Reading Shakespeare: the Character of Ophelia in the Works by Valery Gavrilin

摘要

This article analyses the dramatic structure of Valery Gavrilin's song cycle Three Songs of Ophelia. His personal understanding of this Shakespeare's character is placed in the context of interpretations offered by other Russian composers, such as Varlamov, Tchaikovsky, or Shostakovich. We also identify genre-related transformations of themes and, more globally, the composer's personal interpretation and development of genre models in European music. Ophelia's emerging and maturing character is explored through the dramatic logic of Shakespeare's narrative, but also through other works by Gavrilin displaying tragic female love.