Of course.
Nekhlyudov (internal) What have I done? Nothing.
Maslova I will wait for you.
Nekhlyudov (internal) Everyone does it. Everyone… But…
Maslova I will wait for you.
(Out of his intense confusion, not knowing what else to do, he thrusts money — 100 roubles — into Maslova's hands.)
Maslova (shocked, hurt, she gives it back) No… No!
Nekhlyudov (pressing the money in her hands once again) I beg you…
He stands and quickly leaves Maslova, who pulls herself to her feet. The money falls from her hands and she watches him walk away from her.
The court has returned, the 3 judges and the 3 prisoners are in place. The president strikes the gavel. The foreman hands the verdict to the president.
President Will you read the verdict?
Foreman Simon Kartinkin: Guilty. Euphemia Ivanova Bochkova: Guilty. Katerina Maslova: Guilty, guilty, guilty, she's guilty but without intent to rob.
President (internal) This is a ridiculous verdict! But if that's what they want… (to the court) For Simon Kartinkin: 8 years of penal service in Siberia. For Euphemia Bochkova: 8 years of penal service in Siberia. For Katerina Maslova: 8 years of penal service in Siberia.
There is a moment of shocked silence as Maslova realizes she has been found guilty and the jurors finally realize their mistake.
Maslova breaks the silence by bursting into sobs.
This is a huge moment for her, vocal, despairing, a primal cry.
Maslova No, no, no, no! I'm not guilty! Not guilty! It's the truth I am saying! The truth!
Juror 1 (turning to the foreman) But you said she would not be sentenced…
Foreman Quiet! We don't want to be held up any longer.
President (he bangs his gavel) This court is adjourned!(internal as he checks his watch) I'll just have time to get to Clara at the Hotel…
The prisoners are led away.
The President is rushing to get to his mistress.
Nekhlyudov approaches him.
Nekhlyudov Sir, the jury made a mistake.
President The court passed sentence in accordance with the answers you yourselves gave, though they did seem inconsistent.
Nekhlyudov Yes, but couldn't the mistake be rectified?
President A reason for an appeal can always be found. You will have to speak to a lawyer.
Nekhlyudov But this is terrible!
President Had you just added the words, “without intent to murder,” she would be free.
The President EXITS. Nekhlyudov is left alone in the empty courtroom.
Aria: “Guilty” (Nekhlyudov)
As Nekhlyudov is dressed for dinner by his valet, the scene changes around him to the Korchagins' townhouse in Moscow. Missy is looking out of an upstairs window.
Missy He's here at last, he's here at last.
Every time he comes I hope,
I hope tonight will be the night,
Tonight will be the night he'll propose.
What stops him, what stops him?
I'm rich, I'm a princess.
I want a husband, I want children, I want him!
I pray this is the night!
A door opens and we see the Korchagins' doorkeeper.
Doorkeeper They've finished dinner, your excellency, but the orders are to admit you.
Missy comes through the door.
Missy You're here! You're here!I've been waiting and waiting.
Don't you want to kiss me before we go in?
Nekhlyudov Of course not.
Nekhlyudov and Missy enter the dining room as the Korchagins and their guests are finishing dinner.
Prince Korchagin Le voilà! Le voilà!
Nekhlyudov Good evening. Forgive me for being late.
Princess Korchagin Entrez! Entrez! Entrez!
You've come at just the right moment.
Prince Korchagin Stephen! Brandy for the Prince!
(Stephen serves brandy to Nekhlyudov)
Will he ask me to marry him tonight?
Will I say yes, right away,
Or make him suffer for making me wait?
Prince Korchagin Have you succeeded in undermining the basis of society?
Acquitted the culprits and condemned the innocent, n'est-ce pas?
Prince Myagkaya Undermining the basis… Undermining the basis… c'est pas vrai?
Nekhlyudov There's been an injustice. A terrible injustice. A young girl… a prostitute… She's innocent, perfectly innocent…
Princess Korchagin Are these people ever innocent?
Nekhlyudov We've made a terrible mistake. She's been condemned to Siberia.
Princess Korchagin Oui, oui…
Nekhlyudov You don't understand. I must do all that I can to right this wrong.
Prince Korchagin Why get involved?
Princess Korchagin Who is this girl to you?
(hesitates, he's on very uncomfortable ground)
Prince Korchagin We're all ears…
Nekhlyudov She was a serving girl in my aunt's estate at Panovo.
Prince Korchagin Et alors…
Missy And now she is a prostitute?
Missy I really don't see why this should concern you.
Prince Myagkaya (with a knowing wink) The Prince is a man of action.
Princess Korchagin Except when it comes to marriage, semble-t-il!
Prince Korchagin It is a wonderful match. One your parents would be proud of,God rest their souls.
Nekhlyudov (internal) What in God's name am I doing here?
Princess Myagkaya The reluctant bridegroom.
Princess Korchagin On devrait les laisser seul, non?
Prince Korchagin Love birds. Look at them! They dote on each other!
Prince Korchagin (delighted) He's in for it now!
All EXIT except Missy and Nekhlyudov.
Missy Has today depressed you?
Missy I never confess to feeling depressed.
That's why I'm always cheerful.
Nekhlyudov (internal) I can't possibly marry this woman.
Missy Come upstairs. We'll try to disperse your mauvaise humeur.
Nekhlyudov No. I must go.
Missy (taking his hand) Not yet. (seductively) This could be a very important night.
Nekhlyudov Why? (leading him to the stairs to the bedroom)
Missy (calling to the footman)
(wine is poured. Nekhlyudov drinks, pours another, obviously more and more drunk)
Nekhlyudov Leave the bottle with me!
(Stephen leaves the wine, exits)
Missy I've heard that some couples… on the eve of their engagement…
Only the most enlightened…
Duet: “Stay” (Missy, Nekhlyudov)
Don't you think I'm beautiful tonight?
Don't you want to be with me?
(she takes his hand, he withdraws)
There's only one thing I can think of…
What's wrong with you? Katusha, Katusha, Katusha…
Touch me, I refuse to beg. There's only one thing that matters now…
This is how it's done. The old life is finished.
Other men wouldn't hesitate. I'll dispose of my inheritance.
I refuse to beg. I'll acknowledge my relations to Katusha.
Touch me, why can't you see I'll tell her I have sinned against her and beg her
This is how it's done? pardon as children do…
How can you treat me like this?
What on earth is wrong with you?
(He finally manages to escape. Missy is left, deflated, alone.)
Nekhlyudov I'll speak the truth and change my life.
The following morning he goes to:
Nekhlyudov What have I gotten myself into?
It all seemed so clear to me.
Now I want to run, to run away.
As he gathers courage, he looks around for an official, and approaches him.
Prison Inspector Who is it you want to see?
Nekhlyudov Katerina Maslova
Prison Inspector Has she been sentenced?
Nekhlyudov Only yesterday.
Prison Inspector This way.
He opens the door. The 2 halves of the visiting room are separated by two wire nets reaching from the floor to the ceiling. The nets are stretched 7 feet apart and a warder, dressed in a blue uniform jacket, walks up and down in the space between them. On the farther side of the nets are the prisoners; on the nearer, the visitors. They cannot hand anything to each other, or touch each other. One has to scream in order to be heard. On both sides faces press close to the net, trying to see each other and say what they can, shouting to be understood. The whole length of the net is taken up by people standing close to it; some rise on tiptoe to be heard across the heads of others, some talk sitting on the floor.
Nekhlyudov goes up to the net, searching for Maslova. He sees her standing behind the others, by a window.
Women's Warder Who do you want?
Nekhlyudov (with difficulty finding his voice) Katerina Maslova
Women's Warder (shouts) Who?
Nekhlyudov Katerina Maslova.
Women's Warder (shouts) Maslova. Someone to see you.
Maslova looks round and comes up to the net, pushing between two prisoners. She gazes at Nekhlyudov with a surprised and questioning look.
Nekhlyudov I… I… I wished to see you… I…
(unable to speak louder than usual)
Maslova (combing her fingers through her hair and turning on her smile)
Have you taken it or not?
Female Prisoner (screaming) Very weak. Dying.
Nekhlyudov Don't you know me?
Maslova No, why should I?
Maslova (her smile vanishes as she begins to recall something she does not wish to remember)
(harshly) I can't hear what you're saying.
(aside) Yes, I am doing my duty… I am confessing.
(he fights tears, grabs the net with both hands)
Tramp I swear I know nothing!
Maslova You're like… No, it can't be…
Nekhlyudov I have come to ask…
(he looks around him, embarrassed, ashamed)
Forgive me; I have wronged you terribly.
Maslova (recognizing him)
It's you. My God, it's you…
Maslova stands motionless, not taking her eyes off him.
Nekhlyudov can't go on speaking. He steps away from the wire and tries to suppress his sobs. The Inspector approaches Nekhlyudov
Prison Inspector Why aren't you talking to her?
Nekhlyudov (trying to collect himself and appear calm)
I can't be heard. The noise!
Prison Inspector (turning to the warder) Menshov Fedotov, lead Maslova out.
Maslova comes to the end of the room which is slightly quieter and, stepping softly, comes very close to Nekhlyudov, looking up at him.
Prison Inspector You may talk here.
Nekhlyudov moves to a bench. Maslova casts a questioning look at the Inspector, then follows and sits beside him.
Nekhlyudov I can't undo the past, but I'll do what's in my power to help you.
Maslova (sharp) How have you managed to find me?
Nekhlyudov I was on the jury yesterday. Didn't you recognize me?
Maslova No, I didn't. There was not time to look.
Nekhlyudov There was a child, wasn't there?
Maslova (abruptly) He died at once. Thank God!
Nekhlyudov What do you mean? Why?
Maslova (without looking at him) I was so ill myself I nearly died.
But what's the use of talking? That's all over now.
Nekhlyudov No, it's not finished. I've come to redeem my sin.
Maslova Redeem your sin?! Redeem your sin?! I'm condemned to Siberia.
Nekhlyudov I was certain you were not guilty.
Maslova Guilty! Of course not… as if I could be a thief! or a murderer!
I need a lawyer. I must appeal. It will cost money.
Nekhlyudov I have already spoken to a lawyer.
Maslova I need the best there is.
Nekhlyudov I'll do all that's possible.
(A silence, and then she turns on a smile.)
Maslova And I'd like some money now… ten roubles will do…
Nekhlyudov Yes… yes… (feeling confused, he reaches for his pocket book)
Maslova Don't give it to me in front of him; he'll take it away.
Nekhlyudov takes out his pocket book as soon as the Inspector has turned his back, but has no time to hand her the note before the Inspector faces them again, so he crushes the note in his hand.
Nekhlyudov I've come to ask for you to forgive me and you have given me no answer.
Maslova (she doesn't listen to him, but keeps watching his hand with the money and the Inspector. When the Inspector turns again, she quickly reaches out her hand, grasps the bank note and hides it in her belt.)
(rudely) What are you talking about?
Nekhlyudov What's happened to you? You used to be…
Maslova What's the use of recalling what's past?
Nekhlyudov I must put things right. I must atone for my sin.
Maslova What's dead is dead.
He meets her eyes and reads in them something so dreadful, so coarse, so repellent, that he can't go on.
Nekhlyudov You must feel a terrible shame.
Maslova Don't talk to me about shame!
Is it a shame to go on living?
Is it a shame that every man who looks at me wants me?
I'm proud to give and get.
Prison Inspector (coming up to Nekhlyudov) Time's up.
Nekhlyudov (holds out his hand to her) I will come again.
Maslova (she ignores his outstretched hand) It's a waste of time.
Nekhlyudov turns to exit, but stops by the door.
Nekhlyudov This woman is dead.
She's a stone around my neck.
Isn't it better to give her money and finish with her forever?
There are two people fighting within me.
Nekhlyudov leaves the prison as…
Lights Shift and we are in a…
The scene behind Maslova dissolves and transforms.
Why has he made me remember?
I was pregnant. I heard his company was passing through.
I went to the train to find him.
I knew if he saw me everything would be all right.
There he is! On the train! He's there! He'll help me!
(she comes towards the carriage)
(the train appears as she enters the Flashback)
Stop drinking! Put down the cards! Dmitry!
Maslova pounds on the window. We hear the first of 3 whistles announcing the train's departure, and then the conductor:
Train Conductor (offstage) All aboard!!
Maslova pounds and cries out more desperately.
Maslova For God's sake! Dmitry!
Finally, the train begins to move. She walks beside the moving train, calling Nekhlyudov's name, then begins to run as the train picks up speed. The train pulls past the platform. She is running awkwardly now, but presses on, desperate. She falls heavily. As the train whistle fades away, Maslova struggles to get up.
(She feels a strong stirring of life within her.
Her hands go to her belly protectively.)
How can I destroy my own child?
How can I destroy his child?
Why, oh why have I been given this life?
There is no God, no faith,
And I am alone in this broken, wasted world.
“Nekhlyudov changes his life”
Location: Nekhlyudov's study
Nekhlyudov is running, literally, to change his life.
We see him in his study receiving his bailiff, lawyer, sister, aunt, housekeeper.
There is a great hustle bustle as people enter Nekhlyudov's study and confront him. This is the day he's signing off on his lands, his life, his property, and it's his family's last chance to stop him. Everyone is desperate for him not to do this — he's become a dangerous man, tearing down the fabric of society.
His study is a shambles. Papers are strewn about, the desk drawers are upside down, there are packing crates in the middle of the floor.
His sister Natasha and Aunt Sofia enter.
Aunt They say you've fallen in love with a whore and you're following her to Siberia. How can you do this to your sister?
Natasha This is madness! But you're not mad. You're acting like a child.
Aunt Go off with your whore. But for God's sake don't destroy hundreds of years of our family's work.
Nekhlyudov Sell my mother's house. Give the proceeds to my sister.
Nekhlyudov Divide the land, equally, among the peasants.
Bailiff They'll never consent. They'll fight among each other…
Nekhlyudov See that it's done!
Sister She only wants your money.
Nekhlyudov People change. And in change there is hope.
Aunt You're as smug as a priest.
Nekhlyudov Close up the town house.
Housekeeper You'll need your townhouse later, sir.
Nekhlyudov Let my sister collect what she wants. Sell the rest.
Housekeeper Your mother… God rest her soul…
Nekhlyudov Would stop me if she could.
Nekhlyudov But she can't!
Nekhlyudov I was dead. Asleep as only the very rich can be.
Beautiful food, wine, women.
Distractions from our emptiness.
Nekhlyudov When is Maslova's appeal?
Nekhlyudov (hands him a check) Spare no expense.
I want her acquitted as soon as possible.
Natasha You're an easy target for a beautiful woman.
Nekhlyudov The only hope for me is to bring Maslova back to life.
Korchagins arrive to confront him about marrying Missy.
Missy Dmitry, come with me. You are not yourself.
Missy I only want to help you.
Nekhlyudov Then for God's sake, set me free.
Missy What are you talking about?
Nekhlyudov I never loved you, you never loved me.
Missy You can't mean what you are saying.
Nekhlyudov I've been asleep, dead…
Prince Korchagin He's mad!
Prince Korchagin Demented!
Nekhlyudov Everything in my life is false.
Look at this world we've been taught to call good.
We are corrupt to the bottom of our souls.
I'll have none of this. And none of you.
Missy How can you be so cruel?
Nekhlyudov Would it be kindness to marry a woman I don't love?
Missy What's happening to you?
Nekhlyudov I am waking up.
Missy I don't recognize you anymore.
Nekhlyudov This life is over for me. It's over!
Sextet: “A Way of Life” (Missy, Nekhlyudov, Prince Korchagin, Princess Korchagin, Aunt Sofia and Sister)
Missy Prince and Princess Korchagin
What have I done that's so wrong? We treat our peasants very well,
Is it wrong to want a normal life? Give them feast days every year,
Think of what our life could be. We're not like some who flog and rape,
Please… Oh please… And make them live in fear.
Does the history of our family Do you want us all to live like peasants?
Mean nothing to you? Do you want us all to go to Siberia?
Nekhlyudov EXITS, leaving all of them amidst the ruin of his study.
Nekhlyudov arrives at the prison, meets the Inspector.
Nekhlyudov I'd like to see Maslova.
Prison Inspector She's been drunk, violent.
Nekhlyudov Is she all right?
Prison Inspector It's your fault. You gave her money. You don't know these people, Prince. (calling to a jailer)
Menshov! Take the Prince to the women's visiting room.
Nekhlyudov enters the women's visiting room and finds Maslova, who is drunk.
Maslova (addressing Nekhlyudov boldly and gaily) How d'you do?
Nekhlyudov Should your appeal to the Senate fail, I'll send this petition to the Emperor. Sign it.
Maslova (with a wink and a smile) Anything you like. Is that all?
(she sits, arranges her skirt, takes the pen, and looks up at Nekhlyudov with a laugh)
Nekhlyudov I have a few words to say to you.
Maslova (growing serious) All right.
The Inspector exits, leaving them alone with the jailer who brought Maslova into the room. The jailer stays some distance from them.
Nekhlyudov Do you remember what I said to you last time?
Maslova You said a lot last time. (angry)
Nekhlyudov I came to ask you to forgive me.
Maslova What's the use of forgiveness? Who needs that?!
Nekhlyudov I do. I'll atone for my sin…
Maslova What are you talking about?
Nekhlyudov All of this is my fault. I'll spend everything I have to set you free.
Maslova I don't understand you. What do you want from me?
Nekhlyudov I have made up my mind to marry you.
Maslova (angrily) I'd rather hang myself.
Nekhlyudov It's my duty before God to do it.
Maslova What God have you found now?
You should've remembered God that night…
Nekhlyudov (realizing that she's drunk) Calm down.
Maslova Why should I be calm? You think I am drunk? I am drunk, but I know what I'm saying. I'm a convict, a whore, and you are a gentleman and a prince. There's no need for you to soil yourself by touching me. You go to your princesses; my price is a ten rouble note.
Nekhlyudov I've decided not to leave you and I shall do what I've said.
Maslova (furious) Go away! You've no business here.
You think you're so fine and so noble.
A Prince proposes marriage to a whore…
This has nothing to do with me.
Just as you took pleasure from me in this life,
You want to save yourself in the life to come.
You disgust me with your piety and your fat ugly face!
Nekhlyudov Let her alone, please.
Women's Warder She can't behave like that in here.
Nekhlyudov Please wait a little. (the jailer returns to the window)
(to Maslova) Will you please sit down?
Maslova sits again, clasping her hands.
Nekhlyudov I will right this wrong, Katusha.
Maslova I want nothing from you.
Nekhlyudov Wait! (handing her a photograph)
Do you remember this? May Day at Panovo?
(a pause as she takes the photo and studies it)
I thought you'd like to have it.
Maslova (fighting tears) That girl is dead.
Nekhlyudov Don't say that, she can't be dead.
Women's Warder Time to go.
Nekhlyudov I'll come again tomorrow.
(she refuses to look at him)
Nekhlyudov exits the prison.
Aria: “Too Late” (Maslova)
(She takes the photo, and suddenly sees and feels who she was when she loved him. The photo brings back her joy, her innocence.)
Look at me, look at me, look at me!
I am young, beautiful, so full of life.
I loved him, he loved me.
What a joy to dance with him,
To lift my face to him, to lift my arms to him,
To feel life brimming in both my hands.
If only he could love me again…
I might… I might… I might…
(She laughs out loud and her laughter somehow releases a flood of feeling. The pain she remembers as she remembers his betrayal hits her with renewed force.)
A thousand nights, a thousand men,
A thousand deaths, your face again…
Now you return and want forgiveness?
Too late! Too late! There is nothing you can do.
Too late! Too late! You have broken me in two.
Prison Inspector Your appeal to the Senate has been denied.
You'll leave on the next transport to Siberia.
Maslova He'll never follow me there…
The dead of winter. It is gray and overcast and bitterly cold.
The prisoners are marching through snow. They have been marching for 6 weeks, stopping at overcrowded provincial way stations at night. Prisoners wear cloaks and have wrapped rags around their feet and shawls around their heads and shoulders in an effort to keep warm. Those too weak or sick or elderly to walk ride in carts pulled by fellow prisoners. Guards (some on horseback) patrol the perimeters of the convoy. A woman is in labor on one of the carts. We hear her terrifying moans of pain.
Chorus: “We March” (Prisoners)
We're beaten men and beaten women.
We're beaten men and beaten women.
(Nekhlyudov, accompanied by a guard, is waiting at a checkpoint/ crossing as the prisoners arrive.)
Nekhlyudov I must see the prisoner Maslova.
Guard Interviews are not allowed.
Guard You've come all this way for nothing.
Nekhlyudov I have a petition for the Emperor that must be signed.
Nekhlyudov I must see the prisoner myself!
Nekhlyudov I have permission from the Governor.
(taking a slip of paper and a bank note from his pocket book)
Guard (looking at the permission, which hides a bribe inside it)
(Nekhlyudov steps up to the line of prisoners and immediately attracts their attention. Maslova hurriedly approaches him. Nekhlyudov and Maslova step outside the convoy as the prisoners continue to march past. Maslova is stunned to see him.)
Maslova I didn't think I'd see you again.
Nekhlyudov I told you I'd follow you.
Maslova I thought after my appeal was denied…
Nekhlyudov We'll petition the Emperor directly. Your case… our case…
Maslova I can't believe you've come.
Nekhlyudov Will you sign the petition?
Maslova Yes, of course. (she signs the document, hands it back to him)
Forgive me Dmitry, for what I said last time.
Nekhlyudov It's not for me to forgive.
Maslova I thought you'd be glad to get rid of me.
Nekhlyudov I haven't changed, Katusha. I meant what I said.
Maslova It means so much to me to see you here.
Nekhlyudov (internal) I never thought I'd hear that sweetness in her voice again.
Did you get the things I sent you?
Nekhlyudov Is there anything else you want… or need?
Maslova Nothing, thank you.
Nekhlyudov Are you all right?
Maslova I'm fine. Marching has made me strong.
And I've met some good people here.
Nekhlyudov Good people here?!
Maslova Yes. Good and bad, just as anywhere.
Nekhlyudov But they're criminals. They're blackmailers, robbers, rapists, terrorists, murderers.
Maslova But some are here for petty crimes. For nothing!
And some are in prison for what they believe.
Nekhlyudov I worry about you constantly.
Maslova They've been good to me.
They've treated me better than anyone has in years.
Stay with me till I join up with my group.
Nekhlyudov I'll see you again when you get to Yakhutsk.
Maslova Why? Are you coming?
Nekhlyudov I'm coming by the next train.
Old Woman (as she walks by)
Is it true, sir, 12 convicts have been killed?
Nekhlyudov I've seen 2 myself.
Old Woman They say they've killed 12 on this march. They'll get away with it. Murderers!
Nekhlyudov Have none of the women fallen ill?
Young Women Women are stronger…only one of them's in labor. There she goes again…
(she points to the cart as the groans recommence)
Woman in labor Oh, oh, oh! O God! Oh, oh! O God!
Maslova You ask if we want anything…couldn't she be left behind?
She's suffering. You could arrange it.
(The march continues. The Chorus is heard again)
Nekhlyudov I'll walk with you for awhile.
As long as the guards will allow it…
Maslova (She sees Simonson.)
This is Peter Simonson. He's a political prisoner.
(to Simonson) This is Prince Nekhlyudov.
Peter I taught literature: Ibsen, Zola, Whitman, Wilde.
Nekhlyudov I don't understand…
They tell us every human being is
magnificent, to be loved.
What a revolution that would be.
(They are interrupted by the following exchange.
Among the politicals we see Kriltsov, struggling to hold his daughter, Maria, in his arms. He is seriously ill, stumbling, coughing, and shaking. An officer attempts to take Maria.)
Officer Give me the girl.
Your hands must be chained.
kriltsov No! I can't carry her if my hands are chained.
Officer Give her to me. Now.
(The officer strikes him in the face. Kriltsov wipes the blood from his face with one hand while holding the now sobbing Maria with the other.)
kriltsov I've carried my child all the way from St. Petersburg. You'll make it impossible for me.
Put her down. You must be chained.
(The bravest of the prisoners speak out:)
Woman He's carried her all the way from Tomsk without chains.
Maslova She's a child, not a puppy.
Peter (confronting the officer) That's not the law.
Officer (furious) Who's that?! I'll teach you the law.
Peter Yes, I spoke out, because…
(But before he can finish speaking the officer hits him in the face with both hands.)
Officer Mutiny? I'll show you what mutiny means. I'll have you shot like dogs. I'll get a medal for it.
(to the guard) Take the girl.
Peter (his temper mounting)
Officer What did you say?!
(Simultaneously, Nekhlyudov steps forward. He speaks softly to the officer, empties his purse, hands him money.)
Officer (to Simonson) You'll be flogged for this.
(Kriltsov collapses to the ground. Maria goes to him, stroking his head and face. The others realize he is near death, struggling for breath. There is a hush.)
Maria (whispering) Papa, papa….
(Maslova starts to sing a quiet lullaby/ folk song. All becomes quiet.)
O that I were where I would be,
Then would I be where I am not,
But where I am there I must be,
And where I would be I cannot, I cannot…
Peter Can you make room for him?
(Simonson lifts Kriltsov onto the cart. Others make room. Simonson takes off his coat and covers Kriltsov.)
Nekhlyudov (reluctantly leaving Maslova) I'll see you again in Yakhutsk.
Maslova (distracted) Yes…
We're beaten men and beaten women.
(Nekhlyudov turns and leaves, but continues walking for a while inside the convoy, at a safe enough distance so that the guard can't object. He is watching as Maslova enters a new world.
Simonson walks beside the cart where Kriltsov lies shivering.
Maslova joins him, carrying Maria so that she can be near her father.)
Maslova (to Kriltsov) Maria seems happy with me. I will walk with her until you're feeling better.
kriltsov You're a good woman.
Maslova Me? Anyone would.
kriltsov Her mother used to sing that song.
(to Simonson) Please look after her.
I'm fine now, do you see, Maria?
Maria (taking his hand) But you're so cold…
Maslova Look, we will make him warm.
(she takes her shawl off and covers him)
(Simonson hands Maria back to Maslova)
kriltsov (taking Simonson's hand)
If I had another life I'd do the same thing.
I'd fight to make the world a better place to live in…
Peter Hush… you must rest.
(Simonson walks besides the cart, holding Kriltsov's hand, stroking his brow. Maria and Maslova walk nearby.)
(The chorus continues (humming/vocalese) as the marchers surround Kriltsov, Maslova, and Simonson, folding them into the larger group. As they march off stage, the final stanza of the chorus is heard and then fades into the distance.)
(Nekhlyudov is left alone on stage.)
Aria: “Awakening” (Nekhlyudov)
What am I doing, what am I doing, what am I doing here?
Three thousand miles from anywhere.
First the trial: a travesty.
Then the prison: bestial.
Now this: beyond anything.
This is the world that we have made,
With our privilege and education.
We've made a hell, a hell on earth for our fellow men.
But here is Katusha in this terrible place, suddenly alive.
Where has she found the strength to survive, to make herself anew?
This is what I dreamt of.
Why, then, why do I feel such despair?
Why does it feel like she's walking away?
Can it be… Can it possibly be… Do I love her?
(Location, Siberian Prison Camp: Early Spring)
(There is a terrible tension and quiet in the politicals' room. No one speaks. One man carves a piece of wood, another mends a pair of shoes, someone plays an instrument, just a phrase or two. Gradually we realize that Simonson is seated apart, and that every prisoner is almost holding their breath. Maslova is tender with him. One by one people approach Simonson with various little offerings, some have a bit of vodka, some merely touch him and pass by. Maslova is one of the few who continues with her chores. She is trying to distract herself from the horror that is to come.)
(Nekhlyudov arrives and stops at the doorway, Maslova's pardon in his hands. He enters joyously and is stopped in his tracks by the atmosphere in the room.)
Nekhlyudov (intense, joyful) Maslova, I've come.
(she doesn't look around. He stops, sensing the tension in the room) What's the matter? What is it?
(Guards enter, seize Simonson and take him outside. We hear the flogging but do not see it.)
(All the prisoners can hear the flogging.
Maslova tries to go on with her chores, but every once in a while stops in sheer anguish.)
(The Guards drag Simonson back into the room and throw him onto the floor.
Maslova immediately goes to him and begins to tend his flayed back.)
(Nekhlyudov enters as the guards exit.)
Nekhlyudov (shaken) As long as I live I will never forget what I've just seen. How can they do this?
Prisoner 3 (mocking) How can they do this?
Prisoner 3 It's done every day. They'll heal his back up a bit, then they'll do it again.
Nekhlyudov What can we do? We've got to do something!
Prisoner 1 We'll do something. We will take over and do the same to them.
Nekhlyudov So you want to flog them?
Nekhlyudov And so it goes on. Violence begets violence.
Nekhlyudov So what's the difference between you and them?
Prisoner 3 You're a Prince. What do you know about our lives?
Nekhlyudov I know that we cannot, must not, degrade our fellow men.
Prisoner 2 (mocking) Must not degrade them?!? They're already worse than rats!
Prisoner 1 You'll never change them. We must rule over them, as brutally as they rule over us. It's the only thing they understand.
Nekhlyudov I can't believe…
Prisoner 1 Can't believe what? That we can destroy the oppressors? What do you think we are all working towards? Risking our lives for? Only then will…
Nekhlyudov You will destroy all of Russia in the process…
Prisoner 2 Perhaps. But perhaps we'll create a new world.
Nekhlyudov There must be another way.
Aria: “She Knows” (Simonson)
You change the world one man to another.
She's been changing us through kindness since she came here.
One human being to another.
Nekhlyudov That can't be enough.
I've tried every way to make things change.
But it's hard, it's hard.
And it's the only way, the only way that works.
You change the world one man to another.
She has been changing us through kindness since she came here.
We change the world one man to another.
Maslova I don't know what you're talking about.
I have done nothing… nothing…
Peter One man or woman can teach another how to be good.
Peter (to Nekhlyudov) May I speak with you?
Nekhlyudov Yes, of course. What is it?
Peter (to Maslova) Could you leave us alone?
(Reluctantly, she goes to another part of the room.)
(Nekhlyudov, awkwardly at first, and then with more ease, picks up where Maslova left off spreading salve and bandaging Simonson's back.)
Peter Knowing of your relationship to Katerina Maslova, I feel it right to tell you…
Peter I want to marry her.
Nekhlyudov (surprised) What?!
Peter She won't make a decision without you.
Nekhlyudov Have you asked her?
Peter She knows how I feel.
Nekhlyudov I've promised to take care of her, I've promised to marry her.
Peter She won't accept your sacrifice.
Nekhlyudov (strongly) It's no sacrifice.
Peter That is how she feels.
Nekhlyudov (angry) Then why are you asking me?
Peter I'm sure she wants your blessing.
Nekhlyudov All I will say is that I am committed, but she is free.
Peter Don't make her accept your proposal, let her accept mine.
If only she'll have me… (too full of emotion to continue)
Nekhlyudov What do you want me to say?
Peter I know you care for her and wish her happiness.
Will you bless our marriage?
Nekhlyudov If she wants you, how am I to object?
Peter I only hope her suffering soul might find peace, might find peace.
She must choose between us.
(He shyly gestures for Nekhlyudov to bend down to him, and kisses him.)
(Nekhlyudov remembers that he has the pardon in his pocket.)
Nekhlyudov Yes, she must choose…
(He pulls the pardon from his pocket, turns to Maslova)
Katusha… I have your pardon. It's what I've come to tell you.
Maslova (takes the pardon, amazed, disbelieving)
Peter (internal) My God, to lose her like this…
Maslova (internal) Free… Free to marry the one I love.
Free to marry the man I have always loved.
Free to leave this terrible place,
Maslova (turning to Simonson) I will not leave you!
You must take your freedom in both your hands.
Nekhlyudov (pulling Maslova aside)
Do you hear him? We can leave now…
Maslova Where Peter Simonson goes I will follow.
Nekhlyudov You can't mean to stay here.
Maslova I must look at it as happiness.
Nekhlyudov Do you love him?
Maslova Peter Simonson is an exceptional man.
Nekhlyudov Yes, he is, but…
Maslova You must forgive me if I'm not doing what you wish.
Nekhlyudov I didn't expect this.
Maslova You have suffered enough.
Nekhlyudov I haven't suffered. I want to go on serving you…
Maslova You've done enough. If it hadn't been for you…
Nekhlyudov Don't thank me.
Maslova What's the use of reckoning? God will make up our accounts.
Nekhlyudov You're a good woman.
Nekhlyudov Yes. You refuse me in order to protect me.
Maslova (a pause. She does not deny it.)
Dmitry… I want you to live…
I want you to be free, free to have a family, children…
Nekhlyudov But you are my life… Serving you has become my life…
You are the only person I have ever made a difference to.
Without you, what can I do?
I love you and I know you love me.
Maslova You can never love me as you did before.
Nekhlyudov Let me try, at least. For God's sake, let me try.
Maslova You've given me a chance to love again.
I want you to have that same chance…
Maslova (she touches him tenderly)
Nekhlyudov (mourning) Katusha, Katusha…
Maslova This is where my life is.
Here, where I'm needed and loved,
Not for who I was but who I am.
Here is where my life is. And here is where I'll stay.
(She kisses him gently.) Forgive me, forgive me.
Nekhlyudov I can't let you go.
Maslova You've changed utterly from the boy who betrayed me,
From the man who sat in judgment in that courtroom.
You must live your life, you must do what only you can.
I can work in my humble way.
You can do so much more because you're a Prince.
Go back to the world and give of yourself.
Duet: “We Must Live” (Maslova/Nekhlyudov)
Do for the world what you've done for me.
The world is only changed by one man to another.
Then everything we've been through
Will have been worthwhile.
I thought I was bringing you back to life, Katusha,
But you have made me come alive.
You've taught me what to do,
Do for the world what you've done for me, I thought I was bringing you back to life,
The world is only changed Katusha, but you've made me come alive.
Your faith in me made me smile again.
You've taught me what to do, I will try.
I'll take the first step, wherever it leads.
We have been blessed. We have been blessed.
And now we must live. And now we must live.
One person at a time, One person at a time,
With the seed of life, With the seed of life,
With the seed of hope, With the seed of hope,
We must live, we must live. We must live, we must live.
(Nekhlyudov embraces Maslova and then Simonson.)
(The chorus joins them in their march for work.)
Reprise: “We Must Live” (Company)
We must live on this earth,
With the seed of life, with the seed of hope,
Nekhlyudov I'll go back to the world and I'll give of myself.
You taught me what to do. I will try.
I'll take the first step wherever it leads.
I'll go back to the world.
I'll take the first step wherever it leads.
You go back to the world, I'll go back to the world and
You give of yourself, I'll give of myself.
You can do so much, You've taught me what to do.
You're a prince. I will try.
You must live your life. I will take the first step.
You must do what you can. Wherever it leads…
You've given me the chance to love again.
I want you to have the same chance.
We have been blessed and now we must give.
We must live, we must live.
(Nekhlyudov is left alone on stage; night fades to dawn. He turns and walks towards the sunrise, back into the world.)
Tod Machover was recently called brilliantly gifted by the New York Times and “America's most wired composer” by the Los Angeles Times. He is highly regarded for music that boldly breaks traditional artistic and cultural boundaries, offering a unique and innovative synthesis of acoustic and electronic sound, of symphony orchestras and interactive computers, of operatic arias and rock songs, and that consistently delivers serious and powerful messages in an accessible and immediate way. As Pulitzer Prize-winning music critic Lloyd Schwartz has written: “What's most exciting about Machover's pieces in general is how beautiful and moving they are, what lyrical and exotic melismas keep surfacing (and how scintillatingly they contrast with the shattering electronic textures), how dramatically they build, how they haven't a dull moment, and what magnificent opportunities for performers they provide.”
Machover's music has been performed and commissioned by many of the world's most prestigious arts institutions, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the Centre Pompidou, the London Sinfonietta, the Houston Grand Opera, Lincoln Center for the Perfoming Arts, the Ensemble InterContemporain (Paris), the Ensemble Modern (Frankfurt), and the Tokyo String Quartet. His work has received awards from such organizations as the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Institute of Arts and Letters, and the Koussevitzky and Copland Foundations. Machover has been named a “Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres,” one of
France's highest cultural honors, and was awarded the first DigiGlobe Prize in Interactive Media from the German government. For the 2001/2002 season, Machover is Music Alive Composer-in-Residence with the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, where Sparkler for orchestra and electronics was premiered in October 2001, as part of a national conference on the future of the symphony and technology for which Machover was Artistic Advisor.
Machover has composed five operas in quite diverse forms, from the science fiction VALIS, commissioned for the tenth anniversary of Paris' Centre Pompidou, to the walk-through Meteorite, permanently installed in Essen, Germany since 1998. His celebrated audience-interactive Brain Opera was the hit of the 1996 Lincoln Center Festival, and is now permanently installed at the House of Music in Vienna. Resurrection received a new production at Boston Lyric Opera in 2001/2002.
Machover is also noted for inventing new technology for music, especially his Hyperinstruments that use smart computers to augment musical expression and creativity for virtuosi, amateurs and children. The latest application of Machover's hyperinstruments is for the creation of Music Toys that will enable children to collaborate creatively with orchestras around the world in his Toy Symphony project, which premieres in Europe in Spring 2002 before traveling to the United States and Asia. His Hyperstring Trilogy was the centerpiece of the 2001 Boston Cyberarts Festival, and has been recorded by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project for CD release in 2002. Machover is currently working on new operas for the Opera of Monte-Carlo and New York City Opera, among others.
Machover was formerly Director of Musical Research at Pierre Boulez's IRCAM institute in Paris. He received his degrees in musical composition from The Juilliard School, where he studied with Elliott Carter and Roger Sessions. Currently Machover is Professor of Music and Media at the MIT Media Laboratory, head of the Lab's Opera of the Future group, and Director of its new Center for Future Arts. He is also a Founding Member of MediaLabEurope in Dublin.
patrick summers (Conductor)
In 2001-02, American conductor Patrick Summers begins his fourth season as music director of Houston Grand Opera. He is also principal guest conductor of the San Francisco Opera. His broad and eclectic musical interests range from Monteverdi to contemporary repertoire and make Mr. Summers particularly well known and respected among period performers and contemporary composers alike for his knowledge, observance of, and devotion to the style and practice of the works he leads. Through acclaimed performances in Houston and San Francisco, frequent guest appearances at the Metropolitan Opera and Opera Australia (Sydney and Melbourne), increasing engagements with European opera houses, and his close musical relationship with rising stars of opera, Mr. Summers has become one of the opera world's leading conductors of the next generation. This season he conducts Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men and Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio for HGO, leads the European premiere of André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire for the Opéra-du-Rhin in Strasbourg, and makes his UK debut conducting a new production of Rigoletto by James MacDonald for the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff that will tour throughout England.
laura harrington (Librettist)
Writer Laura Harrington's award winning plays, musicals, operas and radio plays have been produced regionally, Off-Broadway, and in Canada. She wrote the book for Houston Grand Opera's 1991 Babes in Toyland. Recent credits include Martin Guerre (Music: Roger Ames), Hartford Stage Company, NOMTI Festival 2001; Hallowed Ground, Portland Stage Company, 2002; The Heart of an Emperor, Dress Right, and FLAG GIRLS, Boston Playwrights Theatre; Joan of Arc (Music: Mel Marvin), Wellesley College Theatre, ACTF Finalist 2001; The Perfect 36 (Music: Mel Marvin), Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Hartt School of Music; Marathon Dancing, (directed by Anne Bogart) En Garde Arts, NYC, and Munich, Germany; Lucy's Lapses (Music: Christopher Drobny), Portland Opera Company, Playwrights' Horizons; and The Song of the Silkie (Music: Elena Ruehr) Rockport Chamber Music Festival. Ms.
Harrington is on the faculty at M.I.T. and is the winner of the 1998 Massachusetts Cultural Council Playwriting Fellowship. She is a two time winner of the Clauder Playwriting Competition (1996 and 2001).
braham murray (Director/Additional Material)
British director Braham Murray is a founding artistic director of the Royal Exchange Theatre Company. He established his reputation with a 1964 production of Hang Down Your Head and Die, which traveled from Oxford to the West End and then to Broadway. He has been artistic director of the Century Theatre and a founding director of the '69 Theatre Company. Many of his productions have been seen in the West End, including The Good Companions with John Mills and Judi Dench, The Black Mikado with Michael Denison and The Cabinet Minister with Maureen Lipman. His numerous productions for the Royal Exchange Theatre Company include Waiting for Godot with Max Wall and Trevor Peacock, and premieres of The Nerd, the Mobil Prize-winning Your Home in the West, a stage version of The Brothers Karamazov and the world premiere of Snake in Fridge by Brad Fraser and Loot by Joe Orton.
scott hendricks (Prince Dmitry Nekhlyudov)
Baritone Scott Hendricks is a house principal at Oper der Stadt Köln, where his roles include Donner in Das Rheinhold, Albert in Werther, Posa in Don Carlos and Malatesta in Don Pasquale. While an artist with Houston Grand Opera Studio (1997-98 and 1998-99), Mr. Hendricks sang Sharpless in Madame Butterfly, and Friedrich Bhaer in the world premiere of Mark Adamo's Little Women. Recent appearances include the title role in Don Giovanni for Austin Lyric Opera, Ford in Falstaff for Santa Fe Opera, Dandini in La Cenerentola with Santa Barbara Grand Opera, the title role in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and the title role in Eugene Onegin for Utah Opera. Mr. Hendricks received a prestigious Richard Tucker Foundation Career Grant in 1999. Upcoming engagements include Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor for Colorado Opera, and Marcello in La Bohème and Ping in Turandot for San Diego Opera.
joyce didonato (Katerina Maslova—“Katusha”)
Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato recently made her La Scala debut in the title role of La Cenerentola. Her upcoming performances include Dorabella in Così fan tutte with Washington Opera; Sesto in Giulio Cesare at Netherlands Opera; Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia in San Francisco, Houston, Tokyo and the Palais Garnier in Paris; Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro in Paris and at the Bayerische Staatsoper with Zubin Mehta; and Annio in La Clemenza di Tito with the Santa Fe Opera. She sings Maria Stuarda in Geneva; Sister Helen in New York City Opera's new production of Dead Man Walking and The Cunning Little Vixen at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, under the baton of Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Ms. DiDonato has appeared with Houston Grand Opera as Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Meg in Little Women, and Nicklausse/Muse in the alternate cast of The Tales of Hoffmann.
raymond very (Prince Myagkaya/Peter Simonson)
Tenor Raymond Very begins his 2001-02 season singing Alfredo in La Traviata for Portland Opera, then makes his Metropolitan Opera debut in Richard Strauss's Arabella as Matteo, a role closely associated with him. He also sings Lensky in Eugene Onegin and returns to Munich for additional performances of Arabella. Raymond Very enjoys particularly strong relationships with the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Houston Grand Opera, and the San Francisco Opera.
In Munich, he has sung Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Rodolfo in La Bohème, Cassio in a new production of Otello conducted by Zubin Mehta and directed by Francesca Zambello; with Houston Grand Opera he sang Boris in Katya Kabanova and created the role of Dan White in the world premiere of Harvey Milk. He reprised Dan White for his debut with San Francisco Opera and returned there as Lensky and as Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress.
kerri marcinko (Princess Missy Korchagin/Young Woman)
Soprano Kerri Marcinko was a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio for three seasons where her role assignments included Stella in the alternate cast of Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Mrs. Nordstrom in A Little Night Music, Frasquita in Carmen, Despina in the alternate cast of Così fan tutte,
Giannetta in L'Elisir d'amore, Laurie in the Studio's production of The Tender Land, and Lula in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree. In the summer of 2000 she sang Anne Truelove in The Rake's Progress at the Aspen Opera Theater Center and in the summer of 1999 she was a Young American Artist at Glimmerglass Opera where she performed Giunone in Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria. In the 2001-2002 season, Ms. Marcinko repeats the role of Missy in Resurrection for Boston Lyric Opera.
dale travis (President/Prince Korchagin/Officer)
American bass-baritone Dale Travis is a regular visitor to this country's most prestigious opera companies. Mr. Travis's 2001-02 engagements include Donald in Billy Budd and Benoit/Alcindoro in La Bohème for Lyric Opera of Chicago and Doctor Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro in Toulouse, France. Future seasons will see Mr. Travis's Metropolitan Opera debut in A View from the Bridge, and performances in Marc Blizstein's Regina at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Recently he was seen as the Foreman in Jenufa, the Sacristan in Tosca, and Dr. Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Lyric Opera of Chicago; The Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo with Houston Grand Opera, and in performances of Tosca with Los Angeles Opera. Mr. Travis began his career as a participant in San Francisco Opera's Merola Opera Program, and has enjoyed a particularly close relationship with that company, performing over twenty-five roles there.
judith christin (Princess Sophia Korchagin/Old Woman)
Mezzo-soprano Judith Christin has performed over one hundred roles with the leading opera companies throughout the United States, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and Santa Fe Opera. Her 2001-02 engagements include Emma Jones in Kurt Weill's Street Scene with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Witch in Hänsel und Gretel at the Metropolitan Opera and Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Dallas Opera. Onthe concert stage, she performs the role of Filipievna in scenes from Eugene Onegin with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and next summer travels to Japan to sing Mrs. Sedley in Peter Grimes under Seiji Ozawa at the Saito Kinen Festival. Recent engagements have included Meg Page in Falstaff and Margaret in Wozzeck with Santa Fe Opera. For Houston Grand Opera she sang Despina in Così fan tutte and created the role of Effie Belle Tate in Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree, a role she repeated for San Diego Opera.
katherine ciesinski (Sofia Ovanovna)
The New York Times called American mezzo-soprano Katherine Ciesinski “a singer of rare communicative presence.” Recent engagements include Cecilia March in Little Women at Houston Grand Opera, a role she created. The 2000 production was telecast on PBS's Great Performances and released on CD by Ondine. She has also performed that role with Central City Opera, Opera Pacific, and is scheduled to sing it for Opera Omaha. Also for Houston Grand Opera, she sang Kabanicha in Katya Kabanova and returns in January 2002 to sing Larina in Eugene Onegin. Other major credits include Judith in Bluebeard's Castle, and Nicklausse in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, both at the Metropolitan Opera; Cassandre in Les Troyens at Covent Garden; Adalgisa in Norma with Scottish Opera; Laura in La Gioconda, Waltraute in Götterdämmerung, and Dulcinée in Don Quichotte with San Francisco Opera; Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier, and Hansel in Hansel and Gretel with Dallas Opera.
jessica jones (Princess Myagkaya/ Nekhlyudov's Sister/Woman in Labor)
Soprano Jessica Jones recently completed her third season as a member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, where she appeared in alternate-cast performances as Micaela in Carmen and Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte. Other roles with Houston Grand Opera have included Myrtis in the world premiere of
Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree, La Musica/Proserpina in Monteverdi's Orfeo and Mrs. Anderssen in Sondheim's A Little Night Music. Recent operatic highlights include Madame Lidoine in Dialogues of the Carmelites at the Aspen Music Festival, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni with the Wolf Trap Festival Opera, Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro with Spokane Opera and Fiordiligi with Aspen Festival Opera. Future performances include concert appearances with the New York Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the symphonies of Baltimore, Detroit and Atlanta. Ms. Jones also makes her Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Youth Symphony, singing the music of Mozart and Richard Strauss.
daniel belcher (Baklashov/Prison Inspector/Prisoner #2)
Since his international opera debut in the title role of Don Giovanni on a tour of Japan with Opera Atelier, baritone Daniel Belcher has appeared as Don Antonio in Reinhard Keiser's Masaniello furioso at the Stuttgart Opera, marking his acclaimed European opera debut. This season's engagements include Papageno in Die Zauberflöte for New York City Opera, a role he repeats at Opera Atelier's home theater in Toronto; and a reprise of Don Antonio in Masaniello furioso at Stuttgart. Upcoming engagements include Schaunard in La Bohème at Houston Grand Opera; Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos and Dandini in La Cenerentola for San Francisco Opera. Mr. Belcher was formerly an artist with Houston Grand Opera Studio, singing the title role in Orfeo and creating the role of John Brooke in the 1998 world premiere of Mark Adamo's Little Women, a role he reprised for a revival in 2000, which was telecast on PBS's Great Performances and released on CD by Ondine.
derrick parker (Foreman/Bailiff/Guard)
American bass-baritone Derrick Parker was an artist with Houston Grand Opera Studio for the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons, performing Masetto in Don Giovanni, Caronte in Orfeo and Dashwood in Mark Adamo's Little Women, which was televised on PBS's Great Performances and released on CD by Ondine. Since completing his Studio training, Mr. Parker has sung
Parson Alltalk in Treemonisha for Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Leporello in Don Giovanni and Seneca in L'incoronazione di Poppea at Wolf Trap Opera, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro for Opera Idaho and with the Evansville Philharmonic, Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea for Chicago Opera Theater, and Claudius in Agrippina for Glimmerglass. During the 2001-02 season, Mr. Parker sings the President, Prince Korchagin and the Officer in Resurrection for Boston Lyric Opera, Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia for Chicago Opera Theater and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor at Opera Theatre of St. Louis.
james c. holloway (Patinkin/Kriltsov)
American tenor James C. Holloway has performed opera, recital and oratorio in the United States and abroad. Mr. Holloway has appeared with the Liverpool Symphony, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and the New World Orchestra of London. Most recently he performed the title role in the world premiere of Loden's King David for the New Israeli Opera of Tel Aviv. Mr. Holloway has made numerous television appearances on the Fox, TNN and TBN networks. His most recent performances with Houston Grand Opera include the Mayor in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Cold Sassy Tree and Ovlur in Prince Igor. During HGO's 2001-02 season he sings Heinrich der Schreiber in Tannhäuser and Carlson in Carlisle Floyd's Of Mice and Men.
chad shelton (Prisoner #1)
American tenor Chad Shelton made his international debut as Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Australian Opera, under the baton of Houston Grand Opera Music Director Patrick Summers. Future engagements include his European debut as Mitch in André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire at Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, Leo in Regina for Florida Grand Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, Joquino in Fidelio for Dallas Opera, and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte for Houston Grand Opera. While an artist with the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Mr. Shelton created the role of Theodore Lawrence (“Laurie”) for the 1998 world premiere of Mark Adamo's Little Women, later reprising the role in a 2000
revival that was telecast on PBS's Great Performances and released on CD by Ondine. Recent Houston Grand Opera engagements include Ferrando in alternate-cast performances of Così fan tutte and Arcadio in Florencia en el Amazonas.
elizabeth turner (Maria, Kriltsov's Daughter)
Elizabeth Turner was 10 years old when she sang Maria in the 1999 world premiere of Resurrection for Houston Grand Opera. She has also sung in the children's chorus of Mefistofele, Carmen, and the Multimedia Modular Stage production of Pagliacci. She portrayed the Spoiled Child in the Alley Theatre's A Christmas Carol and Michael Darling in Peter Pan. Elizabeth spent a year singing with the Houston Children's Chorus, performing regularly for civic, cultural, and charity events in Texas. She likes to write songs in her spare time.
members of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra
Patrick Summers, Music Director
Mr. and Mrs. Albert B. Alkek Chair
Denise Tarrant,concertmaster
Erica Robinson, principal second violin
Lawrence Wheeler, principal
Dennis Whitaker, principal
Josué Casillas, principal
Marilyn Chappell, principal
Orchestra Personnel Manager
Houston Grand Opera Chorus
Resurrection is an Opera New World production.
Opera New World is sponsored by Philip Morris Companies Inc.
This recording is made possible by major grants from The Ford Foundation and The Wortham Foundation, Inc. in support of Houston Grand Opera's electronic media initiatives.
David Gockley, General Director; JAMES D. ireland, general manager Patrick Summers, Music Director;
Jon K. Gossett, executive Director of Development;
JoAnn LaBrecque-French, Director of Marketing and Communications; Gary Gibbs, Director of Education and Outreach; richard bado, head of music staff; Ann Owens, Artistic Administrator; patricia houk, director of production; judy massey, director of finance and administration
The cover art as well as other art used throughout
the booklet was done by Simon Higlett, the Set and
Costume Designer for Resurrection.
design: Oberlander Design
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