Shostokovich: The Nose




Yes, these really are tap-dancing noses. Shostokovich's first opera, written aged 20, was based on Gogol's short story The Nose, an absurdist satire on bureaucracy and officialdom. The opera fell out of favour the 1930s, but we can enjoy it today as a romp, and also as an example of the inventiveness of composers in the newly formed Soviet republic during the 1920s.

According to a commentator below the YouTube clip, who is far better informed than I, the dancers are tapping the Morse code for D-S-C-H, Shostokovich's personal leitmotif. I don't know how well that works in Russian, but it's a nice touch by Royal Opera House.

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