Studying of the Archive Literary Materials as the Way of Understanding the Creative Method of the Composer (On the Example of the Libretto Opera "Nestan Daredgan" by M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov)
To master the methodology of scientific work in the system of professional music education it is important to know the principles of the approach to studying written materials. The author of the article turns to the text of the libretto of the opera “Nestan Daredgan” by M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov. It is preserved in the composer’ archive. The author analyses it comparing to the poem by Sh. Rustaveli “The Knight in the Panther’s Skin” in the Russian translation. Attention is paid to the process of creating the future piece of music beginning with variants of libretto. Written manuscripts of parts of texts from the archive funds of Moscow (Russian national Museum of music) and St. Petersburg’s (The National Library of Russia) are considered. The author refers to the problem of the history of introducing the poem to the Russian society. The content of the libretto is studied, whose word by word translation was made by Vano Machabely (1854-1928), a well-known Georgian literary worker and historian, M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov’s friend. Thouroughly thougt over literary basis of the opera is emphasized. The aim of the composer to reveal the central topic of the opera connected with the images of the two main characters -Tariel and Nestan Daredgan - and his rejection of the other plot lines, is pointed out in the article. Compositional features of the libretto are characterized. Supposed scenography and musical episodes are presented. The context of the article consists of some facts about the composer’s creation, memoirs of the contemporaries and epistolary.