In the summer of 1897, MA Rimsky-Korsakov completed his work on the opera Mozart and Salieri based on Pushkin's play of the same name, which the poet himself called "a little tragedy." The plot is based on the legend that the famous Italian composer Antonio Salieri enviously poisoned his colleague - the genius Mozart. Alexander Pushkin was not categorically convinced of Salieri's involvement in the crime, although he considered the rumors plausible. In one of the notes, the poet wrote: "Salieri died eight years ago. Some German magazines have claimed that on his deathbed he confessed to a horrific crime - the poisoning of the great Mozart. An envious person who could whistle "Don Juan" could poison its creator. "
O.S. Pushkin created an emotionally rich, profound philosophical drama, raising the moral and aesthetic problem: the artist's responsibility to society, exploring the divine and human nature of genius, arguing that moral purity and nobility are an integral quality of true art.
The drama so captivated MA Rimsky-Korsakov that he wrote the opera in an extremely short time: less than a month (twenty-seven days), and worked on the score for eleven days. Dramatism, psychological richness, rapidity of the tragedy became a grateful material for the composer. In the "Chronicle of my musical life" Nikolai Andreevich wrote: "... I sketched a small scene from Pushkin's" Mozart and Salieri "(Mozart's arrival and part of his conversation with Salieri), and the recitative flowed freely in me, above all else, like a melody recent romances. I felt that I was entering a new period .... Something new was coming out for me, and the closest to Dargomyzhsky's style in "Stone Guest".
Fascinated by the extraordinary expressiveness and musicality of poetry, Nikolai Andreevich leaves almost unchanged Pushkin's text. The chamber opera "Mozart and Salieri" is written in a recitative-arias style. There are only two scenes (paintings) in it, as in Pushkin's tragedy. Actors - the same as Pushkin, two (except for the wordless role of the violinist, who plays a fragment of "Don Juan"). The idea of Pushkin's tragedy is largely revealed in two words: "genius and crime."
200 years after Mozart's death (in 1997), Salieri was tried in Milan. After hearing researchers of the work of both musicians and doctors, the court ruled: Salieri is innocent.
The first staging of the opera Mozart and Salieri took place on the stage of the Russian Private Opera (Sava Ivanovich Mamontov Theater) on November 25, 1898. Conducted by IA Truffy. Salieri's part was sung by F.I. Chaliapin, Mozart - VP Cabinet. The scenery and costumes were made according to the sketches of the genius artist M.O. Vrubel. An excerpt from Mozart's "Requiem" was played on stage by the famous composer and pianist S.V. Rachmaninoff. The premiere was brilliant. FI Chaliapin telegraphed VV Stasov: "Yesterday I sang for the first time the extraordinary work of Pushkin and Rimsky-Korsakov" Mozart and Salieri "with great success. Very happy. I hasten to share the joy. " The reviewer of Russkie Vedomosti (November 27, 1898) enthusiastically wrote: "Everything here is full of life, everything is fascinating, striking - a rare and fertile artistic impression."
On the Kyiv stage (then the Kyiv Russian Opera) MA Rimsky-Korsakov's opera was staged in the season 1901-1902 (conductor I. Palitsyn, director J. Helrot). The famous Fedor Chaliapin, while on tour in Kiev (in March - April 1902), with great success appeared in the Kiev production of "Mozart and Salieri".
