Ján Cikker and his Coriolanus
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| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | This paper focuses on the relationship between Shakespeare´s Coriolanus (1607/1609) and its libretto adaptation by Slovak composer Ján Cikker (1911-1989). Ján Cikker, who is the author of both music and the libretto, started composing the opera in 1970 and finished it in 1972. The opera premiered on April 4, 1974 in the Prague National Theatre. The premiere in Mannheim, Germany followed shortly after. Coriolanus was also staged in Weimar, Germany in 1977. However, the opera had to wait until 2011, when it was finally performed in its country of origin Slovakia by the State Opera in Banská Bystrica. The reason for the long absence of Slovak premiere might be political – Cikker started composing his work under the influence of the events of August 1968. Coriolanus, having strong political and appellative quality, matches Cikker´s idea for contemporary opera and represents an opportunity to create an adaptation of Shakespeare´s play that does not need much rewriting. One could say that Cikker respects the original play and does not change its plot. On the other hand, it is only logical that there has to be some modifications. The author faces all the problems one encounters when adapting drama for opera – Cikker needs to reduce the number of characters, compose choir numbers, simplify the plot and shorten the overall play. The paper describes all these changes in comparison with Shakespeare´s original work. These theoretical findings are further developed with the help of a fairly new staging of the opera in 2011. Is it possible to transmit Shakespeare´s historical urgency by opera? And are we able to stage an opera reflecting August 1968 after 2010? The paper will try to answer those questions. |
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