Watanabe - Revision history

Tony at 19:37, 5 March 2023

2023-03-05T19:37:58Z

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	In April 1891 [[Karl Valts]] approached Tchaikovsky with the idea for an opera-ballet on the subject of the Japanese ~~fairytale~~ '''''Watanabe''''' (Ватанабе) ([[ČW]] 466) <ref name="note1"/>. [[Valts]] prepared the scenario and also completed the libretto <ref name="note2"/>. Tchaikovsky appeared enthusiastic about the idea, albeit with some important reservations, as he wrote in June 1891:		In April 1891, [[Karl Valts]] approached Tchaikovsky with the idea for an opera-ballet on the subject of the Japanese fairy tale '''''Watanabe''''' (Ватанабе) ([[ČW]] 466) <ref name="note1"/>. [[Valts]] prepared the scenario and also completed the libretto <ref name="note2"/>. Tchaikovsky appeared enthusiastic about the idea, albeit with some important reservations, as he wrote in June 1891:

	{{quote\|I have read through ''Watanabe'' with the most intense delight. It is an enchanting subject, extremely poetic and at the same time full of effects. It is with the greatest pleasure that I am willing to write the music for it, but on the following conditions: 1) ''Watanabe'' must be a ''ballet-féerie'' and not an ''opera-ballet''. I simply cannot accept or understand that indefinite and unappealing artistic genre which goes by the name of ''opera-ballet''. It must be one thing or the other: either my characters will ''sing'', or they will ''mime''. To have them do both at the same time is quite inconceivable for me. Now as an opera, ''Watanabe'' is an unsuitable subject for me, since I am prepared to allow the fantastic element in opera only insofar as it does not prevent the action from being carried by real, ordinary people, with their simple human passions and feelings. But there is just no way I can have a ''Sun Prince'' singing. For it is only people who can sing—and, if you wish, also angels and demons who intervene in human affairs on an equal footing with people. Besides, ''Watanabe'', ''Ga-tani'', and ''Nao-Shik'' are beings who in my view lie outside the real world, and I really can see no other way of portraying them truthfully other than in a ''symphonic'' manner. That is why I regard ''Watanabe'' as an excellent ''ballet'' subject, and for this uncommonly well-chosen and outlined subject I am willing to write music that shall be as good as I can make it. <ref name="note3"/>.}}		{{quote\|I have read through ''Watanabe'' with the most intense delight. It is an enchanting subject, extremely poetic and at the same time full of effects. It is with the greatest pleasure that I am willing to write the music for it, but on the following conditions: 1) ''Watanabe'' must be a ''ballet-féerie'' and not an ''opera-ballet''. I simply cannot accept or understand that indefinite and unappealing artistic genre which goes by the name of ''opera-ballet''. It must be one thing or the other: either my characters will ''sing'', or they will ''mime''. To have them do both at the same time is quite inconceivable for me. Now as an opera, ''Watanabe'' is an unsuitable subject for me, since I am prepared to allow the fantastic element in opera only insofar as it does not prevent the action from being carried by real, ordinary people, with their simple human passions and feelings. But there is just no way I can have a ''Sun Prince'' singing. For it is only people who can sing—and, if you wish, also angels and demons who intervene in human affairs on an equal footing with people. Besides, ''Watanabe'', ''Ga-tani'', and ''Nao-Shik'' are beings who in my view lie outside the real world, and I really can see no other way of portraying them truthfully other than in a ''symphonic'' manner. That is why I regard ''Watanabe'' as an excellent ''ballet'' subject, and for this uncommonly well-chosen and outlined subject I am willing to write music that shall be as good as I can make it. <ref name="note3"/>.}}

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In April 1891 [[Karl Valts]] approached Tchaikovsky with the idea for an opera-ballet on the subject of the Japanese fairytale '''''Watanabe''''' (Ватанабе) ([[ČW]] 466) <ref name="note1"/>. [[Valts]] prepared the scenario and also completed the libretto <ref name="note2"/>. Tchaikovsky appeared enthusiastic about the idea, albeit with some important reservations, as he wrote in June 1891:

{{quote|I have read through ''Watanabe'' with the most intense delight. It is an enchanting subject, extremely poetic and at the same time full of effects. It is with the greatest pleasure that I am willing to write the music for it, but on the following conditions: 1) ''Watanabe'' must be a ''ballet-féerie'' and not an ''opera-ballet''. I simply cannot accept or understand that indefinite and unappealing artistic genre which goes by the name of ''opera-ballet''. It must be one thing or the other: either my characters will ''sing'', or they will ''mime''. To have them do both at the same time is quite inconceivable for me. Now as an opera, ''Watanabe'' is an unsuitable subject for me, since I am prepared to allow the fantastic element in opera only insofar as it does not prevent the action from being carried by real, ordinary people, with their simple human passions and feelings. But there is just no way I can have a ''Sun Prince'' singing. For it is only people who can sing—and, if you wish, also angels and demons who intervene in human affairs on an equal footing with people. Besides, ''Watanabe'', ''Ga-tani'', and ''Nao-Shik'' are beings who in my view lie outside the real world, and I really can see no other way of portraying them truthfully other than in a ''symphonic'' manner. That is why I regard ''Watanabe'' as an excellent ''ballet'' subject, and for this uncommonly well-chosen and outlined subject I am willing to write music that shall be as good as I can make it. <ref name="note3"/>.}}

However, because of Tchaikovsky's work on ''[[The Nutcracker]]'' and ''[[Iolanta]]'', he was unable to start work on ''Watanabe'' right away, and the project was not ultimately realised.

==Notes and References==
<references>
<ref name="note1">Entitled "Vatanabe" in [[ČW]]; not included in [[TH]].</ref>
<ref name="note2">A manuscript copy of [[Valts]]'s scenario is preserved in the [[Klin]] House-Museum Archive.</ref>
<ref name="note3">[[Letter 4415]] to [[Karl Valts]], 18/30 June or 19 June/1 July 1891.</ref>
</references>
[[Category:Projected Works]]
[[Category:Ballets]]
[[Category:Operas]]