Der unsterbliche Kaschtschei by Rimsky-Korsakov, Mo. 20 Jan. 2020, Ab (2020/2020), Unter der Regie von Vyacheslav Starodubtsev, Dirigat Evgeny Volynsky, Eldar Nagiev, NOVAT, Nowosibirsk, Russland

Evil and powerful sorcerer holding death in his arms, making plants decay with his single glance – Kashchey the Deathless is truly terrifying. He’s holding captive Princess Beloved Beauty while showing no fear of meeting her sweetheart Prince Ivan Korolevich, because his death is safely kept with Kashcheevna, the sorcerer’s daughter. She hid it into the safest place possible – her tear drop. No one has ever seen her tears, for her heart is harder than stone. Princess begs Kashchey to see her sweetheart and he takes pity on her giving the poor thing a magic mirror capable of showing both past and future. Just for the fun of it, Kashchey peeks into the mirror as well only to see his end. Kashchey the Deathless (1902) is one of the most significant operatic tales of Nikolay Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov. The narrative about Kashchey’s realm and the Princess languishing in durance vile was drawn from Russian folk tales and then revised by music critic and writer Evgeny Petrovsky. Abundantly symbolic text was suggested to the composer as a libretto for his work. However, Rimsky-Korsakov declined the “cosmic” interpretation of Russian epic tale and despite the opera score being almost ready, wrote his own libretto. He moved the characters into a more “mundane”, yet still magical circumstance, and imbued them with “humane” emotions. “Autumn fairy-tale” drags you into Kashchey’s somber world, a battlefield for good and evil.