National Traditions and Universal Meanings in Vladimir Kobekin’s Opera The Diary of a Madman Based on Lu Xun’s Short Story

<jats:p>The article focuses on the only example of a Russian opera based on a work of Chinese literature to this day, The Diary of a Madman (1978) by V. A. Kobekin. It’s based on the composer’s libretto on the short story of the same name by the classic Chinese prose writer Lu Xun. The relevance of the research in the era of active development of contacts between Russia and China is obvious. The very appeal to Kobekin’s opera work, which is in demand on the modern stage, is also relevant. The article is the first work devoted to the opera The Diary of a Madman, which explains its scientific novelty. An analysis of the texts of Lu Xun’s story and Kobekin’s libretto allows us to conclude that the composer purposefully eliminates the national flavor of the Chinese writer’s prose and emphasizes universal meanings related to global problems of man and society. By contrasting the two types of speech of the hero, Kobekin follows the writer’s plan, but takes it to a non-national level. Orchestral episodes play an important role in the opera, acting as expressions of ‘inner action’. The author of the article identifies two main figurative and intonational layers of the opera: emotionally intense, expressing the expression of the inner world of the hero (its main means are sharp intervals and impulsive complex rhythms), and monotonous and rude, expressing the soullessness of the outer world (it is based on ‘hammering’ ostinato repetitions of one or two nearby sounds). As a result of the interaction of the two main layers, a third layer is born in the finale — a layer of truth and hope that goes back to the traditions of ancient sacred music. This is how the Chinese and the European merge together and lead the listener and the viewer to universal high truths.</jats:p>