Opera, "Cancer Ward" : some remarks on Scenes 6 and 7

Sixth and Seventh scene from the opera, "Cancer Ward."

I am currently working on the seventh scene, which corresponds to the sixth chapter of the book, "History of an Analysis," the meeting between Dontsova and Kostoglotov. When I first began to sketch out a plot, it was this scene, which I regarded as my first "objective" to reach, when I began to write the music. I had thought of this scene as somehow concluding the first portion of the opera, in plot terms. Having studied script writing for movie and television, the corresponding place it would take is the rising action, where characters in a script begin to encounter the obstacles and difficulties,that lead to the climax, or, halfway point, (in a film or television script). It is gratifying to finally have reached this first objective. It is not difficult to believe, that, the envisionment of a work, is different than the work as it becomes experienced in actual finished form. Theory, is different than practise. How we imagine something is different than how we perceive the reality. From the beginning, I have imagined the length of the opera as three hours, and, I imagined the sixth scene as occurring around the 40-minute mark of the opera. The way the opera stands now, this scene actually now occurs at the 1 hour and 15 minute mark. The music bed for this scene runs well past 14 minutes. This running time will invariably increase, when the singing parts are added, running past the one and a half hour mark -- the halfway mark to a three hour opera. This is a very large discrepancy, between the way the opera libretto was imagined, and, the way that the score is being manifested, in practise. (I should add, that in American Films, the standard script is for two hours of film. So the 40-minute plot point in a two hour film, would correspond to a one hour mark in a three hour opera, if one allows similarity between the film script, and opera libretto. This is by no means a convention-- I simply employ the structure of the written standard film script as one means to help analyze and evaluate my libretto writing)

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Counting the Overture and Chorus as the first scene, one and a half hours divided by seven scenes, roughly averages to just about 13 minutes per scene -- a startling change from the experience of my first two operas, where scenes of seven to eight minutes, were considered, "long." Because I identified what is my seventh scene as an objective, I first approached the scene before it, with some impatience. This is the scene which is the 4th chapter in the novel, and is titled in the book, as, "The Patients' Worries." It is my sixth scene, and I title it as, "First Rounds." The scene is about as exciting as a doctor examining a patient. And, as a matter of fact, the scene has Dr. Dontsova examining not one, but six patients on the ward. I included it in my opera, because it sets up the meeting between Dr. Dontsova and Oleg Kostoglotov, a scene which I considered pivotal, from a plot standpoint. One of the pleasures of being intimately involved with creating an opera from Solzhenitsyn's, "Cancer Ward," is the ability to make discoveries, which might otherwise have gone by unnoticed. The stubborness of Oleg Kostoglotov, and the outburst of Pavel Rusanov, both might be considered as being the "heart" of this scene -- if one bothered to think of this scene as having one. But it is Dr. Dontsova's meeting and encounter with Azovkin which, for me, as the composer of this scene in an opera, which provides this scene with a remarkable human quality of sadness, and irony. (I should be careful to say, that I am commenting on how I interpet this scene musically as a composer, and, not, as an expert of Literature -- Russian, or otherwise!). Solzhenitsyn writes how Dr. Dontsova's mood of frustration and irritation carries over, from both Rusanov and Kostoglotov. Solzhenitsyn writes of Dontova: "Dontsova, weary of the argument (with Rusanov), hoped to be cheered up at the next bed, (Kostoglotov). And, Solzhenitsyn writes of Dontsova, after her unexpected clash with Kostoglotov, "She was now looking at Azovkin. She had not yet been able to switch the annoyance from her face or voice." This "carry over" of emotions is reflected in the music. But the emotions of Dontsova, as she recovers from her anger and frustration with Rusanov and Kostoglotov, and begins to engage with the hapless youth Azovkin, convincing him that some time away from treatment will give him time to "rest," -- when actually, he is being dismissed because he is incurable, and his dismissal will reflect in more favorable hospital statistics -- provides, for me, the "drama" of this scene, making the "fireworks" between Dontsova and Kostoglotov, and Dontsova and Rusanov, simply, "dramatic." One more word about this scene, (the opera's scene six, chapter 4 in the book). Despite the threat of Pavel Rusanov to act officially against Dontsova, I find Dontsova fighting for Rusanov's life, even though her words might seem to convey indifference to his life. It is because of Dontsova, and, only because of Dontsova, that Rusanov remains in the hospital to treat his lyphoma. A profound glimpse into the dedication and heart of Dontsova.