THE PEACH THIEF

A sad story of a love's quest for happiness and freedom...

Liza is the beautiful lonely wife of the elderly colonel, military commandant of Tarnovo.

Unexpectedly, the ragged Serbian prisoner of war Ivo appears in the garden of the secluded house where she spends her days, holding a hat of peaches. Love suddenly overtakes them both and they feel an irrepressible attraction for each other. Secret encounters change Liza, life returns to her thoughts, to her body, but this change does not escape the Colonel's eyes. He orders his orderly to shoot "meat" if an uninvited guest appears in the garden...

And when the lovers are ready to escape their suffering, a shot to Ivo's body interrupts their dreams. Determined she won't be alone in this hell, Liza follows her lover into the afterlife...

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Blagovesta Konstantinova's shared thoughts on “The Peach Thief”

I wrote the opera “The Peach Thief” in the winter and summer of 2009. And I finished the orchestral score in 2011. Emiliyan Stanev's story “The Peach Thief” attracted me for a long time.

I suggested to my colleague and friend prof. Tsonka Velikova to write me a libretto. I couldn't wait to start composing. I started writing without even having the complete libretto in front of me.

The opera consists of 2 acts, 7 scenes, Introduction, 2 intermezzi and Nocturne.

I focused on the personal experiences of the characters, their feelings, their thoughts, their personal drama. Especially developed is the image of Liza. In my opera there are several leitmotifs that shape and drive the musical dramaturgy. Already in the introduction the leading themes of 'war', 'fate' and 'love' appear. They run like leitmotifs through the whole work. The Colonel motif also appears several times in the opera depending on the dramaturgical action.

The musical dramaturgy is made up of scenes that contrast or flow into one another using leitmotiv musical-thematic development.

I have strived for naturalness, melody and vocally convincing and vocally comfortable parts for the singers. In the overall construction of the opera, the orchestra plays an outstanding role, enriching the overall score musically and thematically, with interesting colour and timbral elements.

I was happy to compose this work so close to my heart.

I hope that my innermost feelings and emotions sounding in my music will reach the hearts of the audience!

prof. Blagovesta Konstantinova

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Teodor Georgiev on “The Peach Thief”

The idea of staging the opera came from my professor, academician Plamen Kartaloff, with whom I completed my Bachelor's degree in directing.

Initially, the performance appeared as a thesis work. Now the time has come for it to live on the Chamber Stage of the Sofia Opera and Ballet.

My search for a solution to the stage action started from Emilian Stanev’s novella. It was an extremely emotional journey that immersed me in the deep drama of the protagonist Liza. Then I watched the great film by Valo Radev with the amazing actors Nevena Kokanova, Rade Marković, Mihail Mihaylov and Vasil Vachev.

After that, I was off in search and research of the music of the composer Blagovesta Konstantinova. Music in the style of Romanticism, which brings to another level of consciousness. She pushes three main leitmotifs that sound constantly in the opera, and they are: the motif of love in the first violins; the motif of fate in the flutes, oboe, clarinet, bassoon; the motif of war: cornets, timpani.

Feeling the horror that Liza was going through, I decided to use the shadow theatre technique. Shadows are her greatest fears and desires. Sleep is the only place where the subconscious works.

The idea came from the motivation to illustrate Liza's dream from the overture. I was guided by the ideas of Verism, as the paintings are inspired by realism and a recreation of reality. The place and time are respectful to the genesis of the libretto in the paintings.

The only surrealistic intervention is in the shadow theatre.


Teodor Georgiev