Boris Godunov - A Stark And Monumental Russian Opera
The great Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky (1839 -1881 ) was an erratic musical genius who died of alcoholism at the age of only 42 . Basically an amateur who earned a living as a civil servant , he was almost entirely self taught , and his music is not conventionally well-crafted by academic standards , his music none the less has a brilliance , originality and rough hewn power that no amount of conventional training could provide .
The great opera Boris Godunov (Ba- REES Go-doo-NOFF) is his masterpiece , and is perhaps the greatest of all Russian operas . It is based on the turbulent and violent history of Russia during the late 16th and early 17th centuries after the death of Ivan the Terrible , and deals with Tsar Boris , who usurps the throne after the death of Ivan's only surviving son . The libretto is by the composer , and is based on the play by the great Russian writer Alexander Pushkin .
In the opera , Boris has had the young Tsarevich Dimitri murdered in order to become Tsar, but in reality this did not happen , and the death is believed to have been accidental . But the real Tsar Boris did rule from 1598 to 1605 . Mussorgsky completed the original version of the opera in the 1860s, but the opera was not performed until 1874 in St. Petersburg after extensive revisions which included the addition of some scenes absent in the original .
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 -1908) composer of Scheherezade and numerous operas of his own , was a close friend of Mussorgsky and admired his music but was disturbed by its crudity of technique , revised and re-orchestrated Boris after Mussorgsky's death in 1881 , and this slicker, more opulent version was the preferred one until the 1970s, when the original version was revived . This is now the one most often used . Many critics and musicologists feel that Rimsky's version, while more opulent-sounding , falsifies the composer's original intentions and waters down his bold and daring harmonies .
The opera opens with a prologue in two scenes . In the first scene , in the courtyard of the Novodevichy monastary in Moscow , the surly populace is ordered by brutal guards to pray for Boris to become Tsar despite his reluctance to do so . The second scene is in the cathedral square in Moscow , where Boris is finally crowned Tsar to the acclaim of the people amid the ringing of bells . But in his brief address to the people , he expresses his misgivings and is tormented by concern for Russia's plight .
The first act is set in the Chudov monastary , where the venerable old monk Pimen is busy writing his chronicle of Russian history . A young monk Grigory , learns from Pimen that he is the same age as the murdered Tsarevich Fyodor , and conceives the bold idea of escaping the monastary and claiming that he is the Tsarevich and was not killed . He hopes to overthrow Boris , who has been ruling with a heavy hand , and to be crowned Tsar .
In the second scene, Grigory has escaped and is attempting to flee to Lithuania , for he is now a wanted man . At an inn near the Lithuanian border , he befriends two disreputable drunken monks , Varlaam and Missail . Varlaam sings a raucous song about the battle of Kazan , when Ivan the Terrible defeated the Tatars , and police come in looking for Grigory in order to hang him, But the young renegade manages to escape , and heads for Poland, where he hopes to ally himself with the Poles in order to take power in Moscow .
The next scene takes place in the Tsar's dwelling in the Kremlin . His daughter Ksenia laments the death of her fiancee in battle and is consoled by her nursemaid . Boris is consumed by guilt for having instigated the murder of the Tsarevich . The sly Boyar Vasily Shuysky engages in intrigue and observes the Tsar's erratic behavior . In a powerful scene, the Tsar halucinates about seeing the ghost of the murdered boy , and begs God for forgiveness .
The third act, which takes place at Sandomir castle in Poland , is not in the original version . Here, the vain and ambitious Polish princess Marina Mnishek hopes to take over the Russian throne by marrying the pretender Grigory , who has organized a rebellion in Russia . He declares his love for Marina , but the wily Jesuit priest Rangoni urges Marina to try to convert Russia to Catholicism , as he has amvbitions to be the power behind the scenes .
In the next scene , Boris meets a holy simpleton , who is at first tormented by children , and he chides Boris for having murdered the Tsarevich .
In the next to last scene , the Boyars are meeting to discuss the grave situation . The Tsar seems to be losing his grip on reality and is behaving like a madman . The monk Pimen comes in and relates the story of a miracle about the previous Tsarevich , and Boris dismisses every one and calls for his son Fyodor . He feels that he is about to die , and tells young Fyodor that he must be brave, as he is about to become the new Tsar . Overcome by guilt , Boris falls dead , asking God to forgive him .
The final scene takes place in the Kromy forest near Moscow . The angry Russian people have gathered and are calling for rebellion ; they are unaware that Boris has already died . (Rimsky-Korsakov made this scene come before the death of Boris in his revised version .) The false Dimitr arrives to the acclaim of the people , and promises to help the people when he is crowned the supposedly rightful Tsar . But the holy simpleton bewails the cruel fate of Russia as the crowd withdraws .
Mussorgsky's music is powerful and sweeping , and is imbued with the spirit of Russian folk music . It evokes the world of 16th century Russia with the utmost vividness , and the role of the tormented Tsar Boris has attracted the greatest basses of the 20th century , such as the legendary Fyodor Chapiapin, who recorded scenes from the opera , the Italian Ezio Pinza, who sang it in Italian at the Metropolitan opera many years ago ! As well as the great Ukarainian bas Alexander Kipnis , the giant Finnish bass Martti Talvela , Canada's George London , America's Samuel Ramey in recent years, and the great Bulgarian basses Nicolai Ghiaurov and Boris Christoff , to name only some .
For an absolutely authentic Russian recording , you should get the one conducted by the great Ossetian conductor Valery Gergiev with the Kirov opera on Philips records , which also contains the original version without the Polish scenes . There is also a live performance by Gergiev and the Kirov on DVD, but with a different cast . Other famous conductors who have recorded Boris include Caludio Abbado on Sony Classical , Mstislav Rostropovich , and Herbert Von Karajan of Decca , which uses the Rimsky-Korsakov revision .
Whatever version , Boris Godunov is as moving as it is starkly powerful .