Opera Creonte, lost for 250 years, revived in Chernivtsi

According to Ukrinform, the organizers explained before the performance that the choice of Chernivtsi for the world premiere was deliberate: the theater's atmosphere closely resembles that of a Venetian theater, where the opera was first staged in 1776.

"In preparing the production, we faced three main challenges. First, to assemble a strong cast. Second, to recreate the sets of that period. And third, the stage direction. Just as I, as conductor and music director, had to interpret for the first time the unique rediscovered score, stage director Ivan Butniak had to bring to life, also for the first time, the characters of Creonte, Ismene, Antigone, Haemon, and Adrastus. They seemed to come alive before our very eyes," said Herman Makarenko, conductor and initiator of the project "The Return of Dmytro Bortniansky's First Opera Creonte."

Before the performance began, stage director and theater director Ivan Butniak invited the audience to honor the memory of conductor Volodymyr Shnaider, who had worked on the production but had suddenly passed away at the age of 40. The world premiere of the stage version of Creonte was dedicated to his memory.

Tickets for the first performance at the Chernivtsi Regional Theater were sold out in advance. For those who could not attend, a large screen was set up in front of the theater with a live broadcast of the performance.

The opera's libretto was written in Italian, with Ukrainian translations of the arias displayed on a small screen.

The performance in Chernivtsi was briefly interrupted by an air raid alert. When the alert ended, the audience returned to the hall and watched the opera to the end. The ovation lasted nearly ten minutes.

Another performance will take place in Chernivtsi on Sunday, October 5. If successful, organizers are considering staging Creonte in other Ukrainian cities and abroad.

As reported earlier, Bortniansky's first opera Creonte was believed lost for almost two and a half centuries. The manuscript was discovered by musicologist Olha Shumilina in the archives of the Ajuda Library in Lisbon. In November, the opera was presented to the public for the first time in a concert performance at Ukraine's Diplomatic Academy.

Bortniansky composed Creonte in Venice in 1776 at the age of 25, under the guidance of Italian maestro Baldassare Galuppi. Marco Coltellini's libretto was based on Sophocles' tragedy, but unlike the original and the prevailing operatic traditions of the late 18th century, Bortniansky's version has a happy ending. The premiere took place at the Teatro San Benedetto and was intended to be staged elsewhere in Europe, but for unknown reasons the score disappeared for almost 250 years.

Ukrinform photos are available for purchase here.