The Complex Legacy of Alexander Nevsky
An orchestra plays along with a scene from the film Alexander Nevsky.
On Saturday, March 22, the UMS Choral Union and the Ann Arbor Symphony will perform Alexander Nevsky. Sergei Prokofiev’s score to the film, which was transcribed as a cantata several years after the film’s premiere, is considered a choral masterpiece, yet one that is rarely performed — and that the UMS Choral Union has performed only three times in UMS’s history: in 1946, with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy; in 1973 with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic and a young Neeme Järvi on the podium; and in 1991 with the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Kurt Masur.
This year’s presentation, however, is different in that it presents the music alongside the original film that it was written for: Sergei Eisenstein’s 1938 film, which was commissioned by Joseph Stalin to promote Soviet ideals and nationalism in the face of Nazi Germany’s territorial expansion.
Today we can view the film with a critical eye, more fully understanding the propaganda inherent in its creation while also appreciating it as a cinematic and musical masterpiece. Alexander Nevsky stands as a testament to the complex relationship between art and power. It’s a stark reminder of how history can be manipulated for political purposes, and how even under the most repressive regimes, artists can find ways to express their creativity.
Prince Alexander Nevsky marshals his troops in a scene from the film Alexander Nevsky.
Prior to Nevsky, Eisenstein had only worked in silent film, and he enlisted Sergei Prokofiev to collaborate on the project — and it was a true collaboration in that Prokofiev didn’t just write music for an already-finished film but in some cases wrote the music to which Eisenstein edited the visual picture.
Both men, having faced professional challenges and living under the constant threat of state reprisal, found themselves navigating a perilous tightrope — in fact, Stalin assigned an advisor to oversee Eisenstein’s progress on the film. They managed to balance Stalin’s propaganda demands with moments of breathtaking artistic brilliance. Like many artistic works from a different era, the film can be painful to watch nearly 90 years after its release, and it’s important to acknowledge the context in which it was created.
The historical figure Alexander Nevsky was a great military genius who defended the Russian Orthodox Church in the 13th century, when it was under attack from the Catholics and Teutonic armies in the west and the Mongols in the east. More than seven centuries later, the film mixes historical and contemporaneous religious and political symbols, including Nazi swastikas.
At the time of its creation, Alexander Nevsky was lauded for its original cinematography that culminates in a 30-minute “Battle on the Ice” (a scene that is remarkable both for the technological capabilities of the time and the fact that it was shot outdoors during a hot Moscow summer, requiring extraordinary cinematic efforts to make it seem authentic).
John Goberman, a former cellist with the American Symphony Orchestra, remembers performing the cantata with Leopold Stokowski in 1968 at Carnegie Hall and being completely taken with the music. He subsequently became the founding producer of Live from Lincoln Center and the person who started the “film with live orchestra” concerts in 1987 with this particular film.
Goberman observed, “There was a lot of really good music written for film, and one of the issues is you can’t really understand the music without seeing the film, so to do them together makes the music work in a way that it couldn’t without the film, and to a certain extent, the film without the music.
“It was made to be a popular film, not an esoteric art film, and that’s why it’s so successful with an audience, because they really get into it. There’s battles between the good guys and the bad guys, sort of a Western of its time, and of course great music that is on equal footing with the film itself.”
We hope you can join us on Saturday, March 22 for Alexander Nevsky with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and the UMS Choral Union.
The film is unrated but contains a scene where a child is thrown into a fire, and imagery of Nazi swastikas.
There is a pre-concert Society of Disobedient Listeners talk with music writer Doyle Armbrust and DePaul University associate professor of screenwriting Scott Myers at 6:15 pm in the Modern Languages Building.
Additionally, Michigan State University musicologist Kevin Bartig will offer a public talk about Alexander Nevsky on Wednesday, March 26 at 12 noon in Weiser Hall.
