1968
"White Nights". Opera





64m
Piano score – Music, 1982
Piano score in German – Henschelverlag, 1973
Score not published
Radio premiere:
G. Rozhdestvensky, G. Pisarenko, A. Mishchevsky
Stage premiere:
Dresden, 16.09. 1974
Director: Harry Kupfer, conductor: Gert Banner, soloists: Rainer Goldberg and Lidiya Ruzhitskaya
by F.M. Dostoevsky
Sentimental opera for two soloists (soprano, tenor) and symphonic orchestra
One-act
The theatrical premiere of "White Nights" took place in Dresden in 1973 and was a great success. However, the opera was not staged in our country at that time. In the same 1973, an audio recording of "White Nights" was made (conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky, performers - Galina Pisarenko and Anatoly Mishchevsky). It was supposed to show "White Nights" on television. However, the teleopera was removed at the last moment for reasons of ideological censorship. Nevertheless, the record was released, which was "pushed through" by G.N. Rozhdestvensky (this work was originally dedicated to him).
And only in 2011 the opera was staged in Russia – at the State Chamber Musical Theatre “Saint Petersburg Opera”. Director Yuri Alexandrov presented the performance in the open air – during the white nights season (at the end of May), in the courtyard-well of the theatre. The director said: “Butsko’s music is piercing, this music is amazing. That’s why it touched me very much. I love this intonation, close to anguish. Because confessionality is an important feature of a Russian artist. This is a confessional work.”
