Through my days…. "The Tsar's Bride" - Our Classical Heritage The author of the historical drama The Tsar's Bride

The 1890s is an era of high maturity in the creative life of N.A.Rimsky-Korsakov. Beginning in the spring of 1894, one opera was drafted or designed in sketches, another was instrumented, and a third was being prepared for staging; at the same time, previously staged works are resumed in different theaters. Rimsky-Korsakov still teaches at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, conducts Russian symphony concerts, and continues numerous editorial works. But these matters fade into the background, and the main forces are given to continuous creativity.

The appearance of the Russian private opera by Savva Mamontov in Moscow contributed to the maintenance of the working rhythm of the composer, who became, after the death of P.I. Tchaikovsky in 1893 as the recognized head of the Russian music school. A whole cycle of Rimsky-Korsakov's operas was staged for the first time in this free enterprise: Sadko, Mozart and Salieri, The Tsar's Bride, The Boyar Lady Vera Sheloga (which went as a prologue to The Woman of Pskov), The Tale of Tsar Saltan ; In addition, Mamontov had "May Night", "Snow Maiden", Korsakov's editions of "Boris Godunov" and "Khovanshchina", "The Stone Guest" and "Prince Igor". For Savva Mamontov, the Private Opera was a continuation of the activities of the Abramtsevo estate and its workshops: almost all the artists of this association took part in the design of opera performances. Recognizing the merits of the theatrical works of the Vasnetsov brothers, K.A.Korovin, M.A.Vrubel and others, Rimsky-Korsakov nevertheless believed that the picturesque side of Mamontov's performances outweighs the musical, and most importantly, in the opera, music.

Perhaps the chorus and orchestra of the Mariinsky or the Bolshoi Theaters were stronger than in a private enterprise, although in terms of soloists the Mamontov Opera was hardly inferior to them. But especially important is the new artistic context in which Rimsky-Korsakov's operas fell: The Snow Maiden in the scenery and costumes of Viktor Vasnetsov, Sadko by Konstantin Korovin, Saltan by Mikhail Vrubel became major events not only of a musical nature: they were a real synthesis of arts ... For the composer's further work, for the development of his style, such theatrical impressions were very important. Operas by Rimsky-Korsakov of the 1890s are varied in forms and genres. According to the composer himself, Mlada, The Night Before Christmas and Sadko form a trilogy; after that comes, again speaking in the words of the author, "once again a teaching or a rework." It is about "developing melodiousness, melodiousness", which was reflected in the romances and chamber operas of this period ("Mozart and Salieri", the final version of the prologue to "The Pskovite Woman") and especially vividly in "The Tsar's Bride".

On a creative upsurge after the completion of the brilliant "Sadko" the composer wanted not to stay with the tried old, but to try new things. Another era was approaching - fin de siecle. As Rimsky-Korsakov wrote: “Many things have grown old and faded before our eyes, and much that seemed outdated, apparently, will subsequently turn out to be fresh and strong and even eternal ...” Among Rimsky-Korsakov's “eternal beacons” are great musicians of the past: Bach, Mozart, Glinka (and also Tchaikovsky: his "Queen of Spades" was studied by Nikolai Andreevich during the period of work on "The Tsar's Bride"). And the eternal themes are love and death. The story of the composition of The Tsar's Bride is simple and short: conceived and begun in February 1898, the opera was composed and completed in score within ten months and staged by the Private Opera the following season. The composer's “long-standing intention” to address this drama by Lev Mei was probably as early as the 1860s, when Rimsky-Korsakov himself composed his “Pskovite Woman” based on another play by Mei, and Balakirev and Borodin (the latter even made several sketches of the guardsmen's choirs, the music of which was later used in "Prince Igor"). Rimsky-Korsakov planned the script for the new opera independently, and entrusted Ilya Tyumenev with the "final development of the libretto" to a writer, theater figure and his former student. (By the way, having written Servilia a few years later based on May's play, Rimsky-Korsakov “embraced” all the drama of this author, so beloved by him.)

May's play is based on a love triangle typical of a romantic drama, or rather, two triangles: Martha - Lyubasha - Gryaznoy and Martha - Lykov - Gryaznoy. The plot is complicated by the intervention of a fatal force - Tsar Ivan the Terrible, whose choice falls on Martha at the review of brides. Both the play and the opera based on it belong not to the type of “historical drama”, like the same “Pskovite Woman” or “Boris Godunov,” but to the type of works where the historical setting and characters are only the initial condition for the development of the action. The general flavor of the plot of The Tsar's Bride is reminiscent of Tchaikovsky's operas The Oprichnik and The Enchantress; probably, the opportunity to "compete" with them was meant by Rimsky-Korsakov, as in his "Night before Christmas", written on the same plot as Tchaikovsky's "Cherevichki". Without putting forward the difficulties that arose in Rimsky-Korsakov's previous operas (large folk scenes, paintings of rituals, fantastic worlds), the plot of The Tsar's Bride allowed him to focus on pure music, pure lyrics.

Some admirers of Rimsky-Korsakov's art saw the appearance of The Tsar's Bride as a betrayal of the past, a departure from the ideas of the Mighty Handful. Critics of the other direction welcomed the composer's "simplification", his "desire to reconcile the demands of the new musical drama with the forms of the old opera." The composition had a very big success among the public, overshadowing even the triumph of Sadko. The composer noted: "... Many who, either from hearsay, or by themselves, for some reason were against The Tsar's Bride, but listened to it two or three times, began to become attached to it ..."

Nowadays "The Tsar's Bride" is hardly perceived as a work breaking with the heroic past of the New Russian School, rather as an essay uniting the Moscow and St. Petersburg lines of the Russian school, as a link in the chain from "Pskovityanka" to "Kitezh". And most of all in the sphere of melody - not archaic, not ritual, but purely lyrical, close to modernity. Another essential feature of the style of this opera is its Glinkianism: as one subtle and clever critic (EM Petrovsky) wrote, "the influences of the Glinka spirit that permeate the whole opera are really tangible."

In The Tsar's Bride, unlike previous operas, the composer, lovingly depicting Russian life, does not try to convey the spirit of the era. He also almost withdraws from his favorite soundscapes. Everything is focused on people, on the spiritual movements of the characters in the drama. The main emphasis is placed on two female images, standing against the background of a beautifully written old Russian way of life. In his comments to the drama, Lev May calls the two heroines of The Tsar's Bride “song types” (two types - “meek” and “passionate”) and cites corresponding folk texts to characterize them. The first sketches for the opera were in the nature of a lyrical lingering song, and the melodies were related to both heroines at once. In Lyubasha's part, the style of the drawn-out song was preserved (her song was unaccompanied in the first act) and was supplemented with dramatic romance intonations (duet with Gryazny, an aria in the second act). The central image of Martha in the opera received a unique solution: in fact, Martha, as a “face with speeches,” appears on stage twice with almost the same music (arias in acts two and four). But if in the first aria - "Martha's happiness" - the emphasis is placed on the light song motives of her characteristics, and the enthusiastic and mysterious theme of the "golden crowns" is only exhibited, then in the second aria - "on the exodus of the soul", preceded and interrupted by "fatal chords" and the tragic intonations of "sleep" - the "theme of crowns" is sung and its meaning is revealed as a theme of foreboding of another life. The scene of Martha in the finale of the opera not only consolidates the entire drama of the work, but also takes it beyond the bounds of everyday love drama to the heights of genuine tragedy. Vladimir Belsky, a remarkable librettist of the composer's later operas, wrote about the last act of The Tsar's Bride: “This is such an ideal combination of beauty and psychological truth, so often fighting among themselves, such a deeply poetic tragedy that you listen as if spellbound, without analyzing or remembering anything. .. "

In the perception of the composer's contemporaries, the image of Martha Sobakina - like the Snow Maiden, the Volkhovs in Sadko, and then the Swan Princess in The Tale of Tsar Saltan - was indissolubly associated with the refined image of Nadezhda Zabela, the wife of the artist Mikhail Vrubel. And Rimsky-Korsakov, who usually kept a certain "distance" in relation to the performers of his music, treated this singer with care and tenderness, as if anticipating her tragic fate (death of her only son, her husband's madness, early death). Nadezhda Zabela turned out to be the ideal expresser of that sublime and, often not entirely earthly, female image that runs through all of Rimsky-Korsakov's operatic work - from Olga in Pskovityanka to Fevronia in Kitezh. operatic parts to understand what this is about. The part of Martha, of course, was composed with the thought of Nadezhda Zabela, who became its first performer.

Marina Rakhmanova

"The style in the theater can be anything strange, but it would be good for it to be artistic ..."

Nora Potapova. "And as one we will die fighting for this."

This year, the outstanding Russian composer N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) is 170 years old. One of the founders of the Russian school, he found time for extensive composing activities in the field of opera, symphonic, chamber, and later church music. He is the author of famous operas: "The Pskovite", "May Night", "The Snow Maiden", "The Night Before Christmas", "Sadko", "Mozart and Salieri", "The Tsar's Bride", "The Tale of Tsar Saltan", "The Legend of the City Kitezh "," The Tale of the Golden Cockerel "- so we are familiar with its historical and fabulous theatrical repertoire since childhood.

It is gratifying that the collective of our native Bolshoi Theater named after A. Navoi twice turned to staging opera performances by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov is "Mozart and Salieri" (1898) in the eighties and "The Tsar's Bride" (1899), which is successfully staged today on the stage of the Navoi State Academic Bolshoi Theater and arouses constant interest among the audience.

At the concerts of the Russian romance in the Tashkent and Central Asian Diocese, we have repeatedly heard the works of the Russian composer performed by the leading soloists of the A. Navoi State Academic Bolshoi Theater. Quite recently, at the Easter concert on 27 04 14, Levko's song from the opera "May Night" performed by our beloved lyric tenor Normumin Sultanov was sincerely performed.

Why is Rimsky-Korsakov's operatic creativity so attractive today? - says the director of the Bolshoi Theater, Honored Worker of Culture Uz A.E. Slonim:

- Rimsky-Korsakov , but the second of fifteen operas, brought a number of unsurpassed masterpieces to the treasury of world music. Sensitively and subtly developing opera drama, he introduced fundamentally new methods of revealing the drama, eventfulness, and psychology of heroes into the very foundations of composer's work. And at the same time - the undoubted shades of a new trend for its time, called "impressionism", which sought to convey the uniqueness of IMPRESSION from moods, perceptions, sensations. Trying to penetrate into the very depths of the movement of the soul, Rimsky-Korsakov not only accurately reveals the special truth of passions and feelings, but subtly explores the smallest nuances of the movements of the spirit.

The director of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater named after A. Navoi strictly preserved this innovative concept in the new production of "The Tsar's Bride", whose prehistory is calculated by more than a century of stage evolution. The world premiere took place on October 22 / November 3, 1899 at the Moscow Private Russian Opera. This was followed by the premiere of the opera at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg on October 30, 1901. In our time, the Martiniplaza Theater, Groningen (Netherlands) turned to the production of the opera on December 10, 2004. At the end of the same year - on the 29th of December 2004, the Mariinsky Theater was again in St. Petersburg, and quite recently, in February of this year, the premiere of The Tsar's Bride took place at the Mikhailovsky Theater in the same place in the northern capital.

What is the fundamental difference between the production of the director of the State Academic Theater named after A. Navoi A. Slonim from other contemporary Russian interpretations of historical opera? A young soloist of the Opera People's Theater from St. Petersburg Mikhail Kramer answered this question. He comes from Tashkent, came to visit his relatives, together with me he attended the play "The Tsar's Bride" in two acts based on the drama of the same name by L. Mey (Libretto by I. Tyumenev and N. Rimsky-Korsakov):

- I really liked the director's work - a careful attitude to the text of the opera, a beautifully conveyed era, for the most part the scenography is ideally combined with the music of the opera. In general, it is very valuable that modern trends, the so-called "director", have not reached the Uzbek capital theater. I can say that in St. Petersburg now there is no such careful production of Tsarskaya - at the Mariinsky Theater the action of the opera has been transferred to Stalin's times (http://www.mariinsky.ru/playbill/repertoire/opera/tsars_bride/), at the Mikhailovsky Theater (formerly Small Opera) this year they made a simply disgusting production, the scenography of which can only be understood by being drugged (http://www.operanews.ru/14020208.html).

The performance of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater named after A. Navoi is distinguished by its absolute adequacy, and, I emphasize once again, by a very careful attitude to the text of the opera. The only thing that I did not understand in this production is why Ivan the Terrible was brought out at the end. And, as far as I remember, the clavier of the opera does not say that Martha is dying at the end.

In this important moment related to the novelty of the production of the opera, we can object to our guest. Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible is performed by the director of the opera A.E. Slonim. This image intertwined with others in the play is very important. In the concept of the performance, the image is presented cross-cutting, right up to the finale and its final expressive mise-en-scène, in which the Tsar himself is represented in the abundance of victims of the era of totalitarianism (in modern language) and lawlessness. He punishes his guardsman Grigory the Gryazny and after a moment, a little later, he hangs powerlessly on his royal staff. Thus, he merges in his impulse with all the people, pronouncing the final phrase "Oh, Lord!" - in a frenzied prayer for forgiveness for everything, for everything ... This is catharsis (cleansing), without which not a single classic tragedy from the time of Shakespeare to the present day can do.

In principle, any director has the right, in agreement with the score, to expand the scope of copyright instructions. According to the author, the role of Bomelius ends in the second picture. Directed by A.E. Slonima, this image develops in the final scene. Grigory Gryaznoy brings an overseas doctor with him in order to heal Martha, as he short-sightedly believes, from "love yearning" for Gregory. When the intrigue is revealed - Bomelius also receives in full for his deeds. Let us recall the fact that the historical Bomelius was indeed captured and executed.

A.E. We slap in a new way, completely psychologically justified, and the image of Martha also motivates, according to our own creative concept:

And young Martha from "The Tsar's Bride", who becomes an involuntary victim of human passions, innocently poisoned by an evil potion, in her striving for the light intones her phrases also in this "harmony of doom". And to the confusion of the spirit, it is obvious that when the same darkness of predestination thickens over the oprichnik Grigory Gryazny - one of the main culprits of the tragedy - then in his intonations the same mode, prophesying a quick death, suddenly appears. Having listened and looked closely at the Snow Maiden, who has already cognized the beginnings of earthly love, we will hear in her phrases not only illumination, but also an overhanging sign of imminent departure. It seems that in the very methods of revealing the vision of the world, Rimsky-Korsakov, for quite understandable reasons, turns out to be very close to the work of the great painters of his era - Vrubel, Borisov-Musatov, Levitan.

As in any opera production by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, music plays a significant role in The Tsar's Bride - from the first bars of the restrained overture to the extremely expressive possibilities of the dramatic development of the plot in the second act, in which the spiritual life of the heroes is rapidly revealed. The composer's profound attention to their feelings, psychological contradictions and conflicts, expanding and deepening, is expressed in complex and varied music: at times it is pathetic solemn, and sometimes it is unarmedly lyrical and even intimate.

The orchestra under the direction of the People's Artist of Karakalpakstan Aida Abdullaeva accurately conveys the soulless hangover "chaos" of the oprichnina of the era of Ivan the Terrible. The music not only condemns, but at times justifies the unrestrained passion of the tsar's oprichnik Grigory Gryazny (Ruslan Gafarov) and his former lover Lyubasha (Ya. Bagryanskaya), who were punished for their villainy at the end of the performance. The music vividly depicts the character of the kind, hospitable and unhappy merchant Sobakin (G. Dmitriev), plunged into despair by an unexpected misfortune - the fatal illness of his daughter, Princess Martha, poisoned by a poisonous potion. The music luminously conveys the sublime purity of the "tsar's bride" (L. Abieva), until her death devoted to her feelings for the young groom Ivan Lykov (U. Maksumov). She expressively emphasizes the ambiguous characters of Malyuta (D. Idrisov), the German healer Bomeliya, the rustic Dunyasha and the naive Domna (N. Bandelett). There are no dead types in the play, all of them are endowed with vivid feelings and are enlivened by the multicolored timbres of the “characters” of the epic world of Rimsky-Korsakov, where the miracle of Love and sublime Purity, even in death, conquers all historical and everyday circumstances.

Regarding the performance, our guest from St. Petersburg noted:

The absolute star of the evening was undoubtedly Latife Abiyeva, who sang the part of Martha. Her amazingly beautiful lyric-coloratura soprano is ideal for the performance of the part of Martha, the brightest character in this opera. Surprisingly beautiful, transparent and light, Martha's first aria sounded: "In Novgorod we lived next to Vanya ...". The singer's voice is amazingly beautiful both when she sings in full voice, and when she sings softly, which testifies to outstanding vocal skill. At the same time, the singer is very suitable for this part and outwardly, which, as you know, does not happen often in the opera genre. Both the singing and the stage image - everything corresponded to the light inherent in this part, to which the passionate and vengeful Lyubasha is opposed. In the scene of Martha's madness in the finale of the opera, the singer showed the talent of a real tragic actress. The second aria: “Ivan Sergeich, would you like to go to the garden? ..” also sounded flawlessly.

Ulugbek Maksumov, who performed the part of Lykov, was very good. The singer has a beautiful lyric tenor, while he is very musical. The singer managed to decorate and make interesting even a rather faded, in my opinion, arioso from the first act, “Everything is different, both people and the earth”, which passes unnoticed for me by many performers. The most complex aria "A stormy cloud rushed past" was performed at a very high level.

Also noteworthy is the performance of Sobakin's part by bass Georgy Dmitriev. The singer has a rather beautiful voice, however, in my opinion, the performer of this part should have a lower voice - the "fa" of the large octave at the end of the aria, the singer still has not tinted with timbre. But this small flaw was more than compensated for by the amazing acting. The image of an innocent, kind father, in whose life a great grief suddenly came, was conveyed magnificently.

Yanika Bagryanskaya was not bad in Lyubasha's part, but, unfortunately, nothing more. The singer has obvious problems with extremely high notes, besides, she has a strange manner of re-assembling the sound, which makes some words very difficult to understand (for example, the sound instead of the sound "a" on many notes the singer sings a frank "y"). Intonation (hitting the notes) was not always accurate, especially at the top. And the upper "la" in the first aria ("After all, I love you alone") did not succeed at all. In addition, the singer parted with the orchestra quite noticeably several times.

Ruslan Gafarov is the ideal performer for the part of Grigory Gryazny. This part is very difficult in that it is written very high for a baritone. That is why quite often she is instructed to sing soft, lyrical, so-called "Onegin" baritones, which is why she, of course, loses her sinister character. Gafarov, on the other hand, has a dramatic baritone, which makes it possible to convey all the colors of this rather complex emotionally part. At the same time, the range of his voice allows him to overcome all the difficulties of the testimony. Acting, the image is also very suitable for him, and he quite vividly conveys this controversial oprichnik. All the more regrettable is the fact that the singer quite often disagreed with the orchestra (for example, in a dialogue with Bomeliy before the trio or in the finale of the opera). Nevertheless, it should be noted that the most difficult aria at the beginning of the opera ("The Beauty Is Crazy") was performed perfectly.

Nurmakhmad Mukhamedov, the performer of Bomeliya's part, played this role quite well. The singer's voice fits the part well. But he most often disagreed with the orchestra and partners. This was especially noticeable in the trio from the first act, which the singer simply ruined by his missed beat.

In general, I even think that perhaps the singers, as the audience, are to blame for these annoying mistakes. I have such an assumption that in this hall they cannot hear the orchestra on stage. Or there is no way to fully rehearse. On this visit to Tashkent, since the end of January, I have been at many performances of the theater, and I observed similar discrepancies in other performances - "Carmen" and "Troubadour".

I really liked the performers of the supporting roles: Rada Smirnykh (Dunyasha) and Nadezhda Bandelet (Domna Saburova). To be honest, more than once during the evening the thought came to me that the very sonorous, rich voice of Rada would be much better suited for the performance of the part of Lyubasha than the rather modest, in my opinion, voice of Bagryanskaya. Nadezhda Bandelet demonstrated excellent voice control in a rather revealing aria from the third act (staged by the Bolshoi Theater - the first scene of the second act), as well as Rada Smirnykh and Nadezhda Bandelet perfectly conveyed the characters of their characters.

The sound of the choir, which, unfortunately, is usually not the strong point of the performances, also pleased us today. The orchestra under the direction of Aida Abdullaeva sounded very harmonious, balanced, expressive

The variety of views and reviews about the opera production of The Tsar's Bride is confirmed byfairness of opiniondirector of the Bolshoi TheaterA.E. Slonim that “the time will come and interest in the works of this outstanding composer will deepen and intensify.After all, the mighty appearance of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, who comprehended the mystery of the Miracle in many of its manifestations, - nowadays, not only does it not lose features of its brightness, intelligibility and novelty, butmakes it clear in reality that this great composer is by no means a musical figure of the past, but a creator, centuries ahead of his time and his era in his sensations of the world - and invariably close in his aspirations to us, today ... "

Guarik Bagdasarova

Photo by Mikhail Levkovich

Opera in three acts by Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov; libretto by the composer (with the participation of V. V. Stasov, M. P. Mussorgsky, V. V. Nikolsky) based on the drama of the same name by L. Mey.

Characters:

Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible (bass), Prince Yuri Ivanovich Tokmakov, the tsar's governor and the sedate mayor in Pskov (bass), boyar Nikita Matuta (tenor), Prince Afanasy Vyazemsky (bass), Bomeliy, the royal doctor (bass), Mikhail Andreevich Tucha, mayor's son (tenor), Yushko Velebin, messenger from Novgorod (bass), Princess Olga Yuryevna Tokmakova (soprano), hawthorn Stepanida Matuta, Olga's friend (soprano), Vlasyevna, mother (mezzo-soprano), Perfilyevna, mother (mezzo-soprano) ), the voice of the watchdog (tenor).
Tysyatsky, judge, Pskov boyars, posadnich's sons, oprichniks, Moscow archers, hay girls, people.

Time of action: 1570.
Place of action: Pskov; at the Pechersky Monastery; by the Mededni River.
First performance of the first edition: Petersburg, January 1 (13), 1873.
First performance of the third (final) edition: Moscow, December 15 (27), 1898.

"The Woman of Pskov" is the first of fifteen operas created by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. When he conceived it - in 1868, he was 24 years old. The composer himself tells about the first impulses to composing an opera in the Chronicle of My Musical Life: “I remember how, once sitting at my brother’s apartment, I received his note with the appointment of the day of departure (to a village in the Kashinsky district of the Tver province. A.M.). I remember how the picture of the upcoming trip into the wilderness, inside Russia, instantly aroused in me a surge of some kind of love for Russian folk life, for its history in general and for the "Pskovite" in particular, and how, under the impression of these sensations, I sat down at the piano and immediately I improvised the theme of the chorus of the meeting between Tsar Ivan and the people of Pskov (among the composition of Antar I was already thinking about an opera at that time). " It is noteworthy that The Pskovite Woman was composed by Rimsky-Korsakov at the same time when Mussorgsky, being in close relations with Rimsky-Korsakov, was composing his Boris Godunov. “Our life with Modest was, I believe, the only example of two composers living together,” Rimsky-Korsakov wrote many years later. - How could we not interfere with each other? That's how. From the morning until 12 o'clock, Mussorgsky usually used the piano, and I either rewrote or orchestrated something that was already well thought out. By 12 o'clock he was leaving for the ministry, and I was using the piano. In the evenings, the matter took place by mutual agreement ... This autumn and winter we have worked hard, constantly exchanging thoughts and intentions. Mussorgsky composed and orchestrated the Polish act "Boris Godunov" and the folk picture "Under the Kromy". I orchestrated and finished Pskovityanka. "

The fruits of the friendship of these two great composers are well known - Mussorgsky contributed to the creation of the libretto for "The Woman of Pskov", Rimsky-Korsakov - in the promotion of "Boris Godunov" to the opera stage.

"The Pskovite" was staged at the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg on January 1, 1873. But, as it turned out, this was only the first edition of it. The composer was dissatisfied with many things, and it took another five years to make the second edition of the opera. But she did not bring the desired satisfaction (and was not staged on stage; only some of her numbers were performed under the piano in the circle of the composer's friends, who, despite their own active participation in this performance - Mussorgsky, for example, sang the part of the boyar Shelogi - rather restrainedly treated her). And only the third edition (1892) - in which the opera is staged to this day - brought the composer satisfaction. But even so, he did not stop pondering the entire outline of the drama. So, already in 1898, he finally isolates from the "Pskovityanka" the storyline associated with the boyar Vera Sheloga, and creates a one-act opera "Vera Sheloga", which is now a prologue to "The Pskovite". thus, this plot occupied the thoughts of the composer for more than thirty years.

Overture

The opera begins with an orchestral overture, in which the main conflict of the opera is outlined. The theme of Tsar Ivan the Terrible sounds gloomy and wary. The people of Pskov angered Tsar Ivan, and now they are waiting for a thunderstorm. This first theme is opposed by the impetuous strong-willed melody of the Cloud's song. The impetuous stream is interrupted by Olga's broad theme, like a folk song. In the end, the theme of the king wins in the struggle between these images.

First action. Scene one

Pskov. 1570 year. Garden of Prince Yuri Tokmakov, the Tsar's governor in Pskov; boyar mansions to the right; to the left - a crevice fence into the neighboring garden. In the foreground is a dense bird cherry tree. Under it is a table and two benches. The Kremlin and part of Pskov are visible in the distance. Dust. Lively, joyful mood. Girls frolic here - they play with burners. Two nurses - Vlasyevna and Perfilievna - are sitting at the table and have a conversation with each other. On a bench on the other side of the garden, not taking part in the game, sits Olga, the daughter of Prince Yuri Tokmakov. Among the fun girls is Stesha, Olga's friend. Soon she offers to stop playing with the burners and go collect raspberries. Everyone agrees and leaves; Stesha carries Olga along with him. The mothers are left alone and talk; Perfilievna gives Vlasyevna a rumor that Olga is not a daughter to the prince - "raise it higher." Vlasyevna does not like empty talk and considers this topic stupid. News from Novgorod is another matter. She says that "Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich deigned to be angry at Novgorod, he came with all the oprichnina." He ruthlessly punishes the guilty: there is a groan in the city, and three thousand people were executed on the square in a day. (Their conversation takes place against the background of a choir of girls that sounds off stage). The girls return with berries. They ask Vlasyevna to tell a story. She resists for a long time, but in the end agrees to tell about Princess Lada. While they were persuading Vlasyevna, Stesha managed to whisper to Olga that Cloud, Olga's beloved, said that he would come later today and give the message to Olga. She is happy. Vlasyevna begins the tale (“The tale begins with a sentence and a saying.” Suddenly a sharp whistle is heard behind the next fence. This is Mikhail (Mikhailo) Tucha, Olga's beloved, has come. Vlasyevna was frightened by the loud whistle and scolds Cloud. The girls go into the house.

Mikhail Tucha sings (first behind the fence, then climbing on it) a wonderful lingering song (Cheer up, cuckoo "). It is getting completely dark in the yard; a month comes out from behind the Kremlin. Olga comes out to the sound of the song in the garden; she walks quickly along the path towards the Cloud; he goes to her. Their love duet sounds. But both of them understand that Olga cannot belong to Tucha - she was betrothed for another, boyar Matutu. They are considering various options for how to solve this problem: whether he, Tuche, go to Siberia to get rich there and then rightfully compete with Matuta (Olga rejects this option - she does not want to part with her lover), whether Olga should fall at her father's feet and confess to him in love with Mikhailo Tucha and, perhaps, even confess that she secretly came to see him? What to do? Their duet ends with a passionate declaration of love to each other.

Prince Yuri Tokmakov and boyar Matuta appear on the porch of the house; they seem to be continuing the conversation that they started in the house. Frightened by their appearance, Olga sends the Cloud away, while she hides in the bushes. The prince and the boyar descend into the garden. The prince has something to say to Matuta, and he intends to do it in the garden. “Right here - not like in the mansion; it is cooler, and it’s more comfortable to speak, ”he says to Matute, however, uneasy - he recalls what it seemed to him: someone shouted when they entered the house, and even now he notices that the bushes are moving. Prince Tokmakov calms him down and wonders who Matuta is afraid of. Matuta fears the unexpected arrival of the king in Pskov. But the prince cares about another thought. "Do you think Olga is my own daughter?" he stuns Matutu with this question. "Then who?" - the boyar is perplexed. Who ... who ... I don't know what to call! " the prince answers. He goes on to say that Olga is actually his adopted daughter.

(Here it is assumed that the listener knows the content of the opera "Vera Sheloga", which is the prologue to "The Pskovite Woman." Here is its summary (its plot is the first act of May's drama). Vera is sad: she is frightened by the return of her husband - during his long absence she gave birth to a daughter Olga. Once, while walking with the girls at the Caves Monastery. Vera met the young Tsar Ivan, fell in love with him. Olga is the Tsar's daughter, not Shelogi. How the unloved will meet her. her husband? Sheloga arrives with Tokmakov, Guessing that this is not his child, he interrogates Vera in anger. But Nadezhda takes the blame, boldly declaring that this is her child. Later (this is indirectly told in the opera "Pskovityanka") Tokmakov got married on Nadezhda and adopted Olga. She became the favorite of Pskov. Hence the name of May's drama and Rimsky-Korsakov's opera.) So, the old prince told the boyar a secret: Olga is not his daughter. (Prince Tokmakov revealed only half the truth to Matuta - he named his mother, but said about his father that he did not know, and he really, apparently, did not know who he was). Olga, hiding in the bushes, hears this; she can not help herself and cries out: "Lord!" Matuta is again alarmed by this cry. But at that moment in the city, in the Kremlin, a bell rang: one beat, another, a third ... The bell does not stop buzzing. Pskov people call a meeting. Matuta does not know what to do, whether to go with the prince or wait for him in the mansion; The prince reproaches the boyar for cowardice: “Stop it, Nikita! Here, perhaps, Pskov will have to be defended, and you are afraid to bake, like a woman. " In the end, both hurriedly leave. Olga comes out from behind the bushes, in excitement listens to the bell: “They are not ringing for good! They bury my happiness. " She covers her face with her hands and sits down on the bench.

From the bell ringing that accompanies the end of the first picture, the following orchestral intermezzo grows. Soon the themes of Tsar Ivan the Terrible were intertwined in it.

Scene two

Shopping area in Pskov. Veche place. Bonfires were laid out on the square. A bell is buzzing at the Trinity Bell Tower. Night. Crowds of people hurriedly enter the square from everywhere. Yushko Velebin, a Novgorod messenger, stands at the veche place; near him a circle of Pskovites. There are more and more people. Enter Mikhailo Tucha and the townspeople's children. Everyone is in alarm: who has rung the bell? It can be seen not for good. The messenger enters the veche place, takes off his cap and bows on three sides. he has bad news: "Your elder brother (Novgorod the Great. AM), dressed up, told you to live a long time, and to rule the commemoration for him." He tells the chilling details of the punishment inflicted by Tsar Ivan on the Novgorodians, and says that the Tsar with the oprichnina is going to Pskov. At first, the people are determined to defend their city by force. But the old prince Yuri Tokmakov takes the floor. On the contrary, he calls on the people of Pskov to meet the tsar with bread and salt (we will remember that he is the governor of the tsar in Pskov). His argument is, of course, erroneous (although, apparently, he himself believes in it), that the tsar does not go with punishment, but to bow to the Pskov shrine, and it is useless to meet him with a sixfinger and a cane as an enemy. (The six-fin is a kind of club, mace. Berdysh is a kind of ax on a long spear.) But now Mikhailo Tucha takes the floor. He does not like the prince's proposal. He paints a picture of Pskov's humiliation: "Knock off all the gates of the Kremlin, blunt your swords and spears, in churches, rip off the salaries from the icons to seditious laughter and joy!" He, Mikhailo Tucha, will not tolerate this - he is leaving. The cloud and together with him the brave freewoman (his squad) leave to hide in the woods, and then defend the freedom of Pskov. The people are in disarray. Prince Tokmakov is trying to reason with the people so that he hospitably met Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich. The beats of the veche bell are heard.

Second action. Scene one

Large square in Pskov. In the foreground is the tower of Prince Yuri Tokmakov. Tables with bread and salt are set at the houses. The people are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the tsar (the chorus "The terrible tsar goes to the great Pskov. There will be punishment for us, a cruel execution"). Olga and Vlasyevna come out onto the porch of the princely house. Olga has a heavy heart. She cannot come to her senses from the emotional blow that she received when she became an involuntary witness to the conversation between the prince and Matuta. She sings her arietta “Oh, mom, mom, I don’t have red fun! I don’t know who my father is and whether he is alive ”. Vlasyevna tries to calm her down. And then it turns out that Olga is passionately awaiting the arrival of Tsar Ivan, and for him her soul languished, and the light is not sweet to her without him. Vlasyevna is frightened and says (aside), as if anticipating something unkind: "Fate has lent you not many bright, clear days, child." The stage is filled with people. Bells ringing around the city. The royal procession is shown. The people bow to the belt to the king, who is riding on a horse, and kneel before him.

Scene two begins with an orchestral intermezzo depicting the fragile, ideal image of the opera's heroine, Olga. The melodies from which it is woven will subsequently sound in her story about childhood dreams, in her appeal to the king. The intermezzo leads directly to the stage action of the second scene. A room in the house of Prince Yuri Tokmakov. The Pskov nobility meets the tsar here. But the tsar is unfriendly - everywhere he sees treason. He suspects the poison in the goblet, which Olga brings him, and demands that the prince himself drink first. Then he orders Olga to bring it to him too; but not just with a bow, but with a kiss. Olga boldly looks straight into the eyes of the king. He is shocked by her resemblance to Vera Sheloga. Olga leaves, Tsar Ivan, with a gesture, drives away the others who were in the mansion. Now the king and prince are left alone in the mansion (even the doors are locked). And now Grozny asks Tokmakov who he was married to. The prince tells about his wife, Nadezhda, about her sister Vera and how Olga, Vera's illegitimate daughter, ended up in his house (that is, he briefly retells the content of the prologue to the opera Vera Sheloga). The Tsar clearly understands who Olga is for him. The shaken king exchanges anger for mercy: “Let all murders cease; a lot of blood! Let us blunt swords against stones. The Lord protects Pskov! "

Third action. Scene one

The third act begins with an orchestral musical picture, which the composer called “Forest. The royal hunt. Thunderstorm". With amazing skill, N.A.Rimsky-Korsakov gives in it a colorful depiction of Russian nature. A dense dark forest surrounds the road to the Pechersky Monastery. The sounds of the royal hunt are heard from afar - the signals of the hunting horns. They are joined by the warlike leitmotif of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. It gradually gets dark. A thunderstorm is coming. Stormy gusts of wind are heard in the orchestra. But then the storm passes, the thunder abates. The setting sun peeps out from behind the clouds. A song sounds from afar - the hay girls of Prince Tokmakov are singing. They accompany Olga to the monastery, where she goes on a pilgrimage. Olga deliberately lags slightly behind - she wants to be alone, because she must secretly meet here with Mikhailo Tucha, her lover. And then he appears. Their love duet sounds. Olga begs the Cloud to return with her to Pskov: the tsar is not formidable, his eyes look affectionately. These words of Olga touch the Cloud: “If you say so, leave me, then go to him, the destroyer,” he angrily throws at her. But Olga convinces him of her love, and their voices merge in a single impulse.

But the joy of Olga and Cloud was not long. Olga has long been watched by Matuta, offended by her indifference. And here, on the forest road, he finally found out the reason for her contempt for him: hiding in the bushes, he watched her meeting with the Cloud. And now, on his orders, his slaves attack the Cloud, wound him, and, having tied him up, take Olga with them. Matuta viciously rejoices, he threatens to tell Tsar Ivan about Cloud's betrayal.

Scene two

The royal rate. The back side is folded back; the wooded area and the steep bank of the Medeni River are visible. Night. The month is shining. The headquarters is covered with carpets; in front of the left bearskin on top of the carpet; on it a table covered with gold brocade with two candelabra; on the table a fur hat, a silver-forged sword, a pile, a glass, an inkwell and several scrolls. Here are the weapons. Tsar Ivan Vasilievich is alone. His monologue sounds ("Former joy, former passion, seething youth of dreams!"). Olga does not go out of his head. His thoughts are interrupted by the news that the tsar's guards have seized Matuta, who was trying to kidnap Olga. The Tsar does not want to listen to Matuta's slander against the Cloud and drives the boyar away. And Olga calls to her. She comes. At first, the tsar is wary of Olga's words, but now she frankly tells him about her childhood, how she still prayed for him, and that she dreamed about him at night. The king is moved and agitated.

Suddenly a noise is heard near the headquarters. These are the voices of the freemen of the Cloud detachment. It turns out that, having recovered from the wound, he gathered his soldiers and now attacked the tsar's headquarters, wanting to free Olga. Upon learning of this, the king, in anger, orders to shoot the rioters, and to bring the Cloud himself to him. The cloud, however, manages to avoid captivity, and from afar the words of his farewell song are heard to Olga. Olga breaks free and runs out of the bet. The command of Prince Vyazemsky sounds at the stake: "Shoot!" (The prince meant Mikhailo Tucha.) Olga was killed ...

The squad slowly enters with the dead Olga in their arms. At the sight of Olga, the tsar rushes to her. He grieves inconsolably, bending over her. Calls the doctor (Bomelia), but he is powerless: "The only Lord raises the dead" ...

The rate is filled with people mourning Olga. But there is no tragedy in the sound of the final chorus. His general mood is enlightened sadness.

A. Maykapar

The Woman of Pskov, the first opera by Rimsky-Korsakov and the only historical musical drama in his legacy, or, more precisely, a musical drama about history, has an unusually long and complex creative biography. Like Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky, it has not one, and not even two, but three author's editions, but, unlike Boris, these editions are dispersed in time: between the beginning of work on the opera and the end of its score in the third edition quarter of century. The second edition, which Rimsky-Korsakov worked on on the eve of May Night, does not exist today as a whole. Its character can be judged from various sources: in addition to the surviving but unpublished materials belonging to this edition itself, according to Rimsky-Korsakov's self-reviews in the Chronicle and conversations with Yastrebtsev, as well as by those fragments that remained in the third edition, or were included by the author in the music for May's drama "The Pskovite Woman" (1877; overture to the Prologue and four symphonic intermissions), or in a revised form were included in the opera "The Boyar Lady Vera Sheloga" (completed in 1897), or they form an independent opus ("The Verse about Alexei God man "for chorus and orchestra).

The composer himself emphasized that the third edition is a “real” type of opera and that here he “generally did not deviate from the first edition,” that is, he returned to it. This is true if one compares the final version with the intermediate version, but still not with the original one, and between the first and third versions of the opera a relationship arises that is somewhat reminiscent of the relationship between the two author's versions of Boris Godunov. True, the quantitative discrepancies between the texts of the first and third editions of Pskovityanka are less than between the two editions of Musorgsky's opera; the insertions of new music in the third edition do not change the concept of operatic action so radically as the Polish scenes and Kromy, and yet they inform the opera a different look than the original one. The first version of "Pskovityanka" was performed on stage only in the premiere production of the Mariinsky Theater, and nevertheless it makes sense - at least in the historical aspect - to regard this text as original and independent.

(This point of view contradicts the opinion of the overwhelming majority of researchers who unequivocally prefer the third edition and analyze the opera only in the text of the early 90s or turn to the first edition in a purely comparative way in order to prove its imperfection. But there is still another research concept in relation to This opera, which recognizes the independent value of the first edition. It was reflected, for example, in the book by M. Druskin "Questions of the musical drama of opera" (Moscow, 1952), in the article by the American researcher Richard Taruskin "The past in the present.")

Speaking about the influences he experienced during the period of work on "The Pskovite Woman" (1868-1871), Rimsky-Korsakov names five names: Mussorgsky, Cui, Dargomyzhsky, Balakirev, Liszt. With the deduction of Liszt, whose influence in "Pskovityanka" could affect mainly the chord-harmonic sphere, and with the addition of the "forgotten" Borodin, who was then working on the symphonic and opera-historical epic - the Second Symphony and "Prince Igor", we get the full composition " The Mighty Handful ”in the most fruitful period of its existence. The influence on Rimsky-Korsakov of Cui and Dargomyzhsky, most of all related, of course, to the operatic form and recitative style, was very intense during this period: the composition of "The Woman of Pskov" first proceeded against the background of frequent home performances of the almost completed "Stone Guest" and the forthcoming production " William Ratcliff ”, and then was suspended by Rimsky-Korsakov's work on the score of Dargomyzhsky's opera (some numbers in Cui's opera were also instrumented by him). The influence of Mussorgsky and Balakirev was indicated, first of all, by pointing to the drama of May, a writer well known to both of them from his works and personally (but by the time Rimsky-Korsakov appeared on the musical horizon, who had already passed away), whose poems they wrote romances, whose plays they looked closely for a long time (for example, Balakirev at one time intended to take the plot of The Tsar's Bride, and then recommended it to Borodin; back in 1866, he gave Rimsky-Korsakov a text from the first act of Meev's "Pskovite Woman", on which the beautiful "Lullaby" was written, later included in "Boyarynya Vera Sheloga"). In the process of composing the opera, Balakirev interfered little, not considering himself competent in this genre; in addition, the end of "Pskovityanka" coincided with a grave crisis in his life. Musorgsky, Nikolsky, Stasov acted as advisers on the layout of the libretto, the search for texts, etc. But the examples of highly artistic, innovative interpretation of folk song, given in the Balakirev collection of 1866, most decisively determined the meaning of the song in the drama of "Pskovityanka" and influenced its musical language as a whole. At the beginning of work on the opera, Mussorgsky's The Marriage appeared, and then the first edition of Boris Godunov, which deeply impressed the audience, including Rimsky-Korsakov. The second edition of Boris and the score of The Pskovite Woman ended simultaneously and even within the same walls - in the months of joint living of the two composers, and it is symbolic that only a month separates the premiere of The Pskovite from the first public performance of Musorgsky's opera (premiere of The Pskovity - 1 January 1873, three scenes from Boris, directed by G. P. Kondratyev, - February 5 of the same year). In addition, during the period of "Pskovityanka" there was a collective composition by four Kuchkists of Gedeon's "Mlada", which also encouraged a constant exchange of musical ideas. Thus, the dedication of the opera in the first edition - “To my dear musical circle” (filmed in the third edition) - is not a simple declaration: it is an expression of gratitude to comrades, a deeply realized unity of goals.

Subsequently, the style of "Pskovityanka", unique in the work of Rimsky-Korsakov, was often considered "under the sign of" Boris "," which Rimsky-Korsakov himself gave a reason for with some of his statements. Undoubtedly, this opera, especially in the first edition, is the most “Mussorgian” among the works of Rimsky-Korsakov, which was already determined by the genre of “The Pskovite Woman”. But it is also important to note that the influence was not one-sided, but mutual, and much was born, apparently, in joint searches: for example, if the "forced glorification" in the coronation scene, the popular laments in the Prologue and the scene "At St. Basil's" chronologically precede the scene of the meeting of the Terrible Pskovites close in meaning, then the brilliant "Veche" prefaces "Kromy", and Vlasyevna's Tale - the tower scenes of "Boris Godunov".

What was in common was that courage, that maximalism with which both young composers undertook to embody the most complex problems of Russian history by means of a musical drama of a new type. It is noteworthy, in particular, that both of the plays - Pushkin's and Mey's - by the beginning of work on the operas were under a censorship ban for staging on stage. As a result, what was common for both operas was the natural, zeitgeist conditioned ambiguity of their concepts: both Boris and Ivan combine contradictory principles - good in them is in an inevitable struggle with evil, “personal” with “state”; the riots in the clearing near Kromy and on the Pskov Veche Square were written with enthusiasm and deep emotional sympathy, but also with a foreboding of their doom. It is no coincidence that hostile reviewers came up with a comparison with the "painful", "split" Dostoevsky (with the recently published "Crime and Punishment"), not only in connection with "Boris" Mussorgsky and its central character, but also in connection with "Pskovityanka" and its main characters - Tsar Ivan and Olga.

Without continuing further, the comparison of the operas of Rimsky-Korsakov and Mussorgsky is a separate big topic - we will only point out that the work on them proceeded in a similar way: directly from the texts of dramas, enriching them with samples of folk art.

Studies usually emphasize that Rimsky-Korsakov deepened the concept of May's drama, discarding many "purely everyday" episodes, including the entire first act, and "sharply strengthening the role of the people." Perhaps it would be more correct to first point out that in the work of this wonderful Russian writer, friend and adherent of A.N. Ostrovsky, the composer found a harmonious consonance with his nature: the desire for truth and beauty, based on a broad knowledge of the Russian folk outlook, history , everyday life, language; poise, objectivity, so to speak, non-tendentious feelings and thoughts, colored with warmth of the heart. Subsequently, Rimsky-Korsakov "voiced" all of May's dramaturgy. In "Pskovityanka" he did not need to rethink the main idea, and the concept of the opera coincides with Meev's (expressed both in the text of the drama and in the author's historical notes to it): this is the same combination, sometimes turning into a struggle between "Karamzinsky" and "Solovievsky "," State "and" federalist "beginnings, tendencies in the disclosure of the historical process, which marked both" Boris "by Mussorgsky in the second edition, and, for example, the concept of Balakirev's" Rus ".

(This issue is covered in detail in the above-mentioned books by A. A. Gozenpud and A. I. Kandinsky; R. Taruskin gives a modern interpretation of it in the above work. and the Pskov freemen - the beginning of the "federalist" is removed by the death of Olga, who, by the will of fate, is involved in both warring forces. Such a resolution of an insoluble contradiction through the sacrifice of the female soul, first appearing in "The Pskovite", appears repeatedly in the following operas by Rimsky-Korsakov ("The Snow Maiden" , "Sadko" - the image of Volkhov, "The Tsar's Bride", "Servilia", "Kitezh" - Fevronia and Grishka Kuterma).)

Indeed, in accordance with the aesthetics of Kuchkism of the 60s, the drama is purified from "everyday life" the first and fourth acts, the glorification of the king in the house of Tokmakov. But the culmination of the two lines of the opera - the scene of the veche and the reasoning of Tsar Ivan in the last act - are written almost exactly after May (of course, with reductions and rearrangements that are inevitable due to the specifics of the opera and a strong decrease in the number of characters). As for the magnificent scene of the meeting of Terrible, with May only outlined, and the epilogue, composed anew, here, in addition to the successful find of V.V.Nikolsky, the high generalizing power of music came to the rescue, which could express what the drama of the last century did not under the force - an integral image of the people.

B. V. Asafiev called the "Pskovite" " opera-chronicle", Thus defining the general tone of the musical narration - objective, restrained-epic and the general direction of musical characteristics - their constancy, stability. This does not exclude a versatile display of the images of Ivan and Olga (but only them: all other characters are determined immediately, and the characters of the two main characters do not develop, but rather are revealed), nor the introduction of diverse genre elements (everyday life, love drama, landscape, light strokes of comic and fantasy), but all of them are given in subordination to the main idea, the main carrier of which, as befits in the opera-chronicle, becomes the chorus: and seething with internal collisions the choirs of the Pskovites at the veche (the idea of ​​choral recitatives and semantic contradictions of choral groups, declared in the first edition of Boris, gets a truly symphonic development here), and the "fresco" (A. I. Kandinsky) choir of the meeting of the tsar funeral service.

(It naturally evokes an analogy with the epilogue of the second edition of Boris Godunov, especially since the end of Mussorgsky's opera with the Cry of the Fool, which is absent in Pushkin, as well as the mourning for Olga and Pskov's liberty, which is absent in May, are proposed by one man - Nikolsky. of the finals composed at the same time, the difference between the historical, artistic, personal outlook of the two artists, brought up by the same school, is especially pronounced: the piercing and alarming questioning of the future in Mussorgsky and the reconciling, cathartic conclusion in Rimsky-Korsakov.)

A very important find of the composer in the scene of the veche is the introduction to the culmination of a cappell song with solo melodies (the departure of Clouds and the freemen from the veche). This idea was proposed by Mei, as well as some other song episodes of the drama (the chorus "On Raspberries", the song of the Clouds (in the drama - Fours) ("Cheer up, cuckoo"), and the poet relied here on Ostrovsky's dramatic aesthetics, according to which the folk the song becomes a lofty symbol of human destiny.Rimsky-Korsakov, armed with the means of music, went even further in this sense, making a folk song in the vecheh scene a symbol of destiny the people, and this discovery of his was accepted by both Mussorgsky in the second edition of Boris ("Dispersed, roamed" in "Kromakh"), and Borodin in "Prince Igor" (chorus of villagers). It is also important that both expanded episodes of the love drama - duets of Olga and Tucha in the first and fourth acts (remember the meaning of songs and - more broadly - folk beliefs, folk speech in Ostrovsky's dramatic concept of "The Thunderstorm"). For this, Rimsky-Korsakov received a lot of criticism from critics, including Cui, who did not understand how exactly this objective - not “from oneself,” but through “the people’s petty” - the expression of personal feelings corresponds to the general structure of the work. Here Rimsky-Korsakov, like Mussorgsky in the second edition of Boris, follows a new path, moving away from The Stone Guest and Ratcliffe and continuing Life for the Tsar (and perhaps listening to Serov's experiments).

The peculiarity of "Pskovityanka" is a very dense saturation of the musical fabric not only with leitmotifs, but also with leitharmonies, leitintonations. Perhaps this is precisely the quality the composer had in mind when he wrote the words “symmetry and dryness” in his description of his first opera. In his review of the premiere, Cui attributed to the main shortcomings of "Pskovityanka" "some of its monotony ... which stems from a small variety of musical ideas ... mostly related to each other." Among the frequently repeated criticisms of the critic, there was also the accusation of excessive "symphonism", that is, in transferring the main musical-thematic action in a number of scenes to the orchestral part. Based on modern auditory experience, one could talk about the remarkable stylistic consistency of the intonational structure of the opera, its deep correspondence to the place, time, character, as well as a significant degree of asceticism and radicalism in solving the problems of musical drama and speech inherent in the "Pskovite" (quality, inherited by her, undoubtedly, from The Stone Guest by Dargomyzhsky and very close to the first edition of Boris Godunov). The best example of ascetic drama is the final chorus in the first edition: not a detailed epilogue crowning a monumental historical drama, but a simple, very short choral song that breaks off, as it were, in mid-sentence, at the intonation of a sigh. The most radical in design is the monothematic characterization of the tsar, which, in addition to the last scene with Olga, is centered around the archaic "formidable" theme (according to V. V. Yastrebtsev's recording, heard by the composer in his childhood in the singing of Tikhvin monks) with accompanying leitharmonies: it skillfully varies in the orchestra, and the declamatory vocal part seems to be superimposed on the theme, sometimes coinciding with certain sections with it, then moving quite far away. B. V. Asafiev remarkably aptly compared the meaning of the theme of the tsar in the opera with the meaning of the theme-leader in the fugue, and the method of monothematic characterization with icon painting (“he recalls the rhythm of lines of ancient Russian icons and reveals to us the face of Terrible in that sacred halo, which the king himself constantly relied on ... "). In the leit complex of Grozny, the harmonic style of the opera is also concentrated - "austere and internally tense ... often with a tart archaic flavor" (A. I. Kandinsky). In Thoughts on My Own Operas, the composer called this style "pretentious", but it would be better, using his own term in relation to Wagner, to call the harmony of the "Pskovite" "exquisite."

The themes of Olga are carried out with the same constancy, which, in accordance with the main dramatic idea, come close now to the themes of Pskov and the freemen, now to the songs of Grozny; a special area is formed by intonations of a non-genre character associated with Olga's prophetic forebodings - it is they who raise the main female image of the opera high, taking it away from ordinary operatic collisions and placing it on a par with the majestic images of the tsar and the free city. The analysis of the recitatives of The Pskovite Woman, performed by M. S. Druskin, shows how meaningfully the leitintonation and genre coloring of intonations are also used in other vocal parts of the opera: “One should look for their strengths not in the bright individuality of the characters' speech, but in their typical warehouse, which each time in its own way reflects the main ideological orientation of the opera ”(Druskin MS).

The history of the production of "The Pskovite Woman" at the Mariinsky Theater, associated with numerous censorship difficulties, is detailed in the "Chronicle". The opera was staged and performed by the same group of theatrical figures, which a year later achieved the passage of the second edition of "Boris" on the stage. The audience's response was very sympathetic, the success was great and stormy, especially among young people, but despite this "Pskovityanka", like "Boris", did not stay long in the repertoire. Among the reviews of critics, the reviews of Cui and Laroche stand out - in that they set the tone and determine the directions in which criticism of new operas by Rimsky-Korsakov will be conducted over the course of decades: inept declamation, subordinating the text to music; preference for “symphonic” (in the sense of instrumental) forms over purely operatic ones; the preponderance of the choral principle over the personal lyric; predominance of "skillful construction" over "depth of thought", generally dryness of melody, abuse of folk or folk thematicism, etc. There is no need to talk about the injustice of these reproaches, but it is important to note that the composer took note of some of them while working on the second and third editions of the opera. In particular, he developed and melodized the parts of Olga and Ivan, made many recitatives more free and melodious. However, the experience of approximating the concept of "Pskovityanka" in the second edition to the literary source, which led to the inclusion in it of a number of lyrical and everyday episodes (prologue, "cheerful couple" - Stesha and Four, an extended game of burners, a game of grandmothers, Stesha's conversation with the king, a change the final of the drama, etc.), as well as the scene of the royal hunt and the meeting of the tsar with the holy fool, composed by Stasov, not only made the opera heavy, but weakened and eroded its main content, took musical drama towards the stencils of the drama and opera theater. "Transition", characteristic of the works of Rimsky-Korsakov of the 70s, stylistic instability reflected, thus, and "Pskovityanka".

In the third edition, a lot has returned (usually in a revised form) to its place. The introduction of the musical pictures Vechevoy Nabat and Forest, Thunderstorm, Tsar's Hunt in conjunction with the overture and the previously existing orchestral intermezzo - Olga's portrait, as well as the expanded chorus of the epilogue, formed an end-to-end symphonic drama. The opera undoubtedly won in the beauty of its sound, in the stability and balance of forms: it seemed to have acquired the qualities inherent in the style of Rimsky-Korsakov of the 90s. At the same time, losses in the acuity, novelty, originality of drama and language turned out to be inevitable, including the northern and, more specifically, the Pskov flavor of musical speech, which was truly “captured by a miracle” (Rimsky-Korsakov's words about the color of the poem “Sadko”) by the novice operatic composer (This is especially noticeable in the softening of the harsh dissonances of the overture, in the more traditional lyrical mood of the new episodes of Olga's part, in the beautiful scene of the royal hunt that has analogues in opera literature.)... Therefore, the recognition of the composer to Yastrebtsev seems to be very important, which is rarely paid attention to. In January 1903, Rimsky-Korsakov, arguing about the need for an artist to listen “exclusively to the inner voice of his inner feeling, creative instinct,” remarked: “But my 'revised' 'Pskovite woman' - isn't this a kind of concession to insistence and Glazunov's advice? After all, “May Night” has its own shortcomings, and, however, it would never even occur to me to process it again ”.

M. Rakhmanova

This early opera was written by Rimsky-Korsakov under the influence and with the active participation of members of the "Balakirev circle". The composer dedicated his work to them. The premiere of the opera was not an absolute success. The composer too sharply rejected the traditional forms of operatic art (arias, ensembles), the composition was dominated by the recitative-declamatory style. Dissatisfied with his creation, the composer rewrote the score twice.

The premiere of the last version of the opera in 1896 became historic (Moscow Private Russian Opera, the part of Ivan was performed by Chaliapin). With great success, "The Pskovite Woman" (titled "Ivan the Terrible") was shown in Paris (1909) as part of the Russian Seasons organized by Diaghilev (the title role from the Spanish Chaliapin, directed by Sanin).

Discography: CD - Great Opera Performances. Deer. Shippers, Ivan the Terrible (Hristov), ​​Olga (Panni), Cloud (Bertochchi) - Gramophone record Melody. Deer. Sakharov, Ivan the Terrible (A. Pirogov), Olga (Shumilova), Tucha (Nelepp).

On March 24, in the Memorial Museum-Apartment of N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (Zagorodny Ave., 28), the exhibition "Tragedies of Love and Power" was opened: "The Pskovite Woman", "The Tsar's Bride", "Servilia". The project, dedicated to three operas based on the dramatic works of Lev Mey, completes a series of chamber exhibitions that, since 2011, have systematically introduced the general public to the operatic legacy of Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov.

“Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov, the Great Meyer,” is written in gold embossing on a ribbon presented to the composer. Dramas, poetry, translations - the work of Lev Aleksandrovich Mei attracted Rimsky-Korsakov for almost his entire life. Some of the opera's materials - heroes, images, musical elements - were transferred to The Tsar's Bride, and later migrated to Servilia, which seemed so far from the dramas of the era of Ivan the Terrible. The focus of the three operas is on light female images, a fragile world of beauty and purity, which perishes as a result of the invasion of power forces embodied in their quintessence, be it the Moscow tsar or the Roman consul. Three doomed brides of May - Rimsky-Korsakov - this is one emotional line, striving to the highest expression in the image of Fevronia in "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh". Olga, Martha and Servilia, loving, sacrificial, anticipating death, were brilliantly embodied on stage by the Korsakov ideal - N.I. Zabela-Vrubel, with her unearthly voice, ideally suited for these parties.

The opera "The Tsar's Bride" is familiar to the general audience more than other operas by Rimsky-Korsakov. The funds of the Museum of Theatrical and Musical Art have preserved evidence of many performances: from the premiere at the Private Theater of S. I. Mamontov in 1899 to the performances of the last quarter of the 20th century. These are sketches of costumes and scenery by K.M. Ivanov, E.P. Ponomarev, S.V. Zhivotovsky, V.M. Zaitseva, original works by D.V. Afanasyev - two-layer sketches of costumes imitating the relief of fabric. The central place at the exhibition will be occupied by sketches of scenery and costumes by S. M. Yunovich. In 1966, she created one of the best performances in the entire history of the stage life of this opera - piercing, tense, tragic, like the life and fate of the artist herself. At the exhibition, for the first time, Marfa's costume for the soloist of the Tiflis Opera I. M. Korsunskaya will be presented. According to legend, this costume was bought from the maid of honor of the Imperial Court. Later, Korsunskaya presented the costume to L.P. Filatova, who also took part in the play by S.M. Yunovich.

"The Woman of Pskov", chronologically the first opera by Rimsky-Korsakov, will not accidentally be presented in the final exhibition of the cycle. Work on this "opera-chronicle" was dispersed in time, three editions of the work cover a significant part of the composer's creative biography. At the exhibition, visitors will see a sketch of the scenery by M.P. Zandin, a stage costume, a collection of May's dramatic works published by Kushelev-Bezborodko from Rimsky-Korsakov's personal library. The score of the opera "Boyarynya Vera Sheloga", which became a prologue to "The Pskovite Woman", with an autograph of V.

V. Yastrebtsev - the composer's biographer. The exposition also presents memorial tapes: “N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov“ Pskovityanka ”Benefit performance of the orchestra 28.H.1903. Orchestra of Imperial Russian Music "; "N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov "in memory of my rabbi Ivan" Pskovite woman 28 X 903. SPB ".

Chaliapin, who suffered through every intonation of the party of Ivan the Terrible, who is torn between love for his new-found daughter and the burden of power, turned the historical drama of "The Pskovite Woman" into a true tragedy.

Visitors to the exhibition will have a unique opportunity to get acquainted with Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Servilia, presented by E. Ponomarev's costume sketches for the premiere performance at the Mariinsky Theater in 1902; stage costume, which will be exhibited for the first time in an open exhibition, as well as the clavier of the opera with the composer's personal notes. Opera has not appeared on the stage of the theater or in the concert hall for several decades. There is no complete record of Servilia either. The museum's appeal to the forgotten opera by Rimsky-Korsakov, planned a few years ago, surprisingly coincided today with the expectation of an outstanding event - the upcoming production of Servilia at the V.I. B. A. Pokrovsky. Before the premiere, scheduled for April 15, Gennady Rozhdestvensky also plans to make the first ever recording of Servilia. This will fill the empty window in the majestic opera house of N.A.Rimsky-Korsakov.

The genre is a lyric and psychological drama.

The premiere of the opera took place in 1899 at the private opera of S. Mamontov. The costumes were created by M. Vrubel, the part of Martha was performed by N. Zabela.

Rimsky-Korsakov turned to the historical plot three times. All three operas based on historical themes were based on dramas by Lev Mey. The first was "The Woman of Pskov", then - "The Boyaryn Vera Sheloga", the plot of which precedes the events of "The Woman of Pskov", and "The Tsar's Bride". All three dramas are associated with the era of Ivan the Terrible.

I. The plot basis of the opera. The “Tsar's Bride” is based on a real historical event: Ivan the Terrible chose a third wife for himself, having gathered about 2,000 girls from merchant and boyar families (N.M. Karamzin writes about this in “History of the Russian State.” He chose the daughter of a new-city merchant Marfa Sobakin, but the tsar's bride fell ill before the wedding. The wedding took place, but Martha soon died. Lev May rethought this event in his drama in a romantic way, creating a complex psychological intrigue around the death of the tsar's chosen one. The concept of May's play in the opera is almost unchanged. ..

P. Refraction of the historical theme. The composer's interest in history arose under the influence of Mussorgsky. Boris Godunov and Pskovityanka were created at the same time. However, Rimsky-Korsakov focuses not on large-scale crowd scenes, but on the lyrical and psychological plot line. He is more attracted to the problem of personality immersion. To historical era.

P. A peculiar refraction of the historical theme determines the complexity of the dramatic organization. There are several dramatic "circles" in the opera, forming a concentric structure. The center of plot collisions is Marfa Sobakina. The first dramatic circle is the love of Martha and Ivan Lykov. This is the lyrical plot line. Second circle - love for Martha the guardsman Gryazny and at the same time the tragedy of Lyubasha thrown by him. This is the dramatic line of the opera, by sc because it is where sit the main intrigue of the plot is formed. III the circle unites all the characters with Ivan the Terrible. It is at this level of drama that it is shown how the historical epoch (which is symbolized by Ivan the Terrible) can control personal destiny. As the pure love of Martha and Ivan Lykov, so the intrigues of Lyubash and Gryazny are broken against the tsar's decision.

III. The musical language of the opera is a vivid example of Rimsky-Korsakov's arious style, to which the composer approached for a long time, having written a large number of romances. To embody the dramatic concept, the composer builds a complex system of leittem in the opera.

IV. Characteristics of the main characters

Martha is lyrical, ideal and absolutely passive character. Image exposition - aria II actions with three themes that will accompany the heroine in the final scenes of the opera. The development of the image is associated with the strengthening of the traits of doom and tragedy. The culmination is the scene of madness “Ah, Vanya, Vanya! What kind of dreams are there! " (the theme of madness appears un-

how much earlier, in the preceding quintet) and arias of act IV, where all three leit themes take place.

Grigory Gryaznoy- the most active and difficult character. This is a man driven by his passions. He commits crimes not because he is angry, but because his feelings are unbridled. You can draw a certain analogy with Don Juan.

The exposition of the image is the aria of the first act “Where have you gone before?” An unrequited person in love. The image is revealed in ensemble scenes (with Bomeliy and Lyubasha in act II): on the one hand, Gryaznoy is characterized as a person who will not be stopped in the execution of his plan, on the other hand, in the scene with Lyubasha his ability to feel and regret deed. Arietta III in action demonstrates the hero's feigned humility, an imaginary rejection of his plans. Act IV is the culmination and denouement of the image. Arioso “She is sick, and cries and grieves” shows the hero's hope for the success of his plan. Scene with Lyubasha and Arioso “Innocent Sufferer” is the denouement of the development of the image, demonstrating the hero's repentance, his desire for punishment for what he had done.

Lyubasha- like Martha, this heroine is revealed in a rather one-dimensional way: she is a strong personality, obsessed with one idea - to return Gryaznoy's love. The exposition of the image is a tragic song from the first act "Equip quickly". Development takes place in Act I, in a trio with Gryazny and Bomeliy, in a duet with Gryazny. A significant stage in the development of the image is the arioso “Oh, I’ll find your sorceress” from action I, where Lyubasha decides to “open up” her rival. The next stage is the scene of Lyubasha and Bomelia, where Martha's death is served a foregone conclusion. The denouement of the image is the scene of Gryaznoy and Lyubasha in Act IV, where Lyubasha dies.

Ivan groznyj, although it is the central figure in the events of the opera, it has no vocal characteristic. He appears briefly at the beginning of Act II.

Overture ch.t. - the first 8 bars of the beat. t. - p. Ts.Z