The Nightingale / Iolanta at The National Theatre

Igor Stravinsky’s first and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s final opera hail from two totally different musical worlds – Iolanta is still borne in the spirit of Romantic refinement, known from the composer’s operas, ballets and symphonies, whereas Le rossignol, written 20 years later, blends the magic of Impressionism and the tumultuous Impressionist idiom. Yet the two works, so distant from one another at first glance, have much in common – not only their being based on fairy tales, but also the theme and, if you will, message, which is inherent to the genre. The omnipotent Chinese Emperor lives amidst excessive luxury, which binds, suffocates and poisons him by its affectation, and has no inkling as to the beauty of Nature and its creatures. His eyes are only opened by a song of an ordinary nightingale. Princess Iolanta has been blind since birth and her father meticulously sees to her never learning of her affliction. She lives in a beautiful, enclosed garden and no one is ever allowed to mention light, colours or human vision in her presence. One day, the garden is entered by the knight Vaudémont, who falls in love with Iolanta and arouses in the blind Princess the desire to see. Although works by two great masters of global music, neither of the fairy-tale operas has to date been staged at the National Theatre, with Stravinsky’s Le rossignol only having been presented twice in a concert performance, in 2010. Our new production will be musically prepared by the renowned British conductor Jan Latham-Koenig, who worked in Prague some five years ago. On the other hand, the gifted Czech stage director Dominik Beneš will be making his debut at the National.