Hector Berlioz
Alexei Verstovsky
Giuseppe Verdi
Mieczysław Weinberg
Richard Strauss
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Alexander Ostrovsky, music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Modest Mussorgsky
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Dimitry Rostovsky
Gioacchino Rossini
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Jacques Offenbach
Richard Wagner
Gaetano Donizetti
Grigory Frid. Udo Zimmermann
Anton Rubinstein
Dmitry Shostakovich
Giuseppe Verdi
Georges Bizet
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Georg Philipp Telemann
Dmitry Shostakovich
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Igor Stravinsky
Gioachino Rossini
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Giacomo Puccini
Richard Strauss
Modest Mussorgsky
Mikhail Glinka
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Tatiana Kamysheva
Giuseppe Verdi
Sergei Banevich
Umberto Giordano
Sergei Prokofiev. Maurice Ravel
Andrei Rubtsov
César Cui. Igor Stravinsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Giacomo Puccini
Benjamin Britten. Camille Saint-Saëns
Alexander Borodin
Georges Bizet
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sergei Prokofiev
Francesco Cilea
Ruggero Leoncavallo
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.