2009
"Lysistrata". Musical scenes by Aristophanes





60m
Not published
BZK. 28.05. 2018.
Orpheus Radio Orchestra. Conductor D. Kirpanev. Choirmaster A. Rudnevsky
For large orchestra and choir (in the finale)
In two parts
Very briefly and simplified, the content of the play by the ancient Greek comedy writer Aristophanes can be presented approximately as follows.
The name "Lysistrata" - "Destroyer of War" - was given by Aristophanes to the heroine of a play that tells how women achieved what men could not - they put an end to the great war between Athens and Sparta, which lasted for ten years.
Lysistrata gathers women from all over Greece in the square in front of the Athenian Acropolis. She offers them " until the men make peace - not to sleep with them, not to give in to them, not to touch them! " With difficulty, after long arguments, the women agree and take an oath to the goddess Cypris. They hide in the Acropolis and do not allow anyone to approach them.
The city's population is divided into two camps: women and old men - all the young men are at war. The women quarrel with the old men, fights break out between them, but the women are relentless. Then the old men set fire to the Acropolis and intend to storm it, but Lysistrata comes out and negotiates with the men's ambassadors.
The men admire her intelligence and beauty. They all miss their wives and quickly come to an agreement: they make peace. The happy husbands take their wives and go home singing and dancing.
Work on the Symphonic Scenes after Aristophanes began, judging by the dates in the rough score, in 2006 and continued intermittently until 2008. Ultimately, the idea resulted in a composition of 12 scenes with two interludes, a Prologue and an Epilogue. The work is purely instrumental; only in the Epilogue does the choir appear – the herald of universal jubilation.
Having completed the score of the Symphonic Scenes, the composer wrote to Vladimir Ivanovich Fedoseyev in January 2009:
"Lysistrata" is one of my latest works. No one has ever played or seen the score, or even held it in their hands.
There are no orchestral voices yet. In my old age I was drawn to Light, to the Sun, to the Beauty of man, - that is why I chose this subject from antiquity.
“For technical reasons” (“there are no orchestral voices yet”) “Lysistrata” was not performed then, and the author did not hear this, one of his last major works.
In the score, the author provided each of the parts with a title and a very short program-epigraph – one or two lines of the comedy’s text.
The cheerful, playful plot of "Lysistrata" may seem completely unexpected for Butsko, but in fact it is not so. He has loved antiquity for a long time, since his first student years spent at the history department of the pedagogical institute (before entering the music school), and always collected and read ancient authors. Alas, he was not able to visit either Greece or Rome.
