BORIS GODOUNOFF

Opera in four acts and eight scenes; libretto taken from the dramatic scenes of Pushkin which bear this title; music by Mou orgsky; produced at the theatre Marie in Petrograd in 1874. Characters | Boris Godounoff | Baritone | | Feodor | Mezzo-Soprano | | Xenia | Soprano | | The Old Nurse | Contralto | | Prince Shouisky | Tenor | | Andrey Stchelakov, clerk of the Douma | Baritone | | Pimen, monk and chronicler | Ba | | The Pretender Dimitri, called Gregory | Tenor | | Marina | Soprano | | Rangoni, a Jesuit in disguise | Ba | | Varlaam | Ba | | Mi ail | Tenor | | The Hoste | Mezzo-Soprano | | Nikitin ( Michael ), constable | Ba | Time —1598-1605. Place —Ru ia. IMG:872270115144378713_bor is_cast.png:Boris Godounoff cast Photo by White Anna Case as Feodor, Didur as Boris, and Sparkes as Xenia, in “Boris Godounoff” The subject brings to the stage one of the most curious episodes of the history of Ru ia in the seventeenth century. A privy councillor of the Czar Feodor , son of Ivan, named Boris Godounoff , has caused to be a a inated the young Dimitri , brother of the emperor and his only heir. On the death of Feodor , Boris , who has committed his crime with the sole object of seizing power, causes himself to be acclaimed by the people and ascends the throne. But about the same time, a young monk named Grischka escapes from his convent, discards his habit, and goes to Poland where he pa es as the dead czarevitch Dimitri . The Polish government receives him all the more cordially as it understands all the advantage such an event might afford it. Soon the pretended Dimitri , who has married the daughter of one of the most powerful magnates, puts himself at the head of the Polish army and marches with it against Ru ia. Just at this moment they hear of the death of Boris , and the false Dimitri , taking advantage of the circumstances, in turn usurps power which he is destined not to keep very long. Such is the poetical drama, the arrangement of which is a little inconsistent from the scenic point of view, and which a historian of Ru ian music, himself a musician, M. César Cui, treats in these words: "There is no question here of a subject of which the different parts, combined in such a way as to present a nece ary sequence of events, one flowing from the other, correspond in their totality to the ideas of a strict dramatic unity. Each scene in it is independent; the rôles, for the greater part, are transitory. The episodes that we see follow each other nece arily have a certain connection; they all relate more or le to a general fact, to a common action; but the opera would not suffer from a rearrangement of the scenes nor even from a substitution of certain secondary episodes by others. This depends on the fact that 'Boris Godounoff' properly speaking is neither a drama nor an opera, but rather a musical chronicle after the manner of the historical dramas of Shakespeare. Each of the acts, taken separately, awakens a real interest which, however, is not caused by what goes before and which stops brusquely without connection with the scene which is going to follow." Let us add that some of these scenes are written entirely in prose while others are in verse and we will have a general idea of the make-up of the libretto of "Boris Godounoff," which moreover offered the composer a series of scenes very favourable to music. The score of Mou orgsky is uneven, like his talents, but neverthele remains very interesting and indicative of a distinct personality. Although the composer was not much of a symphonist and rather indifferently understood how to manage the resources of the orchestra, although his harmony is sometimes strange and rude and his modulation incorrect and exce ive, he had at least a lavishne of inspiration, the abundance and zest of which are calculated to cause astonishment. He is a musician perhaps of more instinct than of knowledge, who goes straight ahead without bothering himself about obstacles and who sometimes trips while on his way but who neverthele reaches his object, sometimes even going beyond it by his strength of audacity. Not much of a symphonist, as I have said, Mou orgsky did not even take the trouble to write an overture and some entr'actes. But certain pages of his score are not the le remarkable for their accent, their colour, and their scenic effect, and especially for the national feeling which from a musical point of view flows from them. Under this head we would point out in the first act the great military scene, which is of superb brilliance, and the chorus of begging monks; in the second, the entire scene of the inn, in which the dramatic intensity does not le en for a second and which presents an astonishing variety of rhythm and colour; then, in the third, the chorus of female attendants, sung on a Cracovian woman's air, the song of Marina in the style of a mazurka, and a great Polish dance full of go and warmth; finally the whole episode of the death of Boris , which has a really gripping effect. These are enough, in spite of the inequalities and defects of the work, to cause regret for the death of an artist endowed with a very individual style, whose instruction had been doubtle incomplete, but who neverthele seemed called to have a brilliant future.