My Age, My Wild Beast

With his opera ”The Dead Souls” (based on Gogol) and the ballets ”Anna Karenina” (based on Tolstoy), ”The Seagull” and ”Woman with a Little Dog” (both based on Chekov), Shchedrin has brought classic works of Russian literature onto the musical theatre stage. This song cycle in thirteen parts, which is almost a miniature oratorio, is a work conceived on a smaller scale. The words describe various stages in the life and death of the poet, represented by the tenor voice with piano, while the words spoken by the narrator – personified as Anna Achmatova – and also accompanied by the piano can be understood as a sort of commentary in a musical dialogue. The composer has succeeded in bringing these disparate elements together and unifying them in music that is deeply expressive.