The “libretto” poetics in Maria Stepanova’s works

Abstract

   The article offers an interpretation of the genre designation “opera” in the “Supplement” to Maria Stepanova’s cycle “Kireevsky”. The name of the cycle refers to the collection of folk songs by P. Kireevsky. The poems contain many allusions (including rhythmic and intonation ones) to the popular song repertoire. However, in the “operas” the plots of musical works are played out, not their own musical speech, so we can speak of the “libretto” poetics. Based on the text “Aida”, the article reveals the priority of the word over the “music” of the verse. The lyrical subject ironically calls his own voice “fioritura” and “coloratura”, which indicates the complexity of the poetic language, playing out a certain classical pretext. Verdi’s opera, whose plot is based on an ancient legend, acts as the basis for mythologizing the modern situation in which a migrant saleswoman finds herself. The two poems, following the operas, contain the images of an oak, squirrel, falling acorns. They are filled with motifs of life and creativity, in contrast to the plots of the operas. These images incorporate both mythological semantics and historical and literary traditions. Stepanova’s task is to keep the fabric of culture, its threads and basis from falling apart. Metaphorically, her texts can be called “libretto” in the sense that they combine different cultural and stylistic “parts”, and the actual lyrical “I” is woven into the chorus of other “voices”.