Misplaced Pages

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Story of a Real Man" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (December 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (December 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

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. It was written from 1947 to 1948, 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.

Roles

Synopsis

The story is set during the Second World War. Aleksey, a Soviet fighter pilot, is shot down in combat against the Germans and badly wounded. He is rescued and cared for by villagers from a collective farm before being transferred to a hospital, where both his legs are amputated. He is inspired by the thought of his girlfriend and the support of his fellow patients, one of whom tells him the story of a First World War ace who continued to fly after losing one of his legs. The opera ends with Aleksey taking to the air again in his new plane.

Recordings

• Yevgeny Kibkalo (as Aleksey), Glafira Deomidova (as Olga). Chorus and orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre, dir. Mark Ermler. Studio recording, 1961, Moscow, based on 1960 Bolshoi Theatre production; CHANDOS CHAN 10002 (2CD, with libretto in Cyrillic, and translations). The recording is abridged.

References

1. "Prokofiev Opera Opus 117". G. Schirmer. Retrieved 2009-01-04..
2. Nestyev, Israel V.; transl. Jonas, Florence (1961). Prokofiev at Google Books. Stanford University Press. pp. 402–404, 411, 512. ISBN 0-8047-0585-2.
3. Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Povesth o nastojascim celovjeke, 3 December 1948". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).
4. Recordings of The Story of a Real Man, operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
5. See Review by Rob Barnett

Further reading

• Holden, Amanda (Ed.), The New Penguin Opera Guide, New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. ISBN 0-14-029312-4

• Opera

• Operas by Sergei Prokofiev
• Russian-language operas
• Operas
• 1948 operas
• Aviation operas
• Operas based on novels
• Operas set in the 20th century
• Operas based on real people
• Cultural depictions of Russian people
• Cultural depictions of aviators
• Cultural depictions of soldiers
• Operas set in Russia