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| The Story of a Real Man | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Sergei Prokofiev | |
| Native title | Russian: Повесть о настоящем человеке (Povest' o nastoyashchem cheloveke) |
| Librettist |
|
| Language | Russian |
| Based on | Novel by Boris Polevoy |
| Premiere | 3 December 1948 Kirov Theatre, Leningrad |
The Story of a Real Man (Russian: Повесть о настоящем человеке, romanized: Povest' o nastoyashchem cheloveke) is an opera in four acts by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, his opus 117.[1] It was written from 1947 to 1948,[2] and was his last opera.
The libretto, by the composer and his wife Mira Mendelson, is based on the eponymous novel by Boris Polevoy; this in turn was based on the story of pilot Aleksey Maresyev. The opera received its premiere on 3 December 1948 at the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad. The audience was made up of Soviet cultural officials who gave the work a poor reception. This was a great disappointment to the composer who had intended the opera to rehabilitate his reputation with the Communist authorities after he had been accused of "formalism" earlier in the year. As a result, performances of The Story of a Real Man were forbidden to the general public until after Prokofiev's death. It received its public premiere on 7 October 1960 at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.
- ^ "Prokofiev Opera Opus 117". G. Schirmer. Retrieved 2009-01-04..
- ^ Nestyev, Israel V.; transl. Jonas, Florence (1961). Prokofiev at Google Books. Stanford University Press. pp. 402–404, 411, 512. ISBN 0-8047-0585-2.