This Futurist opera was presented in snowy Petrograd in December 1913 to
a riotous audience. The atonal music composed by Mikhail Matiushin
accompanied the alogical libretto by Aleksei Kruchenykh, the action
taking place in the 10th Land where "the windows of houses all face
inside" and "all the paths go up to the earth," while the hands of a
clock "both go backwards immediately before dinner." The cardboard
costumes by Kazimir Malevich were surfaces lit by his roving colored
spotlights, the characters bigger than life.
This first English translation by Dr. Evgeny Steiner is accompanied by
the Russian facsimile, followed by what is known of the musical score by
Mikhail Matiushin, and a selection of Malevich's Cubist costume designs.
Contemporary documents, from statements by the artists and photographs,
to press reviews complete the contents of Vol. 1.
Vol. 2 is a collection of scholarly essays on the Russian Futurist arts
of language, music and performance, with Kruchenykh's own contribution
to the "New Ways of the Word" first published in 1913.
Together, this two volume collection of Victory Over the Sun presents
Russian Futurism in all its guises. It is a tool for study, while it
invites recreations of it today by theater groups and those interested
in the arts of language.
