Opera "Boris Godunov": content, video, interesting facts, history

Mn Mussorgsky opera "Boris Godunov"

Opera Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky "Boris Godunov"- this is an extraordinary work of its strength, design and musical language. It is written on the libretto of the composer himself, in the same tragedy of A. Pushkin.

Summary of the opera Mussorgsky "Boris Godunov" and a lot of interesting facts about this work read on our page.

Summary of "Boris Godunov"

It is known that the opera is based on genuine historical events telling about difficult times for the country, which occurred with the death of Boris Godunov, the arrival of the Poles and the False Dmitry. It is no coincidence that its genre Mussorgsky defined as folk music drama, because the main character in it is the people, and the scenes with it occupy a central place in drama.

All the action takes place in the years 1598-1605, before the start of the hardest time for the country and the people - “Time of Troubles”. Perhaps the central place in the opera is occupied by the tragedy of Boris himself. After the unexpected death of Tsarevich Dimitrii, he ascended the throne, seemingly reached the highest authority. And he was elected by the people. But Boris deeply worries his own tragedy and is worried about his family. He is very worried about his daughter, who lost her fiancé, for her still young son. But most of all, the thoughts of the innocently murdered prince Dimitri torment his soul. It should be noted that in the work of A.S. Pushkin and MP libretto. Mussorgsky considers the version of Boris Godunov’s involvement in the murder of an infant, but this is only based on popular rumor.

In addition, the Time of Troubles is brewing in the country, an impostor appears, a runaway monk Gregory Otrepiev, who, having heard from the chronicler the story of the murdered prince, proclaims himself Dimitry. In addition, he enlisted the support of the Poles. Having gathered his army, he goes to Moscow to regain "his" throne.

As a result, Godunov, tormented by the constant visions of the slain prince and torture of conscience, dies, passing the throne under the law to his son Fyodor. And for the people there comes a dark time, which in its final song is predicted by the holy fool from the picture of the popular uprising.

Interesting Facts

• After the premiere in 1874, the opera lasted on stage for several years. However, the performance was given with arbitrary abbreviations. ON. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote that there was a view that the opera did not like the royal family.
• The drama received its real vocation later, in 1898 already in the editorial office of N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. It was this version that appealed to the public, and the triumphal ascent of the opera began in domestic and foreign scenes.
• An interesting fact is related to one of the productions of "Boris Godunov", held on January 6, 1911 in the Mariinsky Theater, where the role of the king was played by F. Chaliapin. Emperor Nicholas II attended the hall with his family. Participants of the troupe (choir members and part of the soloists) decided on an adventurous act - to play a performance for the emperor on the stage in order to achieve a salary increase. At the height of the opera, the performers fell to their knees, stretched out their hands and began to sing a pre-prepared hymn to the king. At this time, the directorate of the theater and the director rushed behind the scenes in horror, even Shalyapin himself, not knowing about the action being prepared, hurried to the stage and froze in amazement. However, all this was in vain. Nicholas II did not understand the hint of the soloists, their singing was not discriminating, so everyone decided that in this way they show love for the emperor. Moreover, F. Chaliapin was accused of non-collectivist behavior, because he did not fall on his knees before the sovereign himself.

• In its first edition Mussorgsky wrote down every movement of performers on the stage, right up to facial expressions. Many researchers compare it with the script of the movie.
• Such a huge number of editions explained Rimsky-Korsakov in his preface to the opera. He wrote that after the first appearance on the scene the work caused the opposite opinion. So, on the one hand, this is an unusually talented work, imbued with the popular spirit and history, with lively and vivid scenes. On the other hand, there are noticeable flaws in the technical side: inconvenient voice parts, poor instrumentation, inaccuracies in voice science. That is why he took up the first edition of Musorgsky's opera, trying to preserve the original source as precisely as possible, but to smooth out all inaccuracies and errors.
• By the way, Godunov was the first king elected by the people.
• It is noteworthy that while working on his works, Mussorgsky never made preliminary sketches, preferring to think long and write down already finished music. That is why his work progressed more slowly than other composers.
• The terrible scene from the point of view of morality under Kromy, with a distraught people brutally cracking down on the boyar, was cut from the performances of the Imperial Theaters. Only after the October Revolution were they able to return it.

Popular arias and numbers

Song of the Fool "Month is coming, the kitten is crying" - to listen

Boris monologue "The soul grieves" - listen

Varlaam's song "How in the city was in Kazan" - listen

Chorus of peasants "Gaida! Dispersed, power-prowess valiantly cleared" - to listen

History of creation

In 1868, a friend of Mussorgsky - V. Nikolsky suggested that he look at the work of A. Pushkin "Boris Godunov". The composer liked the tragedy and he almost immediately began writing the opera. Libretto Mussorgsky decided to create on his own, especially since he relied on the original source - the tragedy of Pushkin, and also actively used facts from the “History of the Russian State” N. Karamzin.

The work so quickly fascinated the composer that after 1.5 months the first act was already written. Separate scenes and compositions Mussorgsky submitted to the court before members "Mighty handful"who were going to A. Dargomyzhsky or sisters M. Glinka. Everyone, without exception, was delighted to hear. Even the critic V. Stasov spoke very warmly about the new creation of the composer.

A year later, the work was fully completed and the score was proposed by the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters. But the composer was greatly disappointed, because the work was not approved. In 1871-1872, Mussorgsky presented his second version. Here he adds the scene of a popular uprising in the final, but the editors again reject the manuscript. The composer found this explanation. He considered that it is connected with music - it is too new. This is partly true, since the harmonic language is truly innovative. Suffice it to recall the scene from Act II with the chimes or the Prologue with a bell ringing. In these fragments of the opera, Musorgsky acquaints listeners with sonoristics.

Despite a decisive refusal in the production, some scenes from the performance were already performed that year. Thus, the Russian Musical Society presented to the public the scene of the coronation, under the direction of conductor E. Napravnik. In the same year, the Free Music School introduced listeners to the polonaise from Act III. A little later, in 1873, the singer Yulia Platonova managed to achieve the performance of three scenes from the opera, which she included in her benefit performance.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the fact that this opera has a large number of editions. Only according to official sources there are about six of them. So, two were written by Musorgsky himself, a little later N. Rimsky-Korsakov created the same number, then the opera was edited by M. Ippolitov-Ivanov, D. Shostakovich, John Gutman, Karol Rathgauz. It is noteworthy that each of these options represents its sequence of scenes and includes different parts in the context of the original source. Plus, in the last two modern versions, Mussorgsky’s orchestration returns.

Productions

The premiere of the performance took place at the Mariinsky Theater on January 27, 1874, under the direction of conductor E. Napravnik. Despite the controversial reviews, sometimes too enthusiastic or frankly negative, the opera lasted a few years in the repertoire, although it was already performed with some cuts. So, after the premiere, for 10 years the play was staged only 15 times, and in 1881 it was completely excluded from the repertoire. After that, the audience could enjoy the wonderful music of Mussorgsky again only in December 1888, when the opera was put on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater. However, in the capital, the fate of the work was not very successful, after 10 performances, it was also removed from the stage in 1890. Rimsky-Korsakov decided to rectify the situation and presented his first edition, which was staged on November 28, 1896 at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. The editor himself acted as a conductor. This option came to mind the public.

The opera was truly recognized in December 1898, when the production took place at the Solodovnik Theater in Moscow, under the direction of conductor I. Truffy. Boris was performed by the legendary Fyodor Shalyapin. This version allowed to present the opera in other cities, and everywhere there was undoubted success.

The scandalous production took place in November 1904 at the Mariinsky Theater. The director decided to use the old decorations, renewing them. The main soloist F. Shalyapin did not like this much and he almost blew off the performance, refusing to go on stage.

In May 1908, residents and guests of Paris were able to see the genuine Russian drama "Boris Godunov" at the premiere of the Grand Opera. Her performance was timed to the famous Dygilevsky Russian seasons. The opera was a huge success, and the soloist Natalia Yermolenko-Uzhinu, who played the part of Marina Mnishek, was even presented to the Order of the Legion of Honor.

The New York public was able to get acquainted with the opera "Boris Godunov" in March 1913, while setting in the Metropolitan Opera. Conducted by Arturo Toscanini.
Several times the opera was also screened. In 1955, the film was directed by V. Stroev, in 1987 - Derek Bailey. In 1989, A. Zhulavsky was filmed with the participation of Galina Vishnevskaya in the role of Marina and Rugelo Raimondi - the party of Boris. The orchestra was conducted by M. Rostropovich.

In the fall of 2010, viewers in New York were able to get acquainted with the new reading of “Boris Godunov” thanks to the directorial work of Steven Wadsworth and conductor Valery Gergiev. This performance was technically equipped, it could be seen online anywhere in the world and feel among the audience in the hall. The role of Boris was assigned to the most charismatic bass - Rene Pape. By the way, originally the director of the performance was Peter Stein, however, he was forced to leave, because of the humiliating attitude towards himself in the American consulate.

The audience remembered the premiere of "Boris Godunov", which was held in June 2015. Its main difference is that it took place on the territory of the Holy Trinity Belopesotsky monastery. Such an unusual project "Russian Opera in the Russian Monastery" was blessed by the Metropolitan of Krutitsy and Kolomna Juvenal.

An unusual production of the opera took place in November 2015 at the Novosibirsk Opera House. She went along with the infographics so that the comments shown there would help the audience to better immerse themselves in the work and the historical epoch, and the directors decided to completely remove the Polish Act. They explained this by the fact that in the very first version of Mussorgsky he was absent.

Mussorgsky's drama is by right a real masterpiece, it is included in the repertoire of many world theaters. Interestingly, the opera itself has many versions and a rather difficult fate.