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The Master and Margarita
Opera in III Acts
Music: Michael Schreider
Libretto: Olga Malisova-Schreider and Michael Schreider
Based on the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov
Duration: 2:58′
Francisco Goya ‘Los Caprichos’; no 43 ‘The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters’, Wikimedia Commons
We are submitting for your consideration this latest interpretation of Bulgakov’s novel as a three-act opera in a Romantic Fantasia Burlesque genre. The opera offers immense potential for a colourful production, with scenes in ancient Jerusalem, 1930s Moscow, and a fantastical setting for the Devil’s “Ball of the Full Moon”.
The plot is fast paced: comic scenes are followed by dramatic culminations, and lyrical episodes are juxtaposed with “bloodthirsty” revolutionary outbursts. Occasionally, two different scenes coincide on stage. The opera’s fourteen main characters are supported by a large chorus undertaking a variety of roles: ghosts, awaken corpses, crowds of proletarians, peace seeking Essenes, vengeful Zealots, unbridled restaurant goers, and gossiping passers-by. But perhaps nothing is what it seems. Illustrations occasionally suggest viewpoints which add plenty of allusions, evocative uncertainty, double-meanings to the drama
This website contains:
A technical presentation of the opera with electronic sampled instruments
Full subtitles
Stage directions
A Message from the Composer
Bulgakov “The Magician” – the best at concealing the tragedy of life behind the beautiful romantic veneer
From the outset, we recognised the inherent difficulty in creating an operatic drama based on Bulgakov’s novel, knowing that many previous attempts have been unsuccessful in bringing it to life. The predicament stems from the deeply ’anti-operatic’ fabric of its text. The novel is multi-layered, polymorphous and hugely intellectualised in that it triggers a multitude of meanings, allusions and interpretations. The narration is dispassionate (perhaps to create an illusion of complete truthfulness while narrating the outlandish story), devoid of dramatic dialogue, emotional outpourings or other catalysts deemed necessary for an operatic production
Crijn Hendricksz: ‘Christ talking to Nicodemus’, Wikimedia Commons
Nevertheless, aware of these challenges and mindful of the time constraints of the operatic medium, which would demand many changes, we continued to believe that ‘The Master and Margarita’ had the potential to become a moving and powerful opera.
We were particularly drawn to two main ideas in this story: the commonality between the events during Easter in 1930s Moscow and Jerusalem in 33AD, and the enduring love between the master and Margarita. The presence of the devil (Woland) is instrumental in both.
Nikolaj Yaroschenko: ‘The Prisoner’, Wikimedia Commons
Andrea Mantegna: ‘Crucifixion’, Wikimedia Commons
Tivadar Kosztka Csontvary:
‘The Old Fisherman’, Wikimedia Commons
Woland is a key character in both the novel and the opera. He appears at the very beginning, predicting the imminent death of Berlioz, the Chairman of the Writers’ Council, and triggers all the mysterious events thereafter. The organisation’s restaurant jazz band then coincidentally strikes up with the song ‘Hallelujah’. In the opera we allude to Vincent Youmans’ song, ‘Hallelujah’, premiered in the USA in April 1927 with lyrics by Clifford Grey and Leo Robin.
There is no doubt that this is indeed the song which Bulgakov refers to. It became incredibly popular in Russia and was even recorded back then by Alexander Tsfasman’s Russian jazz orchestra. This music fuels the narrative, with one particular line of the original lyric feeding directly into the plot: “Satan lies awaiting and creating skies of grey, but ‘Hallelujah’ helps to shoo the clouds away” (The remainder of the original song’s lyrics have been changed).
Woland’s character is foreshadowed by Bulgakov’s epigraph to his novel, taken from Goethe’s Faust: “Say at last – who are thou? That Power I serve, Which wills forever evil, Yet does forever good.” According to Bulgakov’s ’dialectics of good and evil’ we see people’s ever present vices through the eyes of the devil: their cowardice, greed, self-servitude and conformism, how these help despotic regimes prevail and yet how social and political pressures pale into insignificance in the face of love, hope, forgiveness and courage.
Jacopo Tintoretto: ‘The Battle of Archangel Michael with Satan’, Wikimedia Commons
Tommaso Pasolino Da Panicale: ‘Temptation of Adam and Eve’, Wikimedia Commons
This emerges at the core of the opera, unfolding within the context of the master and Margarita’s mystical meeting, their love, their despair under State oppression, time spent apart and ultimate ‘deeds of forgiveness’ (Acts 1, 3, Epilogue), as well as in Pilate’s moral dilemma with Yeshua (Act 2, Epilogue). In the opera we echo the author, who exhorts us to live guided by our conscience, with compassion for those who fail and falter, and so to find peace.
Another important factor to consider is the historical and social background to events within the opera. Bulgakov’s subtle critique of the social and political realities of the Soviet regime may not be fully understood by today’s audience. Some will be unfamiliar with its hypocrisy and brutality and might be surprised by the master’s despair after “just a few negative reviews”.
They may not be aware that the regime could be deadly for writers and poets who might ‘disappear’ for violating prescribed conventions. The opera brings this aspect of Soviet life to the fore. Choral interjections (Acts 1, 3) convey the vicious, grotesque atmosphere of day-to-day life during this period. These interjections are based on popular slogans from that time, as well as the verses of a popular proletarian poet, Demyan Bedny (the poor one), who was Bulgakov’s prototype for Ivan Bezdomny (the homeless one).
Francisco Goya: Los caprichos, What a golden beak! no. 53, Wikimedia Commons
The story set in ancient Jerusalem provides us with further means to ridicule hypocrisy and to highlight the vile, despotic regime in opposition to the individual (Act 2). Here choral voices are given to the Easter celebrations of the ordinary crowd and also to the peace-seeking Essenes and riotous Zealots. These scenes are based on various sources including the Jewish Prayer book and the ‘Song of Songs’ by King Solomon. Some material was derived from Josephus’ depictions of social life in old Judea.
This website contains a short version of the opera (2 hours and 58 minutes). In the current version the act devoted to the tricksters Woland and Cat, and their comical ventures, (the comic scene in the communal kitchen, scenes with Berlioz’ uncle, the house manager Nikanor Ivanovich, the extended scene with compere Bengalsky and others played at the Variety Theatre) has been omitted. Each act is self-contained with its own storyline and can therefore be staged separately.
The video includes subtitles and brief stage directions. The opera is written in English, but the subtitles do not always follow the singers’ lines exactly, sometimes they are simplified.
The score is delivered electronically by the software called Garritan Orchestra. Unfortunately, the electronic presentation does not fully enable crescendo, diminuendo, nor can it ‘breathe’ and balance the dynamics of the instruments. Some instruments sound better and are easily recognisable (harpsichord, harp); for others the ear needs time to adapt. The vocals are particularly difficult to distinguish, however, the listener typically acclimatises after about 30 minutes. A hi-fi sound system will make the process easier. Some TV sound systems tamper with the dynamics, unnecessarily equalising the loud and soft sections of music which might make the adaptation process even longer. The preferred option would be to listen to this recording with good headphones.
About the Music
In The Master and Margarita, Bulgakov expertly weaves a fantastical yet profoundly existential novel from two stories separated by thousands of years, transformed into deeply connected apocryphal gospels (one from the devil, another, I dare say, from Stalin). These stories are, at their core, connected by the inescapability of mankind’s imbalances. People are forever cowardly, they bow to money and power; they also love and are merciful; mindless and sensible, cruel and caring. Mankind is the most absurd and beautiful creature on the planet!
These imbalances give rise to music unconstrained by any particular type of writing, style or genre; – music stemming from the inexhaustible variety of life itself. It is, at times, violent and impetuous like a chase; at others, effortlessly languid like a sound dream. It is both whimsical as a fairy tale and terrifying as a nightmare.
This music does not only sing – it speaks, shouts, trembles, moans, prays and mocks in the vortex of rhythm and melos, guided by the imperious meter. At times it is sublime, and at times – vulgar; it can be “harmoniously” harmonic and “cacophonically” polyphonic; purely tonal and bizarrely polytonal; it uses archaic monody and simple tunes, conventional musical forms and chaotic snatches twirling in the clouds of Jazzing post-expressionism. And, if along the way you meet some familiar composers, take off your hat to them; after all, their presence was Bulgakov’s idea.
Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis: “Andante” , Wikimedia Commons
The Synopsis
Eugene Delacroix: ‘La Liberte Guidant le peuple, Wikimedia Commons
Throughout the ages, Woland has been amused by humanity’s never-ending pursuit of ideals, which would always end up crushed under the weight of human vices.
He is curious to find out whether humanity is capable of changing. He descends upon 1930s Moscow where people claim to have found the truth and to have built a fair and just world.
Anon. postcard ‘Demonstration’
Machiavelli caricature, Wikimedia Commons
Observing the Muscovites, he is comforted in the knowledge that nothing ever changes and that he has as firm a grip as ever on humanity with its greed, vanity and cowardice, certain that only a thin veil of love, compassion and forgiveness keeps humanity from the abyss, soaring over the commotion of futile ideas as an ever present fragile ray of faint moonlight.
Francisco Goya: ‘Los caprichos, They all had fallen, no. 19, Wikimedia Commons
Berlioz – the Chairman of the Writers’ Council is lecturing a young poet called Ivan on the delusive nature of religious beliefs. Their conversation is interrupted by a peculiar ‘foreign professor-consultant’ (Woland), who ostensibly has been invited to Moscow to perform a séance of Black magic at the Variety theatre. The ‘Consultant’ not only claims to have witnessed an encounter between Jesus and Pontius Pilate, but also rather casually foretells Berlioz’s immediate and horrible death under the wheels of a tram.
Ivan, his sanity shaken to the core, sets off to catch the elusive foreigner, who by now has been joined by a giant black cat (Cat). The poet is convinced that Berlioz’s gruesome death was ‘arranged’ by the foreigner. In his shattered state of mind it seems to him that the crowd following him in pursuit of the villains are directing him to arm himself with an icon and a candle and head first to the river and then to the Writers’ Council.
Jacques-Louis David ‘The Death of Marat’, Wikimedia Commons
Jacopo Bassano: ‘The Last Supper’, Wikimedia Commons
At the Writers’ Council exasperated writers, tired of having waited in vain for Berlioz to chair their meeting, decide to go downstairs to the restaurant where a dining-and-jazz evening is in full swing.
Peter Paul Rubens: ‘The Feast of Herod’, Wikimedia Commons
Ivan, his clothes stolen at the river, appears in his underpants at the restaurant brandishing the icon and candle. He announces the terrible news of Berlioz’s death and, convinced that the professor with his giant cat are hiding somewhere in the restaurant, frantically looks under the tables. He calls for the police to be sent with motorcycles and machine guns to catch them. He is in such an agitated state that, after an altercation with one of the guests, he has to be sedated and sent to a lunatic asylum.
Vincent van Gogh: ‘Prisoners exercising’, Wikimedia Commons
Vincent van Gogh: ‘Self-portrait with bandaged ear’, Wikimedia Commons
Ivan relates the story of Berlioz’s ‘murder’ by ‘Pontius Pilate’s acquaintance’ to his neighbour; the master.
The master explains that the stranger must have been none other than Satan, and that the master would have given anything to have been at that meeting as he happens to have written a book about Pontius Pilate.
Ivan learns that as the book was coming to an end the master met a married woman called Margarita
Gustav Klimt: ‘The Kiss’, Wikimedia Commons
The master tells the story of their love, of how spellbound she was by his novel and how she urged him to publish it.
The master continues to explain that after the Head Critic reviewed his book he was subjected to a scathing attack by the atheist press for ‘trying to propagate religiosity’. This sent him into a deep depression which resulted in him burning his manuscript, being arrested and ending up in the asylum.
Francisco Goya: ‘Los caprichos, There is much to suck, no. 45′, Wikimedia Commons
Interlude (optional, omitted in the current recording)
(The following action – the séance of Black magic – continues in the auditorium and in the foyer.)
From the proscenium Cat performs card tricks involving money raining from the ceiling, causing a lot of commotion, with pushing and shoving among the audience, while they try to grab as much as possible. Woland wiles away the time observing the audience from a theatre box.
As the unruly members of the audience are being taken away by the police, Cat invites everyone to the foyer, where a fashion store with mirrors and glass display cases is being opened. Cat offers to exchange, free of charge, any ladies’ old dresses and shoes for the latest designer dresses and shoes from Paris. This produces a scuffle as women rush to the foyer, grabbing anything within reach, disappearing behind a curtain, leaving their old dresses and hats behind and emerging in new ones. They are parading their new looks during the interval. However, when the bell rings for the second act, the women’s designer dresses evaporate, leaving them in nothing but their knickers. Embarrassing scenes ensue and police lead the unlucky ladies away.
Shaka (Marchal Mithouard): ‘You’, displayed with kind permission from the author
Back in the auditorium, in his theatre box, Woland invites Cat to watch the scenes from the master’s book to show that people are no different from their predecessors.
Honoré Daumier: ‘Who says, Parisians are never satisfied!’ from ‘Theater sketches,’ The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wikimedia Commons
Engraving of 1810: Mayor of Arras Joseph Le Bon’, Library of Congress/science Photo library
Pilate is tormented by the unbearable Jerusalem heat, a splitting headache and the volatility of the rebellious pre-Passover atmosphere with its many warring factions. A prisoner (Yeshua) is brought before him accused of inflammatory speeches and incitement to destroy the Temple. Having questioned the prisoner, Pilate finds him to be a harmless idealistic dreamer whose ideas of truth, justice and goodness for all people fascinate Pilate. He wishes to spare the philosopher but is afraid of pardoning someone who dreams of the time when ‘no authority of the Caesars will be needed at all’.
Hieronymus Bosch: ‘The Garden of Eden’, Wikimedia Commons
Pilate ratifies the death sentence hoping to persuade the High Priest Caiaphas to pardon Yeshua in honour of the Great Feast of Passover. Caiaphas infuriates Pilate by his refusal. He feels that the life and faith of the Jewish people are more under threat from Yeshua’s ideas than from a riotous Zealot Bar Abba.
Having announced the sentence, Pilate is crushed by the finality of his decision and the realisation that there will be no peace for him from now on. The only avenue open to him now is to casuistically hint to his chief of Secret Services, Arthanius, that he wants the man who facilitated Yeshua’s arrest dead (Judas). Arthanius enlists the assistance of Niza (the object of Judas’ infatuation) to lure him to his death amidst the celebrating Passover crowds: violent Zealots and the Essenes, who await the Messiah’s arrival.
Back in the auditorium Woland receives a message from one of the characters from the master’s book, Yeshua, with a request to grant the master peace.
Nicolas Poussin: ‘The Destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem’, Wikimedia Commons
Tivadar Kosztka Csontvary: ‘At the Entrance of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem’, Wikimedia Commons
Caravaggio: ‘Portrait of Courtesan’, Wikimedia Commons
After having found a burnt manuscript in the master’s empty house, Margarita is desperate to learn about his fate. She is ready to pawn her soul to the Devil for any news of him. She witnesses a bizarre funeral procession.
Cat, who suddenly materialises next to her, explains that the mourners led by the Head Critic are in a funny mood as the head of the deceased Berlioz has been stolen from the coffin.
Francisco Goya: ‘Los caprichos, The groundhogs, no. 50’, Wikimedia Commons
In order to gain Margarita’s attention Cat performs several tricks. To the horror of the mourners and Margarita’s delight he miraculously causes the Head Critic to lose his head and act as if he hasn’t and makes the literati burst out with an improper song against their will. To Margarita’s astonishment he hints that she might learn more about the master if she agrees to visit a certain ‘foreigner’. Realising that her sorrows must have made her easy prey for some devilish forces, Margarita nevertheless accepts a box of mysterious crème, which turns her into a stunning witch. A broom is on hand for Margarita to leave her former life behind and fly away. On her way she spots the Writers’ Council and trashes it.
Caravaggio: ‘Judith and Olofernes’, Wikimedia Commons
Alfred Kubin ‘Black Mass’, Wikimedia Commons
When Margarita arrives at her meeting with Woland she learns that she is to host a satanic rout. There among murderers, adulterers and villains of all kinds she spots a dishevelled woman, Frieda, who is forever tormented by the agonising memory of having killed her baby. Later on, when Margarita is offered a reward for her endurance at the Ball, despite herself, she utters a wish for Frieda’s unbearable suffering to be ended, feeling that Frieda’s grief is even greater than her own.
Woland, deeply moved by such display of selflessness and compassion, grants Margarita her deepest wish. He brings back her master and produces an unscathed but, in his view, unfinished manuscript of the master’s book. The master, broken by everything that has befallen him, is longing only for peace and serenity. He is craving to escape his memories in Margarita’s arms. Woland grants this wish too. He raises a glass of poisoned Falernian wine to the master’s book and sends the master and Margarita to a place of ethereal calm.
Edvard Munch: ‘Death and Life’, Wikimedia Commons
Mikhail Vrubel: ‘The Flight of Faust and Mephisto’, Wikimedia Commons
In the faint rays of moonlight, Ivan is observing the master release his hero Pilate from the curse of his irreversible and cowardly mistake.
Convinced by Yeshua that their fateful encounter had been a mirage, Pilate sets off along a path of moonlight to continue the all-important conversation with his prisoner which they started so many moons ago.
Lulled by Margarita’s promise that ‘everything will be as it should be’, Ivan is watching the master and Margarita also melt away into the moonlight which gradually floods everything in its path.
Michail Vrubel: ‘Seraphim’, Wikimedia Commons
Information About The Characters
The number of characters is reduced compared to the novel.
Characters in Act I:
- Berlioz – baritone
- Ivan – tenor
- Woland – deep bass
- Cat – baritone
- The Master – tenor
- Margarita – mezzo soprano (ranging from a low A-flat to a high C (Ab3 to C6))
Big Cat, Orson, San Diego Zoo, latimes.com
Tivadar Kosztka Csontvary: ‘Secret of the Old Fisherman’, hungarytoday.hu
Characters featured in Act II:
- Pontius Pilate – bass
- Yeshua – countertenor or tenor
- Caiaphas – deep bass
- Aphranius – tenor
- Judas – tenor
- Niza – soprano
Francisco Goya: ‘Maja dressed’, Wikimedia Commons
Young Dzhugashvili, Wikimedia Commons
Additional characters featured in Act III:
- Head Critic – tenor
Francisco de Goya y Lucientes: ‘A Pilgrimage to San Isidro’, Wikimedia Commons
There are episodic solo responses and smaller parts for the following characters which can be covered by the choristers:
- Centurion
- Writers
- Waiters
- Janitors
- Levi Matvei
- Frieda
- Replies from the crowd
Choir parts are divided into two, three and four subgroups. The male choir is divided into two separate choir groups.
The preferred number of choristers is between 25 and 40.
Five singers are required, with each singer performing more than one part. These are:
- One wide ranging female voice to sing the parts of Margarita and Nisa
- Two high male voices: one sings the parts of the Master and Yeshua; and the other sings the parts of Ivan, Aphranius, Judas and Head Critic
- Two low male voices (low bass and bass/baritone): the singer with a low bass plays the roles of Woland and Caiaphas; and the bass/baritone performs the roles of Berlioz, Cat and Pontius Pilate
- Singing more than one role and the resulting character transformation will add additional interest to participation in the project. It will also add some edge and “fluidity” to drama itself, adding theatrical “masqueradery” to the ancient act, just about visible, as perhaps Bulgakov/Woland wished it to be
All vocal parts, including solos and choral arrangements, have a scarcity of dynamic indications. It is expected that vocalists will create/build the dynamics of each line required to express the story. The need to dramatize each line is prevalent throughout the performance.
If the low bass voice is unavailable, alternative notes in a lower register will be offered
Instrumentation Requirements
The opera requires a minimum of about 65-75 musicians mostly across a double orchestra
Flute piccolo
Two flutes: one is exchangeable to an alto flute
Two oboes
English horn
Two clarinets: one is exchangeable to a bass clarinet
Two bassoons: one is exchangeable to a contra bassoon
Two horns
Four trumpets (or two trumpets with a pre-recorded track)
Two trombones
Tuba
Some high-pitched trumpet parts may be performed by piccolo trumpets if required.
Four percussionists are required:
Five timpani (32”, 29”,26”,23”,20”) with the designated musician
Snare drum with the designated musician
Bass drum
Tambourine (ad lib),
Large soft deep gong,
Tam-tam (ad lib)
Cymbals (both suspended and crash)
Wood block (ad lib)
Tubular bells (ad lib)
The idiophone part sounds as written and can be played using a vibraphone with a pedal or a wide-ranging marimba. A wide-ranging glockenspiel (3.5 octaves) or a celesta, both with some adjustments in the parts’ low range may be suitable. The best solution would be hand bells played by a pianist on an electronic keyboard.
A pianist is required to play a harpsichord (used only in the last act) which could be replaced by the electronic keyboard using the harpsichord sound.
A harp plays a very important role in the opera.
The string quintet needs a minimum of 9 first violins (preferably 12) and corresponding numbers in other string groups.
A minimum of 3 (4) double basses is also required
Each group will be divided into 2 or 3 subgroups.
The score contains several solos designated to the leaders of the 1st and 2nd violin sections, and to the viola and violoncello sections.
Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld: ‘Battle of Jericho’, Wikimedia Commons
Jan Miense Molenaer: ‘Family Making Music’, Wikimedia Commons
Additional Information for Singers and Instrumentalists
You will find many examples of rhythmical asymmetry, where the accent in the melodic line will not coincide with the metrical structure.
There is no need to count every semiquaver in such a peculiar, syncopated or irregular rhythmic entry. These rhythmical asymmetries should be treated as deviations from the “norm” due to “over-expression”, and as “expressive irregularities”.
Find the nearest regular rhythmic sequence and “distort” it according to the effect needed. For example, criss-cross rhythms, triplets/tuplets etc., which appear on the offbeat are meant to give the impression of an “uncontrolled outburst of emotion”, or an “over-excitement”. The passage/tuplet therefore starts “impatiently”, earlier than anticipated. Occasionally it starts right after the beat – “too late” – as if the person needs extra thinking time in the dialogue or “cannot cope” with the pace at which the situation is changing.
Occasionally one can find in the score cross/irregular rhythms with accents “cutting“ across the metric structure. This should convey the character as being “perplexed” or as having a lack of awareness of their situation.
Some places contain an “exotic” structure, such as a triplet inside a triplet. As a result, the notes’ values will lose their regular proportion of 1 to 2 to 4 etc., like in the spoken metrics. Another example: treatment of the quaver + triplet quavers + quaver in a 2/4 time signature should be executed as a free flowing rhythmic motive in a quintuplet, where the first and last notes are only slightly more accented and longer than the middle ones. Furthermore, irregular divisions like septuplets etc. should bear phrasal weight/length differences despite being visually equal.
Some irregular entries are meant to produce a discordant, cacophonous effect.
Occasionally (for instance when the wood instruments are playing in the high range during the first act) the performers are invited to improvise the rhythm along the given rhythmic figures in order to achieve the effect of “random noises”.
Trills normally start from the principal notes (if not marked otherwise) and do not need a codetta. All the required alterations are shown in the score.
A tremolo with one or two horizontal lines divides the value respectively by two and four. A tremolo with three horizontal lines in the strings section requires repetitions to be played as fast as possible and with the use of flutter tongue for the wind instruments.
The arpeggio in the harp and harpsichord parts are normally directed upwards, with the bass on the beat, if not specifically marked otherwise.
The intonation is occasionally designed to be imprecise to convey elements of emotionally charged speech. That especially concerns places where the choir plays the role of a crowd. “Shouting”, “moaning”, and “threatening” effects in these places are more important than the clean chords. Furthermore, the instrumental parts as well as the choral parts are rather virtuosic. Often the “fast sliding”, “crush”, “tiratas”, and “random shouts” effects are more important than the cleanliness of the scales and chords. However, despite the above, we are not insisting on the passages being purposefully unclear.
The instrumentalists are invited to choose to play détaché in quick passages over legato markings if possible.
Instruments are often prescribed to use very high or low ranges, where they sound rather stressed and outside of their comfort zone. This is intentional and is designed to additionally charge the texture with an extra expressive effect.
Occasionally, for singers struggling in the low tessiture, we suggest using higher notes.
The ensemble in the double orchestra may cause some difficulties in equalizing the harmony (especially when instruments are playing in the chorus). However, normally they serve to cause different effects in the overall texture.
Some instruments are attached to specific characters (harp – Yeshua, solo violin – The Master, alto flute – Margarita etc.).
The opera, whose genre we articulate as “romantic fantasia burlesque” is in reverence to the music of the 20th century, with all its polymorphous stylistics. Jazz, however, is seen as a focal point for an abundance of episodes. Therefore, the ability to sing and play in a jazzy manner (especially for brass instruments where the performers are invited to present their instruments to be as “light” and as “fluid” as possible) would be welcome, as well as the frequent use of the portamento effect. Glissando is also a tool we use frequently to convey lively, playful, mischievous, and arrogant dialogue. It usually affects one (top) line if not marked otherwise.
The metronomes are provided ONLY for general orientation, and it is up to the conductor to choose the right tempi.
Edvard Munch: ‘The Scream’, Wikimedia Commons
Commentary
It is with great interest that I listened to the online version of Michael Schreider's latest opera "The Master and Margarita". It takes huge courage to take on such an emblematic novel by Michail Boulgakov. The result is definitely up to the challenge. Olga Malisova gives a remarkable libretto, taken on with intelligence and finesse. Michel Schreider's music is intense and holds the audience breathless from the first note on. The composer walks on an expressionist path that reminds us of Krenek, Berg or Schoenberg. The sound is impressive, the vocal parts are very well developed and the musical texture lives intensely in the scenes. It will be an enormous pleasure to see this work on stage!
Michael Schreider is a British composer and pianist of Russian descent. He studied at the Moscow Conservatoire Academic College and St Petersburg Conservatoire under Professors Boris Shatskes, Galina Fedorova (piano), Vladimir Brumberg, Konstantin Batashov (composition), Tatiana Bershadskaya and Valeria Bazarnova (musicology) . He has taught at the Moscow Pedagogical University, Kent College (Tunbridge Wells), The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (Cardiff) and at the London College of Music and Media. He currently teaches at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama (London).
Contact via email or the below contact form:
- Michael.A.Schreider@gmail.com
Master and Margarita: The Opera © Michael Schreider