The Nose-Three Artists Span Three Centuries

The great Russian author, Nikolai Gogol wrote HOC (The Nose) in the 19th century and the great Russian composer, Dmitri Shostakovich wrote the opera The Nose in the 20th century.  Finally in the 21st century the South African artist, William Kentridge framed this amazing piece in a production that premiered at the Metropolitan Opera this past week.  The Met's production is a breathtaking integration of literature, music and art that felt like it was written by three contemporaries who were sitting in one room rather than three men separated by two hundred years and thousands of miles.

If you know The Nose you'll know what a difficult plot this satirical short story would be to build into an operatic storyline.  If you know Shostakovich's music you'll know that its dissonant modernism is a far cry from the lyricism we associate with composers like Verdi and Puccini.  But William Kentridge has spent his career building live action stories that tie the use of jolting visual imagery to music and I wonder now how any other director could face the challenge of mounting The Nose better than Kentridge.  I knew very little about Kentridge but took advantage of an exhibition at MOMA "Five Themes" just prior to viewing the opera and the back-to-back experience was remarkable.  Kentridge's work has spanned South Africa's painful history of apartheid and reconciliation and Kentridge produces animated artwork that builds on successive layers of charcoal drawings that grow and dissolve as the film progresses. His work is also deeply personal and he includes two alter egos "Soho Eckstine" and "Felix Teitelbaum" in his films. What is truly unique about his work is the precise manner in which sound is "married" to the imagery.  It is very difficult for a non-art critic such as me to explain this to you, but I encourage you to look at the link if you are interested. 

Kentridge translated many of his themes and techniques to the Met stage, and after viewing his animations I knew he would be a perfect translator of the dynamic sounds of Shostakovich's opera and the alienation experienced by the unfortunate bureaucrat, Kovalyov, who wakes one day to find his nose missing.  Words and fantastic images are continually  flashed across the proscenium while Muscovites mingle with the giant Nose who shows up in the Kazan Cathedral, on the Nevsky Prospect, or at the Railway Station. Intimate scenes take place in small inset rooms cut out of the massive projection of words and images.  Happily for this blogger, the New York Times has compiled a wonderful audio slideshow which gives you "A Sense of the Nose"  Finally, I need to close this entry with comments on the wonderful orchestration and singing that went with this amazing visual exploration.  Ordinarily I spend most of my time describing the music at the Met, and I want to emphasize that the vocal and orchestral performances were every bit as wonderful as the sound and light show that dazzled this viewer.