1832–1906, Russian Ivan Melnikov, the Russian baritone, was best known for creating the role of Boris Godunov in Mussorgsky’s opera in 1869. Trained in Russia and Italy, Melnikov had made his debut at the Maryinsky Imperial Theatre in St Petersburg only two years earlier, as Riccardo in Bellini’s I puritani. Melnikov continued to sing at the ...
(Mekh’-a-il E-va-no’-vich Glin’-ka) 1804–57 Russian composer Known as the ‘father of Russian music’, Glinka was the initial force behind nineteenth-century Russian nationalism. He grew up in a cosseted environment, and his early exposure to music was confined largely to the folksongs sung by his nurse, the traits of which were later absorbed into his melodic style. After a couple of ...
1842–1900 English composer Sullivan was a Chapel Royal chorister, the first-ever Mendelssohn scholar and a student of William Sterndale Bennett. He was already a composer of distinction when, in 1867, he collaborated with the playwright W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) in Cox and Box (1866). Their Trial by Jury (1875) set the seal on a historic partnership that spawned ...
(Sâr’-ga E-va-no’-vich Ta-na’-yof) 1856–1915 Russian composer Taneyev studied in Moscow with Nicolai Rubinstein and Tchaikovsky, a lifelong friend. He gave the Moscow premieres of all Tchaikovsky’s piano concertos and in 1878 succeeded him at the Conservatory, becoming director, 1885–89. His music was, like Tchaikovsky’s, cosmopolitan, especially skilful in his use of Bachian counterpoint (about which he ...
1804–57, Russian As the composer of A Life for the Tsar (1836), Glinka became the founder of Russian historical opera. A Life for the Tsar told the story of Ivan Susanin, a popular Russian hero who, in 1612, saved the life of the future tsar and founder of the Romanov dynasty, Michael Romanov. Although French and ...
Composed: 1836 Premiered: 1836, St Petersburg Libretto by Baron Yegor Fyodorovich Rozen and others Background The years of turmoil following the death of Tsar Fyodor I in 1598 might finally be coming to an end. The revolt of the ‘False Dmitri’ in 1605 has led to Polish intervention. In 1613, after an interregnum of nearly three years, Mikhail ...
‘Ruslan and Ludmilla’ Composed: 1837–42 Premiered: 1842, St Petersburg Libretto by Konstantin Bakhturin, Valerina Shirov and various others, after Alexander Pushkin Act I Everyone celebrates the marriage of Lyudmila to the knight Ruslan. Her rejected admirers Farlaf and Ratmir are also present. As Lyudmila’s father Svyetozar blesses the couple, a thunderbolt is heard and darkness falls. When ...
1873–1938, Russian Almost entirely self-taught as a singer, Chaliapin began singing in Tbilisi and St Petersburg. He made a name for himself singing both Boris and Valaam from Modest Mussorgsky’s (1839–81) Boris Godunov (1874). Although best known for singing the Russian repertoire, Chaliapin performed in a wide range of operas, including those by Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) and ...
1842–1900, English Sullivan’s name is synonymous with that of librettist W. S. Gilbert in England. It is their association with Richard D’Oyly Carte and the succession of operettas written for the Savoy Theatre that continue to ensure that Gilbert and Sullivan remain household names. Sullivan’s aim, however, after education at the Royal Academy of Music in London and ...
Composed: 1884–85 Premiered: 1885, London Libretto by W. S. Gilbert Act I The Mikado’s son, Nanki-Poo, has fled from court to avoid marrying Katisha and is now wandering Japan as a second trombone. He has returned to Titipu on hearing that Ko-Ko, his rival for Yum-Yum, has been condemned to death for flirting. Ko-Ko, however ...
Composed: 1889 Premiered: 1889, London Libretto by W. S. Gilbert Act I Marco and Giuseppe, two gondoliers of proud republican descent, choose Gianetta and Tessa as their brides. The Duke and Duchess of Plaza-Toro arrive in Venice with their daughter Casilda and their servant Luiz. Casilda is told that she was married when a baby to the infant ...
1831–97, French Henri Meilhac, the French dramatist and librettist, wrote most of his texts for operas in collaboration with other writers. Meilhac’s most renowned partnership, which began after a chance meeting outside a Paris theatre in 1860, was with Ludovic Halévy. They produced libretti for Bizet, Léo Delibes (1836–91) and most famously for Offenbach. Meilhac ...
Following the social and political upheaval of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, Europe enjoyed a short period of relative stability with Napoleon’s exile, the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France and the establishment of the Vienna Peace Settlement in 1815. However, in the early 1820s a number of minor revolts broke out in Naples and ...
Khovanshchina (‘The Khovansky Affair’), a dark opera, full of conspiracy, gloom and imminent violence, was based on a historical event. In 1682, the future modernizing tsar Peter the Great (1672–1725) was made co-ruler of Russia with his mentally retarded half-brother Ivan V (1666–96). At this time, introducing Greek and Latin practices into the Russian Church was ...
Composed: 1869–70, completed 1874–87 Premiered: 1890, St Petersburg Libretto by the composer, after Vladimir Vasil’yevich Stasov Prologue Ignoring an eclipse of the sun, Prince Igor prepares to leave Putivl’ for a campaign against the pagan Polovtsï, accompanied by his son Vladimir. Skula and Yeroshka, two musicians, decide to desert. Igor refuses to listen to the ...
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