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Throughout the 18th century and well into the 19th, the culture of the Russian court was dominated by French influence. Following the example set in literature by Pushkin in the first quarter of the century, a group of composers known as "The Five" or "The Mighty Handful" got together in the late 1850s to forge a distinctively Russian style. We shall look at operas by two of them. Modest Mussorgsky based his Boris Godunov (1874) on a Pushkin play about a Tsar thought to have murdered the heir apparent in order to gain the throne; it is simultaneously a portrait of the Russian people, a study in Realpolitik, and a window into the mind of a tormented ruler. By contrast, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov's Invisible City of Kitezh (1904) is based on folk legend, but a recent production by Dmitri Tcherniakov at the Netherlands Opera manages to make it brutally relevant to modern life while maintaining the visionary Utopianism that frames it.

 

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As of now, both the productions shown in class are available on YouTube—I was wrong saying they weren't!—though in lesser quality than you would get by buying the DVD, and without English titles (except, oddly, for the last two acts of Boris). I have added Amazon links to buy the DVDs, both of which are reasonably priced for such long operas. I added an old but classic video of Boris that does have titles, and a quite interesting modern-dress production of the original 1869 version, though with titles in French.

I have supplemented these with a curiosity: a scene from Pushkin's original play of Boris Godunov as performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2009—its first professional staging in English, believe it or not. The trailer looks more like a horror movie, but the interview with the director is well worth watching. The trailer for the Dutch Kitezh also contains interesting interviews with the director and lead singer. rb.

PUSHKIN: BORIS
  RSC 2009   * Trailer (adapted by Adrian Mitchell)
* Boris and his son (first part of death scene)
* About the play (introduction by director Michael Boyd)
 
MUSSORGSKY: BORIS
  St. Petersburg 1990   * Coronation scene (as seen in class; with titles)
* Prologue, Acts I and II (as seen in class; no titles)
* Acts III and IV (as seen in class; with titles)
* Buy DVD (Amazon link, about $20)
  Bolshoi 1978   * Complete opera (old video, but has titles)
  St. Petersburg 2012   * Complete opera (1869 version; French titles)
 
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: KITEZH
  Amsterdam 2012   * Trailer (includes interview with director)
* Prayer (short clip from commune scene)
* Acts I and II (no titles)
* Acts III and IV (no titles)
* Buy DVD (Amazon link, about $27)

           
IMAGES
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COMPOSERS

The class contains work by the following composers, given here in chronological order.
For bios of other composers in the course, click here.

Modest Mussorgsky (1839–81). Russian composer.
 
Like many of his fellow nationalist composers among the "Famous Five," Mussorgsky had another profession, in his case as an army officer. His musical style as shown in his operas such as Boris Godunov (1869–74) and Khovanshchina (1873, unfinished) apeeared to his contemporaries as crude, and for many years his works were performed in edited editions, but recent productions have revealed the vigor of his highly original style.
Nicolay Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908). Russian composer.
 
Though a naval officer in professional life, Rimsky was the most brilliant orchestrator of the "Famous Five," and responsible for completing Borodin's Prince Igor and preserving Mussorgky's Boris Godunov for many decades in more conventional clothing. His own operas such as The Invisible City of Kitezh (1904) and The Golden Cockerel (1907), are staples of the Russian repertoire, but less frequently produced elsewhere.

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