Prokofiev fairytale opera on repeat

In 2005, director Laurent Pelly and conductor Stéphane Denève enchanted Dutch audiences with their vision of L'amour des trois oranges By Sergei Prokofiev. With its inventive sets, supremely musical direction, dazzling costumes and superb performances by soloists, DNO's Choir and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, this production by the Netherlands Opera met the most high expectations.

'Rarely seen such a successful synthesis of music, image and esprit on the opera stage,' wrote The Parool. Those who missed this hilarious opera then will get a second chance in March, this time with the Residentie Orkest in the pit and Tomás Netopil on the baton. The phenomenal Anna Shafajinskaya returns as the evil witch Fata Morgana.

When Sergei Prokofiev travelled to America for a concert tour in 1918, he carried a copy of The love of the three oranges, an adaptation by Vsevolod Meyerhold of Carlo Gozzi's play of the same name. During his long journey, Prokofiev became fascinated by the "mixture of fairy-tale elements with humour and satire", and began working on a synopsis for an opera.

The commedia dell'arte-inspired fairy tale tells of a king whose son is in danger of succumbing to melancholy. He is eventually saved by his love for one of three princesses who live in as many oranges. Prokofiev submits his idea to conductor Cleofante Campanini, who immediately arranges a commission with the Chicago Opera. The performance language will be French - Americans do not understand Russian and an English-language libretto was unthinkable at the time.

The contract is signed in January 1919, after which Prokofiev starts working feverishly. He hands in his opera neatly in time for its premiere in October, but it is postponed for three years because of Campanini's untimely death. Incidentally, Prokofiev does experience a culture shock, as the Americans turn out to be considerably more conservative than he was used to at home.

'In my own country, composers had already spent a century breaking new ground and challenging audiences with new problems. America, on the other hand, had no composers of its own and the whole emphasis was on performance more than with us.' Taking into account the tastes of American audiences, Prokofiev employs a simpler idiom than in his earlier opera The player.

Yet he does not entirely disavow his status as a radical 'Bolshevik', because in his quest for originality he ridicules various opera conventions. For instance, regular arias are absent and he breaks with the romantic-realist tradition by adding to the absurdist elements.

The cook is armed with a huge ladle and is sung to by a bass; the beloved princess from the third orange turns into a black rat and the prince almost marries a confidante of the magic dagger Fata Morgana, whose curse condemned him to his love of citrus fruits.

The action is constantly commented on and influenced by members of the chorus, who as "Lyrists", "Tragicians", "Comedians" and "Empty Heads" all have their own ideas about what makes a good opera. Yet Prokofiev manages to forge all this into a convincing musical whole, in which finely crafted lyricism, steely avant-gardism, madcap scherzo music and barbaric rhythm go hand in hand.

Its premiere in 1921 was a resounding success. No wonder, because the 'recognition tune' alone, a contrary march full of crooked notes, makes you leave the auditorium whistling. In short: go and see, go and hear!

De Nederlandse Opera: Sergei Prokofiev: L'amour des trois oranges, 1 to 21 March 2013, Muziektheater Amsterdam. Residentie Orkest, DNO Choir and soloists conducted by Tomás Netopil; directed by Laurent Pelly.