The Tsar's Bride by Rimsky-Korsakov, Ó (2017/2017), Seoltóir Pavel Smelkov, Valery Gergiev, Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, Vladivostok, Russia

“Of all my operas, best of all, I love The Snow Maiden and The Tzar’s Bride”. N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov Rimsky-Korsakov’s ninth opera The Tzar’s Bride (1898) puzzled both the composer’s admirers and his critics. The application area of Korsakov’s talent which had so firmly established itself during the previous years, seemingly left no room for doubt as to the character of his subsequent works. Myth, fairytale and epos - those were Alpha and Omega of Rimsky-Korsakov’s operatic field of activities, as it was perceived by his contemporaries. “The Tzar’s Bride is a new and original thing for me,” the composer wrote to Nadezhda Zabele-Vrubel, the first performer of Martha, “I’m surprised that many inveterate musicians do not want to understand it…. They have a specialization all set for me: fantastic music, for dramatic music - I’m not good enough. ... Is it possible that I am destined to portray only water, land-living and amphibian monsters?” Though drama was far from being alien to Rimsky-Korsakov, who by that time had already created his historical folk drama The Maid of Pskov and “dramatic scenes” Mozart and Salieri, most people found his choice of a domestic drama The Tzar’s Bride by Lev Mey to be quite unexpected. Later, in his Chronicle of My Musical Life, Rimsky-Korsakov described his decision to tackle Mey’s play as “a long-term intention”. Indeed, the idea to compose an opera to a dramatic plot dated back to the times of the Mighty Five and had been suggested by M.A. Balakirev, while A.P. Borodin had also toyed with the idea of The Tzar’s Bride at the end of the 1860s. As it became apparent later, the style of The Tzar’ Bride, that astounded musicians so much, had been even better prepared, as a twist toward the new, as the author called it, “plastique” vocal style had occurred earlier - in a series of romances, duets and other vocal compositions created in 1897- the beginning of 1898. The opening performance of the opera took place in Moscow under the sponsorship of actors of a private opera theatre. According to critics, The Tzar’s Bride indicated “a radical change in Korsakov’s operatic views”, “departure from the ideas of the Mighty Five” and even his “deliberate renunciation of the revered principles of the New Russian School”. Reviewers wrote about “anti-wagnerism” of the opera, “simplification” of the composer, trying to “reconcile the requirements of a new musical drama with the old operatic forms”. After the premiere at the Mariinsky Theatre on 30 October 1901, The Tzar’s Bride enjoyed a tremendous success with Moscow and St Petersburg audiences that subsequently developed into a true appreciation.