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The Tsar’s Brideopera in two acts Music: Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov Libretto: Ilya Tyumenev after the drama by Lev Mey Stage Director: Stanislav Gaudasinsky Set and Costume Design: Vyacheslav Okunev Choreography: Maria Bolshakova Director of the revival: Margarita Kunitsyna-Tankevich Lighting Design: Mikhail Mekler Premiere of the production at the Mikhailovsky Theatre: July 14, 2004 Premiere of the revival: May 13, 2009 Running time: 2 hours 50 minutes Performed in Russian The opera The Tsar’s Bride is based on the same-name drama by Russian poet, translator and playwright Lev Mey. In 1868 Balakirev drew Rimsky-Korsakov’s attention to the play but the composer turned to composing on the subject only 30 years later. The plot is set against the background of the gloomy times of the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The story centers on Marfa, a young beauty betrothed to Lykov. Gryaznoy has courted Marfa, but failed to win her away from Lykov; he purchases a love potion to win her over. His mistress Lyubasha, rejected, sells herself to obtain a poison which she substitutes for the love potion, in jealous vengeance against her rival. Neither contender wins Marfa, because the tsar himself chooses her for his wife. It is a dark story in which the dramatic energy derives from Gryaznoy’s possessive passion and amoral stratagem. The score is melodic and richly orchestrated, full of long minor-key phrasings that instantly say, “Russian”.
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1833–2012 Mikhailovsky Theatre St. Petersburg
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Idea Fix