The Fiery Angel

Libretto by the composer after the novel by Valery Bryusov (R,E,F,G,I)

Major roles: dramS,Bar; minor roles: 2M,3T,Bar,B;
small roles: M,T,3B; chorus;
3(II,III=picc).2.corA.2.bcl.3(III=dbn)-4.3.3.1-timp.perc:BD/cyms/t.mil/tam-t/cast/tamb/tgl/bell(off stage)-2harp-strings

Germany, mainly Cologne, 16th century

Ruprecht, a 16th century mercenary, takes lodgings at an inn but is disturbed by a young woman in the next room. Renata tells how in her childhood she loved and was nurtured by a fiery angel called Madiel. Reaching the age of 16, she yearned for sexual as well as spiritual union but he then vanished for ever. In adulthood she thought she had found him again in the shape of Count Heinrich, but after a year of love he too vanished. Now she is tormented by demons. Ruprecht is drawn to Renata and, although she spurns his advances, he determines to help her. In Cologne, the pair attempt to conjure up the spirit of Heinrich with black magic learnt from occult books. Ruprecht seeks help from the magician Agrippa, who tells him the only true magic comes from the study of science. Heinrich appears in Cologne, and spurns Rentata for seducing him. Longing for vengeance, Renata sends Ruprecht to challenge him to a duel. But when she glimpses Heinrich she believes again that he is the fiery angel and tells Ruprecht not to harm him. In the ensuing duel Ruprecht lets himself be wounded and Renata, distraught, acknowledges her growing love. But when he recovers, she rejects him as an agent of the Devil and disappears. This quarrel has been witnessed by Faust and Mephistopheles, who invite Ruprecht to join them. Renata has fled to a nunnery to seek atonement. The novices become possessed by diabolic forces and an Inquisitor performs an exorcism. Renata pleads innocence but a frenzy mounts in the nuns. Ruprecht, Faust and Mephistopheles enter the nunnery unseen and watch the growing madness. Renata and the nuns attack the the Inquisitor and he condemns her to be burned at the stake.

The Fiery Angel, which occupied Prokofieff during the 1920s, combines aspects of The Gambler and The Love for Three Oranges, most noticeably the themes of obsession and magic respectively, but it inhabits a predominantly darker world, infused with an eroticism that hints at Scriabin. This blackness, unusual for Prokofieff, was partly the result of his interest in the cabalistic sciences, a fascination shared with many members of the Russian symbolist movement, including its central figure Valery Bryusov, author of the novel upon which The Fiery Angel was based. Throughout Prokofieff's stagework it is the psychological ambiguity of Renata, either a pure innocent or a demonic seductress, that drives the drama. Her true nature remains purposely unresolved even in the final convent scene when she is condemned to be burnt at the stake for concourse with the Devil. The role of Renata is vocally and theatrically demanding, and has attracted leading dramatic sopranos including in recent years Galina Gorchakova. Prokofieff's orchestral writing in The Fiery Angel is the most advanced for any of his operas. The composer lavished detailed attention on realising in colouristic terms the feverish intensity of the drama, whether hysterical, passionate or visionary.

Dramatic