Characteristics of Genre in the «Russian Operas» by Martin-I-Soler

Abstract

The article deals with the Opera Buffa by the Spanish composer V. Martin-I-Soler created in the late 1780s-early1790s in St. Petersburg on the Catherine II’s Russian language libretto. These works were created under particular circumstances, and for their consideration we used a historical, contextual and interdisciplinary research methods. The main task of the work is to identify and characterize the genre and stylistic features of the selected works. We are talking about the signs of burlesque and travesty both in the text of the libretto and in music, as well as the modification of the pastoral genre. The citations of Russian folk songs bring to the Opera a kind of national accent and emphasize its folkloric style. Attention is also paid to the interaction of the principles of the Opera buffa and the French comic Opera, which resulted in a mixed type of Opera buffa with conversational dialogues.

For the first time in the framework of Russian musicology, the so-called «Russian operas» by V.  Martin-I-Soler became the subject for a comprehensive analysis that reveals their aesthetic, stylistic and genre orientation, and their special position in the history of Western and Russian music.

Keywords: Opera buffa, comic opera, XVIII century,Enlightenment, Catherine II, Martin y Soler, burlesque, pastoral.