Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov

Description

Modest MUSSORGSKY (1839-1881)Boris GodunovThe masters of Russian opera owed much to Italian models.Glinka, father of the genre, spent valuable time in Italy; Tchaikovsky loved toholiday there, soaking up the ambience; and even that rough diamond Mussorgskytook inspiration from an Italian - in his case, Verdi. In 1862 La forza deldestino was given its premi?â?¿re in St Petersburg: it was an episodic 'revenger'stragedy' in which the action was played out against a background of tavern,church and war, with the chorus usually representing the common people. It evenfeatured a comic monk. La forza del destino cast a long shadow on Mussorgsky'smasterpieces Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina - and in view of the reputation itgained for bringing bad luck, perhaps it put the evil eye on Boris. Certainly thismagnificent opera, which seems to enshrine the very essence of the Russiansoul, has had a tortuous route to establishing itself in the repertoire.Mussorgsky wrote his first version of Boris Godunov in1868-69 at the prompting of the historian Vladimir Nikolsky, basing it on thedrama by Pushkin and the history of Russia by Karamzin - Nikolsky and VladimirStasov assisted with the libretto. This seven-scene version immediately raninto trouble, paralleling what would happen to Janacˇek a generation later.It had virtually no female interest and the music seemed barbaric to therefined tastes of the day. Mussorgsky's particular genius was akin to theaspect he presented in the famous portrait by Repin, rather rough and unkempt,but what he heard in his mind's ear was truer to nature and the spirit ofMother Russia than the music being produced by his friends among the 'MightyHandful' (Balakirev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Cui and Borodin). Rebuffed by thecommittee of the Imperial Theatres, he produced a second version, cutting thescene which took place outside St Basil's Cathedral, inserting a new act (someof which, already written, had been left out of his first version) andcomposing a new ending set in the Kromy Forest. Boris's monologue became morelike an aria and his Clock Scene made its appearance. That unforgettablecharacter of the Simpleton was transferred from the St Basil's scene to theKromy Forest and the opera now ended with his lament. Other changes increasedthe female involvement but the main gain on this front was the advent ofMarina. This second version of Boris was influenced not just by Dargomyzhskybut by Rimsky-Korsakov, with whom Mussorgsky stayed during its composition(Rimsky-Korsakov was working on The Maid of Pskov).The Coronation Scene was performed in concert in 1872 andthe Polish Act and the Inn Scene were done at the Mariinsky in 1873; but theopera as a whole was not heard until 1874, and even then cuts were made by theconductor Napravnik. Yet the work had a considerable success. Boris wasconsidered interesting even by its detractors but by the time Mussorgsky died,aged just 42, in 1881 it had fallen into disuse. His friend Rimsky-Korsakovstarted