Opera Scotland

War (and Peace) comes to Scotland!

Posted 2 Dec 2009

Prokofiev’s epic opera has its Scottish premiere on Friday January 22nd 2010 at the Theatre Royal, Glasgow. Further performances are given on Saturday 23rd in Glasgow and in Edinburgh on Thursday 28th and Saturday 30th January. This opera is not to be missed.

This is actually the premiere of the original version of Prokofiev’s opera, and based on Tolstoy’s monumental novel, spanning years and thousands of miles. It is a tale of the young Natasha, the men in her life and the epic conflict taking place on the world stage. The threat of Napoleon is never far away, and Russia’s fate hangs in the balance.

War and Peace is the most ambitious of Prokofiev’s operas, and he never saw it performed satisfactorily. The main period of composition was 1941-43, and he continued to revise it until his death in 1953. It was supremely topical, with Hitler repeating Napoleon’s attempt at a massive invasion. It is undoubtedly one of the great 20th century operas, covering a vast canvas with general success. It attained prominence when it was chosen as the first production to open the Sydney opera house. English National Opera gave it a successful UK stage premiere in 1972 and took that staging to the New York Met.