Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Francesco Cilea
Gioacchino Rossini
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Giuseppe Verdi
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Ruggero Leoncavallo
Giacomo Puccini
César Cui. Igor Stravinsky
Gioachino Rossini
Umberto Giordano
Richard Strauss
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Richard Wagner
Richard Strauss
Gaetano Donizetti
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Andrei Rubtsov
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Georges Bizet
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Sergei Prokofiev
Alexei Verstovsky
Giuseppe Verdi
Anton Rubinstein
Benjamin Britten. Camille Saint-Saëns
Mieczysław Weinberg
Sergei Banevich
Modest Mussorgsky
Grigory Frid. Udo Zimmermann
Dimitry Rostovsky
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Georg Philipp Telemann
Hector Berlioz
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sergei Prokofiev. Maurice Ravel
Dmitry Shostakovich
Tatiana Kamysheva
Georges Bizet
Giacomo Puccini
Jacques Offenbach
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Dmitry Shostakovich
Alexander Ostrovsky, music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov gave his opera Sadko an unusual genre definition of opera-bylina. By referring to Novgorod legends, he created an epic work that demands an excellent ensemble of performers and scenic design of a large scale. Crowd scenes alternate with moving lyric episodes distinguished by exquisite beauty of melodies. The author called the musical language used for the opera “bylina recitative”.
Friends and colleagues helped Rimsky-Korsakov with the work on the libretto: critic Vladimir Stasov, mathematician Nikolai Shtrup and music lover Vasili Yastrebtsev. Later, an expert in ancient Russian literature, Vladimir Belsky, who eventually became a famous librettist and permanent co-author of the composer, joined the process. It was Belsky who enriched the characters’ language with ancient words and turns of speech to create a sense of immersion into the old times.
Premiered on February 14, 2020.
Presented with two intervals.
Sunday, 14:00
Saturday, 19:00
Friday, 19:00
Thursday, 19:00
Saturday, 19:00
Friday, 19:00
Thursday, 19:00
Scene one
Sadko finds himself at the feast in a rich house of the Novgorod merchants’s guild. Guild leaders order a song in praise of heroic deeds. Nezhata, a young guslar, sings for them. Unable to hold his tongue at the table, Sadko admonishes the merchants for their clinging to the antique traditions and vain boasting. Affronted by Sadko’s accusations, the merchants angrily banish him from the feast.
Scene two
Sadko comes to the shore of Lake Ilmen. Surprised to see a beautiful girl appear there, he desperately tries to find out her identity. The girl reveals her secret to him: she is Princess Volkhova, the youngest daughter of the Sea Tsar and Tsarina Hydraqua. Her beauty enchants Sadko into total oblivion. Volkhova promises to help Sadko and tells him about the three magic goldfishes he will capture once he goes fishing in Lake Ilmen with his net. These fishes will make Sadko rich and prosperous.