Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Historical” Operas

courtesy of Naxos of America

Readers with long memories may recall that, in June of 2018, Profil released a 22-CD album of performances of the complete operas of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, along with fragments and incidental music. This month saw what some may wish to take as a “sequel” to that release, a 25-CD album of the complete operas of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, again including existing fragments. I must confess that, for a fair amount of time, I tended to take a rather chilly approach to Rimsky-Korsakov’s music. It was only after I learned of his influence on the young Igor Stravinsky that I realized that I should not be so dismissive. I thus decided that I should take the plunge into this rather massive offering.

Fortunately, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Wikipedia page provided me with some guidance in how to approach this collection. The section on operas classifies the entire collection into three categories: historical drama, folk operas, and fairy tales and legends. I decided to take this as a guide to accounting for this collection of recordings in three articles. Furthermore, since Rimsky-Korsakov’s earliest opera was in the historical category, I decided that would be the best place to begin.

I have to say that this was the category that particularly piqued my curiosity. While Rimsky-Korsakov was primarily interested in Russian narratives, he composed a one-act opera entitled “Mozart and Salieri.” The opera was actually inspired by an 1830 verse drama by Alexander Pushkin with the same title, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s libretto is almost a verbatim account of Pushkin’s text.

Thanks to Peter Shaffer and both the stage and film versions of his play Amadeus, this narrative is probably familiar to just about anyone reading this text. It is therefore worth noting that, in the Preface of my Harper Colophon paperback of the script for Amadeus, Shaffer writes at great length about how the script developed between the London production of the play and the one on Broadway. However, I saw nothing about any awareness of Pushkin, let alone Rimsky-Korsakov.

To be fair, there is a lot more citation of Mozart’s music in Shaffer’s play than there is in Pushkin’s. Furthermore, the casting for Pushkin’s play consists only of the two characters named in the title. The play itself consists of only two scenes, the first being a monologue of jealousy delivered by Salieri. The second scene has the two characters in dialog over a dinner, during which the subject of the K. 626 setting of the Requiem (and the circumstances behind its composition) arises. For his part, Rimsky-Korsakov keeps his Mozart musical quotes to a minimum; and, taken as a whole, his own score basically allows the narrative to advance by allowing both protagonists to say their respective pieces.

For most listeners the closest they will get to familiarity (beyond the Mozart references in “Mozart and Salieri”) in the remaining operas in this group will be The Tsar’s Bride, only because its overture gets a modest amount of attention in the concert repertoire. This is one of two operas about Ivan IV (“Ivan the Terrible”), who never makes an appearance. The title character is Marfa, and the overall narrative involves unrequited love and royal authority on a collision course. Between poisons and potions, the plot involves more than a fair share of death; and it is easy to appreciate why most listeners prefer not to venture any further than the overture.

The other “Ivan opera” is The Maid of Pskov (Pskovitianka). This is also based on a play of the same name by Lev Mei. At the beginning of the opera, Ivan is planning an attack on Pskov to bring it under his control. The “maid” is Princess Olga Yuryevna Tokmakova, daughter of Prince Tomokov, who is dedicated to maintaining Pskov’s independence. The climax of the plot involves Ivan realizing that Olga is his own daughter through his relationship with Vera Sheloga. The details behind the relationship behind Olga’s birth were subsequently elaborated in Rimsky-Korsakov’s one-act opera “The Noblewoman Vera Sheloga,” composed about six years after the final version of The Maid of Pskov, which was completed in 1892. It would subsequently serve as a prologue for The Maid of Pskov; and it consists of only three scenes (none of which involve Ivan’s presence).

The remaining historical opera is Pan Voyevoda (the gentleman provincial governor). The Wikipedia page for this opera declares it “one of Rimsky-Korsakov’s least-successful works.” The setting is Poland, and Rimsky-Korsakov intended the music to serves as a tribute to Frédéric Chopin. That said, the presence of Mozart’s music in “Mozart and Salieri” is much more evident than that of Chopin in Pan Voyevoda. Indeed, even the sense of “Polish spirit” encountered in so much of Chopin’s music is lacking.