None But the Lonely Heart

Средь шумного бала

24 song compositions by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky are combined to create an intimate evening of musical theatre that shows five characters and their contradictory emotions.

Cast & Crew

Baritone – Vladislav Sulimsky
Soprano – Olesya Golovneva
Mezzo-soprano – Kelsey Lauritano
Tenor – Andrea Carè
Baritone – Mikołaj Trąbka
Director – Christof Loy
Lighting Designer – Olaf Winter
Set and costume designer – Herbert Murauer

Description

24 song compositions by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky are combined to create an intimate evening of musical theatre that shows five characters and their contradictory emotions: repressed feelings of love are juxtaposed with the search for intoxicating moments; the grief over broken relationships repeatedly leads to withdrawal and loneliness. An interpersonal dynamic develops in which unfulfillable longings, repressed memories and emotional dependencies of the individual characters are revealed. In a poetically dense sequence of images, the production also alludes to motifs from Tchaikovsky’s biography, which is characterised by ambivalences. Christof Loy's staging includes rarely performed Lieder, interspersed with short works for piano and chamber music.

“I don’t know which singer to single out, they were all great.” Opernwelt

Summary


Musical Works
(in chronological order)
  
Dumka in C minor, Op. 59
(excerpt)
 
Reconciliation, Op. 25/1
Text: Nikolay F. Shcherbina
 
I never spoke to her, Op. 25/5
Text: Lev A. Mei
 
To forget so soon
Text: Aleksey N. Apukhtin
 
Evening, Op. 46/1
Text: Ivan Z. Surikov
 
Say of what, in the shade of branches, Op. 57/1
Text: Vladimir A. Sollogub
 
Coral beads, Op. 28/2
Text: Lev A. Mei after Władysław Syrokomla
 
A soul flew quietly in the heavenly heights, Op. 47/2
Text: Aleksey K. Tolstoy
 
Amid the din of the ball, Op. 38/3
Text: Aleksey K. Tolstoy
 
Song of the gypsy girl, Op. 60/7
Text: Yakov P. Polonsky
 
On yellow fields of grain, Op. 57/2
Text: Aleksey K. Tolstoy
 
I won’t say anything to you, Op. 60/2
Text: Afanasy A. Fet
 
Sextet in D minor Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70
2nd movement: Adagio cantabile
 
The Night
after W. A. Mozart’s Fantasy KV 475 (Andantino)
Text: Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky
 
The Night, Op. 60/9
Text: Yakov P. Polonsky
 
He loved me so, Op. 28/4
Text: Aleksey N. Apukhtin
 
Why?, Op. 6/5
Text: Lev A. Mei after Heinrich Heine
 
None but the lonely heart, Op. 6/6
Text: Lev A. Mei after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 
As over darkly glowing ambers, Op. 25/2
Text: Fyodor I. Tyutchev
 
Wasn’t I a blade of grass, Op. 47/7
Text: Ivan Z. Surikov
 
Zemfira’s Song
Text: Alexander S. Pushkin
 
Not a word, my friend, Op. 6/2
Text: Aleksey N. Pleshcheyev after Moritz Hartmann
 
Frenzied nights, Op. 60/6
Text: Aleksey N. Apukhtin
 
Final (Allegro vivace) from the ballet Sleeping Beauty
Piano transcription: Mikhail Pletnev
 
The sun has set, Op. 73/4
Text: Daniil M. Rathaus
 
The lights were going out in the rooms, Op. 63/5
Text: Konstantin K. Romanov
 
Again as before alone, Op. 73/6
Text: Daniil M. Rathaus