Dmitri Hvorostovsky performs 'Na vozdushnom okeane from Rubinstein's The Demon with Phoenix Opera Orchestra and Chorus under the baton of Maestro John Massaro, during Hvorostovsky's Gala concert at Phoenix's Orpheum Theatre Tuesday, January 10, 2012.

Anton Rubinstein is remembered today for his piano piece known as 'Melody in F', but he was also a sensational pianist and prodigious opera composer. The Demon, the best known of his nearly twenty (20) operas, is about a fallen angel, a Byronic figure who also resembles those Wagnerian heroes in need of a woman's redemptive love. Yet his satanic nature rules out redemption as he pursues the maiden Tamara for erotic purposes. In this aria he urges her to weep over the body of her fiance' (whose death he had in fact caused) promising, in a sweeping seductive phrase, to lead her to distant galaxies where she will be mistress of the world.

On the oceans of the air,
Without rudder, without sail,
The harmonious host of heavenly bodies
Glides silently through the mist,
Across the sky's boundless meadows,
Elusive flocks of wispy clouds move,
Leaving no trace.

The moment of parting and reunion
Bring to them neither joy nor sadness,
They have no desires for the future,
No regrets for the past.

When unbearable misfortune assails you,
Think of them; be as they are,
Indifferent to this Earth and untroubled!

© 2012 Phoenix Opera. All Rights Reserved.

Video courtesy of Javi Gonzalez - www.javiphotography.com

свернуть