Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

Inochka, Volodya & Me: A revolutionary song-story in 4 acts tells the story of the three-way relationship between Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (historically known by his nom de guerre, Lenin), his wife Nadya Krupskaya, and his lover Inessa Armand. It is set in a time of ferment leading up to, and during the Russian Revolution in 1917. During this period there was much theorising by early feminists about what form loving relationships would take once the socialist revolution swept away the old patriarchal social and economic structures. One little-known aspect of these debates (mainly because Stalin halted almost all discussion in this area) is that the leader of the revolution (Lenin) was in fact living in a love triangle, which for those involved, provided one possible example of future relationships under communism.

Work Details

Year: 2016

Instrumentation: 8 principals, multiple minor roles, SATB chorus, piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in B flat, 2 bassoons, 3 horns in F, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (3 players), piano, balalaika (or accordion), accordion, strings.

Duration: 200 min.

Difficulty: Advanced — contains some contemporary extended techniques

The composer notes the following styles, genres, influences, etc associated with this work:
Musical theatre, opera, feminism, sexual politics, Russian Revolution