The Nightingale and Other Fables

I was, and still am, a passionate fan of Igor Stravinsky’s work, particularly his collaboration with the Ballet Russe in the early part of last century. Somehow, I missed one of his lesser performed pieces, The Nightingale.

The Nightingale, Stravinsky’s first opera, was written between 1908-13 during the composer’s Russian period, at the same time as he was working on some of his greatest masterpieces, The Firebird and The Rite of Spring. Inspired by a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, this captivating work is blended with Russian fables and musical influences from Asia, Europe and early jazz from America.

In 1917, Stravinsky created a separate concert work, a symphonic poem, from music from the opera. It was published in 1921 as Chant du Rossignol, Song of the Nightingale.

This short opera in three acts by Stravinsky to a Russian-language libretto with Stepan Mitusov is based on a tale by Hans Christian Andersen: A Chinese Emperor is reduced to tears and made kind by a small grey bird.

For the opera's premiere, the singers were in the pit while their roles were mimed and danced on stage; the setting was by Alexandre Benois of the Ballet Russe fame.

However, the evening is more than the opera alone. The first half is packed with Stravinsky gems. Linking the first act items are the haunting clarinet solos 1, 2, and 3 played by Dean Newcomb, Pribaoutki (a cycle of 4 songs) featuring the velvety voice of Meredith Arwady, The Two Tone Poems of Konstantin Balmont exquisitely sung by Yuliya Pogrebnyak, Berceuses de Chat (lullabies of the cat) sung by Arwardy, and four Russian peasant songs sung by eleven of the State Opera chorus while dipping their legs in the orchestra pit river.

The first half concludes with Renard, a short farmyard, fairytale opera for four male voices. This piece holds a special place in my heart having sung it at college. It features the voices of Andrew Goodwin, Owen McCausland, Taras Berezhansky and Nabil Suliman with skilled shadow puppetry and acrobatics at the back of the stage. The vocal gymnastics required for this piece are challenging, the held bottom D of the bass and the falsetto sections for baritone 2 are demanding, as is the facial acting required by the performers. A fitting conclusion for an act that while wonderful, does not prepare one for what is to follow.

The Nightingale is directed by the esteemed director Robert Lepage, Canadian playwright, actor, film director and stage director assisted by Sybille Wilson. LePage’s visualisation for this opera, usually presented by singers as the central performers, is to have puppets tell the story. These puppets are operated by the singers and others in a shimmering river that runs through the orchestra pit.

It is a logistical nightmare as a piece of technical theatre but flawlessly presented by the company highlighting the talents of  set designer Carl Fillion, Costume, wig and makeup designer Mara Gottler, puppet designer Michael Curry, Lighting Designer Etienne Boucher and Puppet Choreographer Martin Genest.

Alejo Pérez conducts the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in its many configurations during the evening, who rise to every challenge and more than do justice to Stravinsky’s work.

For a small opera, The Nightingale has a big cast - Nightingale (Yuliia Zasimova), Fisherman (Owen McCausland), Emperor (Taras Berezhansky), Death (Meredith Arwady), Cook (Yuliya Pogrebnyak), Chamberlain (Nabil Suliman),  Bonze (Jud Arthur), the Envoys (Robert Macfarlane, Pelham Andrews and Norbert Hohl) and the State Opera South Australia Chorus.

The singing is exceptional, particularly Zasimova’s Nightingale which hits the vocal heights of the coloratura range.

The unsung stars of the evening are undoubtably the puppeteers Martin Vaillancourt, Andreanne Joubert, Desmond Osborne, Vincent Poliquin-Simms, Andrea Ciacci, and Noam Markus. These skilled performers provide the shadow puppetry sequences for Act 1 and the physical puppetry sequences for Act 2, in black wetsuits, mostly neck deep in the orchestra pit ‘river’ or completely submerged for some sections. All performers in the river wear wet suits, in the singers’ case under their kimonos, with dry kimonos for the stage work.

There are not enough words to do this production justice. Every time I thought I had seen everything, there was another astonishing piece of theatre magic! If only Stravinsky had written more operas, the musical world would be a happier place.

The Nightingale and Other Fables is sublime entertainment, sure to have something to delight any theatregoer. It is a theatrical feast for the visual and aural senses!

Barry Hill OAM

Photographer: Andrew Beveridge

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