Binicki: At Dawn - Serbian opera

[mikehopf]

Stanislav Binicki's opera "At Dawn" is available on  youtube along with the Overture Evinocio. It was the first Serbian national opera and the story is probably fairly relevant to what's going on in Europe today.

At Dawn (Serbian: Na uranku), was written by Binički and premiered in 1903. Music critics John Warrack and Ewan West describe the opera as a pioneering work and praise Binički's ingenious use of contrasting musical styles to depict the struggle between Serbs and Turks.

The opera is written in an Italian verisimo style, much like Mascagni, and contains some glorious music  contrasting Turkish orientalism with Christian religiosity.

Strongly recommended to opera lovers... though the brief overture is nothing to write home about.

[Alan Howe]

Here's the YouTube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt5UhDHIqYY

Again, could I repeat my request to include links in posts? Thanks!

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks, Mike. This is a very atmospheric piece. Binički, who I see studied with Rheinberger, evokes the dawn setting very successfully and obviously knew his Tosca. Melodically he's no slouch, and his orchestration is sumptuous but appropriate to the material. Personally, I was reminded more of Massenet's verismo efforts (La Navarraise or Thérèse) than of Mascagni, but that's quibbling, really. The piece is well sung and the YouTube transfer of the fifty year old recording is clear. I'm not generally a fan of slavic language operas, but I thought this a thoroughly enjoyable 50 minute listen.