Mandel'shtam and the Opera: On the Poem “Chut' Mertsaet…”

Abstract

Osip Mandel'shtam's poetry has been interpreted abundantly by scholars and it might be seen as preposterous to return to one of the most discussed poems in general: “Chut' mertsaet prizrachnaia stsena” dealing with Gluck's opera Orpheus and Eurydice. My approach will be an intermedial one and I will analyse it in relation to the famous productions at the Mariinskii Opera in 1910 and in 1919. The task will be to scrutinize the relationship between the text of the poem and various paratexts, or, in the words of Derrida (1987) and broader, the relation between ergon and parergon. The focus is on the aesthetic impact of these relations more than on the question of genesis or influence. The basis for the interpretation will be the opposition between the period of the performance and the post-performance time, as well as the notion of liminality. The poem will be analysed against the background of the motif of the exit from the theatre in Russian 19th century Russian culture both in relation to literature and to a lithography from 1843 made by Rudol'f Zhukovskii. I will, however, use in particular material concerning the opera performance alluded to in the poem.