Gustyakova Daria Yurievna
Candidate of Art History,
Lecturer and Doctoral student at
Yaroslavl State pedagogical University.
e-mail: dar_gu@mail.ru

Modern European Staging of Russian Operas  
as a Model of Interaction between Classic and Popular Cultures

Abstract: The article deals with the problem of representation of Russian classical music in contemporary culture. On the example of the opera "Eugene Onegin" by P.I. Tchaikovsky staged at the Netherlands Opera (Amsterdam, 2011) implementation of anachronistic principle of representation of classical material is considered. The analysis of this theatrical production reveals interpretive techniques and principles underlying the representation of opera classics in the space of mass culture: nihilistic and destructive attitude towards the interpretation of the composer's artistic images with a focus on the content of literary source; an attempt to add subtexts, to reveal motives of the drama differing from the author’s intention; aspiration to make operatic works more vivid, leading to extrapolation to theatrical field of cinema techniques, focusing and directing spectators’ attention; attraction to interpretive decisions based on the principles of eclecticism, therefore, appealing to such artistic methods as citation, intertextuality; "update" of the action based on playing with chronotope, moving the story to the present, that implies the presence of anachronisms in the interpretation of classical works; the tendency to scandalous and provocative interpretation, action-packed spectacular solutions designed to surprise, intrigue the audience.

Keywords: Russian Classics, Contemporary Popular Culture, Opera, Representation, Interpretation, Anachronistic as the Principle

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