Revived Creonte To Be Staged In Theater Recreating Atmosphere Of Its 1776 Venetian Premiere

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) Herman Makarenko, conductor and stage director of the opera, and author of the project "The Return of Dmytro Bortniansky's First Opera Creonte," said this in a comment to Ukrinform.

He noted that staging Bortniansky's Creonte, like Mozart's operas of the 18th century, requires a theater with specific acoustic properties, stage dimensions, and refined interior design. These conditions were a priority for the project organizers, since reviving the masterpiece must recreate the authentic soundscape of the late Baroque and early Classical period. The project's coordinator, Professor Mykola Prodanchuk, founder of the Bukovynians' Association in Kyiv, insisted on ensuring the closest possible match.

"Ukraine's National Opera, or the opera houses in Odesa and Lviv, are magnificent but somewhat too large for opera of early Classicism or the second half of the 18th century. The theatres in Dnipro and Kharkiv are beautiful, but their architecture reflects a modern era. That is why Mykola Prodanchuk proposed what is perhaps Ukraine's only Baroque and Classical-period theater -- Olha Kobylianska Chernivtsi Music and Drama Theater. Built in 1905, it is a 'velvet-and-gold dream,' whose architecture and acoustics turned out to be nearly identical to Venice's Teatro San Benedetto, where Creonte was first performed," Makarenko said.

Read also: Chernivtsi Theater announces staging of Bortniansky's first opera 'Creonte'

The project team studied original architectural drawings of the Venetian theater, built in 1755 but no longer preserved in its historic form. These drawings matched those of the Chernivtsi theater, designed 120 years ago by the Viennese firm of Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, at a time when Bukovyna was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Between 1873 and 1919, this firm built more than 200 structures across Europe, including 48 theaters, among them the Vienna State Opera, the Odesa Opera and Ballet Theater, and the theater in Chernivtsi.

"The drawings essentially coincided, meaning that Venice's Teatro San Benedetto and Olha Kobylianska Chernivtsi Music and Drama Theater, in terms of their acoustic and aesthetic qualities, were the most harmoniously suited for staging an 18th-century opera, making it the ideal venue for this premiere," Makarenko said.

The project is being carried out in cooperation with the Chernivtsi Regional Military Administration, the Chernivtsi Regional Council, and the Chernivtsi City Council, with support from patrons and sponsors in Kyiv and Chernivtsi.

"The communities of Bukovyna and the city of Chernivtsi have essentially ensured the successful preparation and realization of this opera premiere -- an unprecedented case in Ukraine. It is also unique that the world premiere of the staged production in Chernivtsi is being held under the official patronage of UNESCO," Makarenko said.

Dmytro Bortniansky a Ukrainian composer, singer, and conductor, was born in 1751 in Hlukhiv. He wrote his first opera, Creonte, at the age of 25 while in Italy. The work was the culmination of his studies under the renowned Italian composer Baldassare Galuppi. However, after the opera's premiere in 1776, the manuscript score disappeared, and for more than 200 years the opera was considered lost. In 2024, musicologist Olha Shumilina discovered the manuscript in the archive of the Ajuda Library in Lisbon, which houses the manuscript collections of the Portuguese royal court.

On November 11, 2024, the rediscovered opera had its world concert premiere at the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine. On October 3-5, the world premiere of the staged production will take place at Olha Kobylianska Chernivtsi Music and Drama Theater.

Photos: Volodymyr Tarasov, Yevhen Kotenko / Ukrinform

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