Strong women in Opera: Katerina Izmailova
A triple murderess and suicidal heroine: Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk brings true crime to the opera stage. Essentially, Katerina Izmailova is a woman full of sexual power and lust for life who longs for love in a cold and harsh world. None of the men around her treats Katerina with respect: her monosyllabic husband Zinoviy is possessive and impotent; Boris, her father-in-law, is a domestic tyrant; the other men treat women like dirt and do not even shy away from rape. Only the labourer Sergei gives Katerina real attention, he fulfils her sexual desires – and ultimately becomes her accomplice.
Without any doubt, Katerina is a criminal but one for whose actions we can certainly feel sympathy and understanding. None of the murders are meticulously planned in advance, but they all happen spontaneously, as a direct result of a crisis situation: the father-in-law is knocked off with a fresh, poisoned mushroom soup; upon his unexpected return home, the husband is killed by Katerina and her lover who hide the body (not very carefully) in the cellar; Sergei’s new flame is unceremoniously pushed into the river. This makes Katerina less of a cold-blooded murderer than an emotionally comprehensible character; her crimes into acts of desperation.
It is remarkable that Katerina does not even try to deny her guilt when confronted with the discovery of Zinoviy’s dead body. By realising her wrong-doing and admitting it instantly, Katerina takes responsibility for her own life, demonstrating enormous strength of character. Shostakovich’s opera leaves it open as to who is really guilty in the end. However, it is clear at least to Katerina that the brutal murders are the only way to break out of her environment characterised by psychological and physical violence.
Her suicide becomes the last expression of her revolt; self-determination/destruction for Katerina. The most terrifying moment emphasising the tragedy of this character is that the shock of her leap into the river does not last long. Nobody seems to care about her story. In this bleak, ruthless world, the workers carry on as before.
Hannes Föst
Translated from the German original
