The Role of Ballet Scenes in the Magic Opera “Ilya Bogatyr” by C. A. Cavos and I. A. Krylov

Abstract

. The article is devoted to the opera “Ilya Bogatyr” created by composer C. A. Cavos and playwright I. A. Krylov in line with Pre-Romantic trends characteristic of the Russian art of the early 19th century. The performance refl ected the authors’ desire to create a national sample of the magic opera genre. The undoubted advantage of the opera “Ilya Bogatyr” was a variety of dance scenes: a comic ballet of heroes; light dances of nymphs and geniuses focused on ancient images; character dances in the Russian folk style; fairy-tale dances of evil spirits and oriental maidens. All ballet scenes are integrated into the action development, in which, depending on the context, their fi gurative and dramatic functions are revealed. This approach to the interpretation of ballet scenes asserts them as a specifi c genre component of Russian opera and in many ways anticipates the creation of spectacular dance compositions in operas by M. I. Glinka.