Opera "The Golden Cockerel": interesting facts, videos, content

ON. Rimsky-Korsakov opera "The Golden Cockerel"

Despite decades of creativity, teaching and undeniable achievements in front of Russian art, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov spent the last years of his life fighting for the right of his final opera, The Golden Cockerel, to be heard in his native country. An acute topical satyr, like a mirror reflecting the political crisis of the Russian Empire, could not appear on the stage even with the authorship of such a respected composer.

A summary of the Golden Cockerel opera by Rimsky-Korsakov and many interesting facts about this work can be found on our page.

Summary

In the prologue, Stargazer presents himself as the narrator of the subsequent story.

Chamber of King Dodon. Once the ruler was a bully and a warrior, but now he has grown old and only wants peace and peace. Boyars and royal sons do not know how to protect the fatherland from enemies. The astrologer presents Dodon the Golden Cockerel, who must crow as soon as he envies the approach of the enemy. The king promises, as a token of gratitude, to fulfill any desire for Astrologer The cockerel gave out his voice twice - the king sent both his sons and troops to the campaigns. For the third time I had to pack up on the road myself.

Night battlefield. Dodon finds his army defeated, and his sons - who killed each other, although the enemy is nowhere to be seen. A young woman of unprecedented beauty appears and says that she is the Queen of Shamakhi. Dodon loses his head, offering her hand and heart.

The king solemnly returns to his capital with a young bride. The astrologer, with all honest people, asks the Shemakhan Queen from him as a reward for the Golden Cockerel. Dodon refuses, striking the wizard with a rod, causing him to die. Dodon tries to kiss the bride, but she rejects him. The golden rooster takes off, flies up to the king and pecks him in a crown - to death. Dodon falls, and the Shemakhan queen with the cock disappears. People are scared - how can they live without a king?

In the epilogue, Stargazer reappears, saying that the fairy tale shown is just fiction.

A photo:

Interesting Facts

• The opera is named by its authors "a fiction in persons".
• In the music of the opera there are references in the work of other composers of the "Mighty Handful". The aria of the Shemakha Tsarina echoes the aria of Konchakovna from Prince Igor of Borodin, and the final chorus reminds of the folk choirs of Boris Godunov Mussorgsky.
• From 4 musical pictures of the "Golden Cockerel" by A.K. Glazunov and M.O. Steinberg compiled a symphonic suite.
• In the opera there is no positive hero.
• For many years, it was considered to be that the plot of Pushkin's "Tales of the Golden Cockerel" is based on Russian folklore. In fact, the poet took advantage of the novel "The Legend of the Arab Astrologer" from the Alhambra collection by the American writer Irwin Washington. This fact was discovered in 1933 by A.A. Akhmatova, exploring the archive of Pushkin. Rimsky-Korsakov hardly knew about this, however, he intuitively filled the opera with oriental motifs that brought it closer to the Washington story more than Pushkin’s fairy tale.
• Rimsky-Korsakov in Golden Cockerel pioneered the formation of an orchestra. Such a rare instrument as rods is introduced into the drum group, the score of the celesta and clarinets is unusual.
• The "mystical" characters of the opera, the Astrologer, the Shemakha Queen, the Golden Cockerel, are intonationally related. Parties are written for high voices - tenor-altino, coloratura soprano, have an oriental flavor. The musical image of the Shemakhan Queen is created by the deep soft sound of stringed and woodwind instruments, the party of the Astrologer is marked by an exotic celesta, the Golden Cocketer penetrates with the phrases of the trumpet.
• Stars of the world opera of the first magnitude rarely take part in the productions and recordings of the Golden Cockerel. Nevertheless, Boris Hristov, Yevgeny Nesterenko and Paata Burchuladze played in the Dodon party, Antonina Nezhdanova and Beverly Sills in the party of the Shemakha queen.
• In 1999, the Golden Cockerel was staged by Dmitry Bertman at the Moscow Helikon Opera. Dodon was made up under Lenin, the crowd dressed in jackets from Soviet newspapers, the Shamakhan Queen became a lady of easy virtue. Bold opera productions have been in its history before. In 1932, at the Bolshoi Theater, the Golden Cockerel was in a no less extravagant version. In the prologue, Stargazer appeared in Rimsky-Korsakov's makeup (by the way, the composer foresaw such an interpretation of the image), then jumped out of the oven, members of the boyar duma held a meeting in the bath, among the cans, patting each other with brooms, and the Shemakhan queen swinging the whip with a whip.

Top Opera Numbers

"Answer me, a vigilant luminary" - aria of the Shamakhi Queen (listen)

"Glorified be the great king" - the output of the Astrologer (listen)

History of creation and productions

1905 was a turning point, its events left their mark on many representatives of the Russian creative intelligentsia: “Bloody Sunday” and the First Russian Revolution, the defeat during the Russian-Japanese war, the split of society and political destabilization. In such an environment, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov did not have a desire to write something new, especially fabulous. In addition, his main opera, The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh ..., has not yet been staged. Even his only autobiographical book, The Chronicle of My Life, the composer finished in August 1906, as if drawing a line under his work.

Nevertheless, in October 1906, a laconic musical notation appeared in his notes, which later acquired the text: "Kiri-ku-ku! Reign, lying on your side!". She turned into the main refrain of the new master opera, The Golden Cockerel. Rimsky-Korsakov drew V.I. to work on the libretto. Belsky, with whom three operas have already been created. In the second of them, "The Tale of Tsar Saltan", the co-authors planned to use quotes from Pushkin's "The Tale of the Golden Cockerel", however, they were not included in the final version of the opera. IN AND. Belsky continued to work on the fairy tale libretto, suggesting that A.K. Lyadov. But these sketches were useful again to Rimsky-Korsakov. Due to the fact that part of the work has already been done, the essay took place at a fast pace: on October 21, the coauthors gathered for the first time to discuss the idea, and 25 already the first act was ready.

The composer formulated the main theme of the opera quite clearly: “Dodona is completely defamed”. Having preserved Pushkin’s text as much as possible, Belsky placed accents in the libretto in accordance with the idea of ​​Rimsky-Korsakov, introduced new characters (Polkana and Amelfu), changed the names of the main characters - Dadon became Dodon, Shamakhan’s Queen Shemakhanskaya called the Hvidons and Afron nameless princes Gadeon and Afron. In the spring of 1907, the composition was interrupted for several months due to a concert tour in Paris, but on returning home, work resumed at a double pace. The co-authors argued a lot about the final - Belsky worried that the final release of the Astrologer would devalue the semantic content of the opera.

On August 29 the final point was put on the score. Long negotiations began with censorship for permission to be staged at the Bolshoi Theater. On February 16, 1908, symphonic excerpts from the opera are performed in Petersburg. At the end of the month, the score is returned to the composer with numerous edits by the censors - they did not like the prologue and epilogue composed by the librettist, as well as some Pushkin quotes. Rimsky-Korsakov decisively prevented any changes whatsoever, bitterly agreeing that it was impossible to deliver the Golden Cockerel at home. By the summer of 1908, the composer received an official rejection of the Moscow office of the Imperial Theaters. He is also informed that the Moscow authorities object to the opera. Only two days before his death, he asks his publisher, B.P. Jurgenson to help the Golden Cockerel see the light in Paris.

The last creation of the great composer in Moscow was staged a year later, on September 24, 1909 - in the private theater of S.I. Zimin. This performance was announced a month after the death of Rimsky-Korsakov, but the opera that the creator would like to see appeared on the scene. Zimin had to yield to censorship and edit the libretto in accordance with her comments. For example, the tsar disappeared from the opera, having turned into an ordinary military leader, along with him the princes were reduced in status. On November 6 of the same year, the Golden Cockerel was staged at the Bolshoi Theater. In the personal correspondence, the composer’s widow noted that the spirit of Zimin’s setting in the sets of I.Ya. Bilibin was more in line with the composer’s plan than the official version of the opera. In December of the same year, the Golden Cockerel heard St. Petersburg at the Conservatory Theater; the Mariinsky Theater put on opera only in 1919.

The premiere of the Golden Cockerel opera-ballet took place in Paris in 1914: the action was unfolded by the ballet troupe (choreographer M. Fokin), and the singers statically voiced what was happening. N.N. Rimsky-Korsakova publicly condemned this concept of the production, many Russian artists supported her position, and this stage version was closed after two performances. In the same 1914 London was held, and in 1918 - the New York premiere of the opera.

In the post-war years, Soviet theaters seemed to have avoided turning to opera, the plot of which, with any state structure, could cause unnecessary allusions. The Golden Cockerel sounded all over the world - in the USA and Italy, Great Britain and Germany, but was not performed in Moscow until 1988. The last production of the opera at the Bolshoi Theater was carried out by K. Serebrennikov in 2011, in the Mariinsky Theater - A. Mathison in 2014.

Golden Cockerel on screen

Some performances of the opera are preserved in video versions:

• The performance of the New York City Opera, 1971, conducted by J. Rudel, in the main parts: Dodon - N. Traigl, Astrologer - E. di Giuseppe, Shemakha's Queen - B. Sills. Performed in English.
• Performance of the Bolshoi Theater, 1989, conductor. E. Svetlanov, in the main parties: A. Eisen, O. Biktimirov, E. Bryleva.
• Performance of Châtelet Theater, Paris, 2003, conducted by K. Nagano, in major roles: A. Shagidulin, B. Banks, O. Trifonova.
• Performance of the Mariinsky Theater, 2016, conducted by V. Gergiev, in the main parts: V. Felyauer, A. Popov, A. Garifullina.

The Golden Cockerel is the fourth most popular opera by Rimsky-Korsakov, but one of the few in world art written in a satirical genre. Its conflict is clear today, it does not lose its relevance even 100 years after its creation.

We are pleased to offer opera singers and a symphony orchestra to perform arias and excerpts from the opera "The Golden Cockerel" at your event.