| The Story of a Real Man | |
| Composer: | Sergei Prokofiev |
| Image Upright: | 0.8 |
| Native Name: | Russian: Повесть о настоящем человеке (Povest' o nastoyashchem cheloveke) |
| Librettist: |
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| Language: | Russian |
| Based On: | Novel by Boris Polevoy |
| Premiere Location: | Kirov Theatre, Leningrad |
The Story of a Real Man (Russian: Повесть о настоящем человеке|translit=Povest' o nastoyashchem cheloveke|link=no) is an opera in four acts by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, his opus 117.[1] It was written from 1947 to 1948,[2] and was his last opera.
The libretto, by the composer and his wife Mira Mendelson, is based on the eponymous novel by Boris Polevoy; this in turn was based on the story of pilot Aleksey Maresyev. The opera received its premiere on 3 December 1948 at the Kirov Theatre in Leningrad. The audience was made up of Soviet cultural officials who gave the work a poor reception. This was a great disappointment to the composer who had intended the opera to rehabilitate his reputation with the Communist authorities after he had been accused of "formalism" earlier in the year. As a result, performances of The Story of a Real Man were forbidden to the general public until after Prokofiev's death. It received its public premiere on 7 October 1960 at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow.
| Aleksey Maresyev, pilot | Yevgeny Kibkalo | ||
| Andrei Dzhegtyarenko, pilot | bass | Georgi Pankov | |
| Klaudiya Michailovna, nurse | contralto | Kira Leonova | |
| Konstantin Kukushkin, pilot | tenor | Aleksei Maslennikov | |
| Grandfather Mihailov | tenor | Georgi Shulpin | |
| Olga, Aleksey's fiancée | soprano | Glafira Deomidova | |
| Commissar Semyon Vorobyev | baritone / bass | Arthur Eisen | |
| Sinocka | soprano | Maria Zvenzdina | |
| Varya | mezzo-soprano | Margarita Miglau | |
| Surgeon Vasilyevich | bass | Mark Reshetin | |
| Grandmother Vasilissa | contralto | Vera Smirnova | |
The story is set during the Second World War. Aleksey, a Soviet fighter pilot, is shot down in combat against the Germans and badly wounded. He is rescued and cared for by villagers from a collective farm before being transferred to a hospital, where both his legs are amputated. He is inspired by the thought of his girlfriend and the support of his fellow patients, one of whom tells him the story of a First World War ace who continued to fly after losing one of his legs. The opera ends with Aleksey taking to the air again in his new plane.