Lieutenant Kijé (Prokofiev)
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Lieutenant Kijé (Russian: Поручик Киже, Poruchik Kizhe) is a novella by the Soviet author Yury Tynyanov (1894-1943) published in 1927. The plot is a satire on the bureaucracy of Emperor Paul I of Russia. In each episode, the Emperor's subjects faithfully go through the motions to follow his orders.
Kijé's name is based on a Russian pun. The fictional lieutenant is "born" when the Emperor mishears a phrase e in a military order "Подпоручики же..." ("And the lieutenants, who...") as "Подпоручик Киже..." (a nonsense name, translated by Ginsburg as "Lieuten. Nants...") and the Emperor assigns Kijé to guard duty. When an advisor identifies the one who shouted "Help!" under the Emperor's window one night as Kijé, the lieutenant is flogged and marched off to Siberia. A maid-in-waiting is distressed to hear that her lover has been exiled, so the Emperor reinstates Lt. Kijé and has him marry her. They have a child, and Kijé steadily rises through the ranks. The Emperor finally summons General Kijé to receive appropriate decorations; but, before this can happen, the general is "killed in battle" and is buried with full military honors, receiving his medals posthumously.
The story was made into a film, directed by Aleksandr Fajntsimmer, which is now remembered primarily for its music, which was the first instance of Prokofiev's new simplicity.
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[edit] Suite from Lieutenant Kijé
Sergei Prokofiev composed music to the film Lieutenant Kijé in 1933. Prokofiev compiled a suite from the film music, in which form it has found the most popularity. The suite exists in two versions, one using a voice and the other using a saxophone. The music has also been used as the score for a ballet by the Bolshoi Ballet company. The troika is perhaps the best known movement, frequently used in films and documentaries for Christmas scenes and scenes involving snow. The motive for the suite was also used in the song I Believe In Father Christmas by the english pop group Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
[edit] Movements
The suite, in five movements and lasting 20-25 minutes, broadly follows the plot:
- Kijé's Birth: Emperor Paul, listening to a report, mishears a phrase and concludes that a lieutenant exists. He demands that "Kijé" be promoted to his elite guard. It is an offence to contradict the Tsar, so the palace administrators must invent someone of that name.
- Romance. The fictional lieutenant falls in love. The double bass has an appropriately ghostly quality.
- Kijé's Wedding. Since the Tsar prefers his heroic soldiers to be married, the administrators concoct a fake wedding. The vodka that the Tsar approves for this event is very real.
- Troika. The fairy-tale quality of the story is illustrated by a three-horse open sleigh.
- Kijé's Burial. The administrators finally rid themselves of the non-existent lieutenant by saying he has died. The Tsar expresses his sadness, and the civil servants heave a sigh of relief.
[edit] Premiere
1937, Paris (hence the French spelling of "Kijé")
[edit] Instrumentation
2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, tenor saxophone (sometimes performed on bassoon), 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, cornet, 3 trombones, tuba, 3 percussionists (cymbals, little bells, triangle, bass drum, snare drum, tambourine), harp, piano or celeste, and strings.
[edit] Recordings
- Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Fritz Reiner.
- Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Seiji Ozawa.
[edit] Uses in other media
[edit] Film
- The 1958 British movie The Horse's Mouth, directed by Ronald Neame from the novel by Joyce Cary, uses the suite for its soundtrack.
- The suite is used in the 1975 Woody Allen film Love and Death.
- The melody for "Kijé's Wedding" is used in the 1988 film Crossing Delancey.
- Vladimir Cosma uses nearly untouched melody from The Birth of Kijé in the theme Remembering the Hills from his score to Yves Robert's 1990 film La Gloire de mon père.
- Part of the Wedding movement is used in the 1991 movie Doc Hollywood directed by Michael Caton-Jones and starring Michael J. Fox.
[edit] Popular music
- The Free Design jazzed up and added lyrics to the Troika theme in their song "Kijé's Ouija."
- A part of the Troika movement is used in the 1974 song "I Believe in Father Christmas" by Greg Lake.
- Sting used the melody from the Romance of Lieutenant Kijé in the chorus of his 1985 song "Russians".
- Blood, Sweat & Tears used the melody from the Romance as one of several themes from other works woven into their arrangement of the song "40,000 Headmen," on the album Blood, Sweat & Tears 3.
[edit] Parallel characters
The story of Kijé—the conveniently invented fictitious war hero, who ultimately must die as a victim of his own success—is frequently referenced and parodied in popular culture.
George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four contains a brief passage in which the protagonist, Winston Smith, a worker at the propaganda-producing Ministry of Truth, creates a fictitious hero "Comrade Ogilvy", a man dedicated to Oceania (the novel's totalitarian regime) who "dies" in the line of duty.
Poul Anderson's 1953 novelette "Sam Hall" features a disgruntled bureaucrat who creates fake records about a rebel named Sam Hall (after the song) who fights against the totalitarian government.
Lieutenant Kijé is parodied in the first season episode of M*A*S*H, "Tuttle", also in the war hero "Schumann" from Wag the Dog (1997), and obliquely in the Brazil (1985) opening sequence.
In her novel, Eclipse of the Century (1999), Jan Mark presents a deserter from the Russian army who renames himself Lieutenant Kijé, as a sign that he no longer exists.
In the eighth season episode of Seinfeld, "The Susie" (episode #149), Elaine Benes inadvertently creates an alter ego named "Susie," whom co-workers believe is actually real. To avoid conflict, Elaine and the fictional Susie attend a conflict resolution meeting with the company president. Ultimately, Elaine rids herself of the non-existent Susie by saying she has committed suicide; a large number of guests attend Susie's funeral.
The plot line of the full length musical comedy Kije!, subtitled a Magical Musical Fairy Tale, revolves around an imaginary hero of that name in the mythical kingdom of Wuz. The play was selected as Carnegie Mellon University's annual Spring Musical and premiered in April 1980 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Author Scott McGregor reported that the plot came to him in a fever ridden dream state. As he slid in and out of consciousness listening to a recording of Prokofiev's Orchestral Suite his mind combined a brief description from the record jacket with images derived from some Wizard of Id comic strips by Johnny Hart he had viewed earlier that day. The storyline was written down after the sickness ebbed. Lyrics, written by Arthur T. Benjamin, and Music, composed by Arthur Darrell Turner, were added later, enabling the play to win the 1980 contest.
[edit] External links
- MIDI for Troika
- Original film Lieutenant Kizhe with English subtitles, at Google Video
- Original film Lieutenant Kizhe with English subtitles, at Internet Archive
- Kevin Bartig "Creating the Lieutenant Kijé Suite". Discussion of relation between Prokofiev's film score and the suite
- Original musical comedy Kije! by Scott L. McGregor, Lyrics by Arthur T. Benjamin, Music by Arthur Darrell Turner Downloadable video, music, script and production notes.
