Opera "The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia": content, video, interesting facts, history

ON. Rimsky-Korsakov opera "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia"

"Russian Parsifal" is called "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia". The result of creative research, long years of studying Russian folklore, thinking about the essence of life was this opera for its creator, ON. Rimsky-Korsakov. The time of its writing coincided with the beginning of the largest Russian upheavals of the 20th century, which is why the main themes acquired a prophetic and warning meaning.

Summary of the opera Rimsky-Korsakov "The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia"and many interesting facts about this work read on our page.

Summary "Tales of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia"

Fevronia lives alone in the forest. During the hunt, Prince Vsevolod goes astray, and the girl helps him find his way. Vsevolod falls in love with her kindness, he falls in love and offers Fevronia his hand and heart. The girl responds to his feelings by consent.

In Maly Kitezh people are waiting for the prince's bride to attend the wedding. "The best people" are unhappy that Vsevolod chose a commoner as a wife. They pay Grishka Kuterme to publicly ridicule Fevronia's low origins, but the people intercede for a kind girl. Suddenly Tatars rush into the city. They take Fevronia and Grishka hostage. Their goal is to reach the Great Kitezh hidden in the forests. Grishka, under pain of torture, agrees to show the road to the Tatars. Fevronia prays for the Lord to make Great Kitezh invisible.

In the Great Kitezh, all residents gathered on the square in front of the Assumption Cathedral. Fyodor Poyarok returned from Small Kitezh and was blinded by the Tatars. He spoke about the fall of the city and the approach of the enemy, the path to which, he hears, is indicated by Fevronia herself. Vsevolod convenes squads to protect the city. The people are preparing to accept death, the troops of the Tatars are already visible on the horizon. A thick fog descends, a bell bells ring out - Great Kitezh disappears.

The whole army of Vsevolod died in the battle near Kerzhentse, and he himself was mortally wounded. The Tatars set up camp on the shore of Svetloyar Lake, opposite Great Kitezh, covered with thick fog. The enemies tie Grishka to a tree and begin to divide their prey. One of the trophies is Fevronia - two Tatar leaders meet in the struggle for its possession, one of whom kills the other. Grishka asks Fevronia to release him, he admits that he himself started a rumor that it was she who leads the Tatars to Kitezh. The girl lets go of a drunkard. Suddenly they see that the fog over the lake has cleared, and Kitezh is reflected in the water - only the city itself is no longer on the shore. Grishka and Fevronia are hiding in the forest. Tatars wake up, the ghostly city strikes them in horror, they rush scatter.

The fugitives wandered into the thicket of the forest. Kutherma lost his mind, he was overcome by demons, and he runs away. Fevronia is exhausted, she lies down on the grass and falls asleep. Suddenly, fatigue leaves, she sees her fiancé, and the prophetic birds sing to her about peace and eternal life. Together with Vsevolod they go to Kitezh.

The bells of the Assumption Cathedral are ringing, Prince Yuri meets the young couple. But even now Fevronia remembers Grishka, she wants him to find his way to Kitezh. The girl wrote him a letter indicating the road in an invisible hail. The people of Kitezh glorify the wedding of Vsevolod and Fevronia.

A photo

Interesting Facts

• Rimsky-Korsakov did not like the famous baritone L. Yakovlev. After visiting his performances of Mizgir in "Snow Maiden"Dirty in"Tsar's bride“and Egnatius in“ Servilia ”the composer stopped writing large baritone parts in his operas. Nikolai Andreevich knew that the leadership of the Mariinsky Theater, who favored Yakovlev, would give them to him, and not to the soloist, who was offered by the composer. only Fedor Poyarok sings the faces of the baritone; an important but small part is given to him.
• After the "Legend" the composer did not long feel in himself the excitement of writing something else, but the work on the existing intentions did not take shape. At one point he even decided that it was time to stop writing music. Although it was later written more "The Golden Cockerel"," The Legend "was the last opera of Rimsky-Korsakov, the premiere of which took place during his lifetime.

• Music "Tales" half consists of prayers, in its philosophical basis - the opposition of good and evil, divine and demonic. She asserts the most important Christian values ​​about forgiveness and mercy. At the same time, Rimsky-Korsakov himself was a staunch atheist throughout his life.
• The role of Fevronia in the "Tale" was the first world premiere of the beginning singer M.N. Kuznetsova-Benoit. After 7 years, in 1914, Jules Massenet will write his last opera, Cleopatra, especially for her, and after some time she will become the wife of his nephew A. Massenet.
• The party of Fevronia, even when creating the "Tale", was intended by N.I. Zabela-Vrubel - Rimsky-Korsakov wrote many female images especially for her in his operas. But the turmoil of recent years - the death of the only baby son and the severe mental illness of her husband - have affected the voice of an outstanding singer. Her party at the premiere of the opera was The Bird Sirin.
• V. Belsky noted that the Tatar hordes in the work have not so much ethnographic as cultural meaning - they are not as they really were, but as they appear in the images of songs and legends of the Russian people. This is confirmed by the fact that even Marsh Tatar ascends with its melody not to Eastern, but to Russian folklore.

The best numbers from the opera "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia"

"Oh, you are a forest, my forest, a beautiful desert" - Fevronia's aria (listen)

"Oh, glory, wealth is vain!" - monologue of Prince Yuri (listen)

"Slashing at Kerzhents" - symphonic picture (listen)

History of creation and productions "Tales of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia"

The opera is based on two legends unrelated to each other: about the miraculous salvation of St. Kitezh and about the Muromian maiden Fevronia. However, the interest in them N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov and V.I. Belsky was so strong and equivalent that they are inextricably intertwined in the idea of ​​an opera plot. The co-authors first spoke about him in the 1890s, while working on "The Tale of Tsar Saltan", later they continued to work on the plot, and by the summer of 1903 the libretto was completely ready. Despite the fact that the composer often hurried the librettist, unfriendly study went only to the benefit: Belsky created one of the best Russian operatic texts. The libretto is saturated with national mythological images and supported by genuine historical materials, as well as folklore, songs and legends.

In the second half of 1903 Rimsky-Korsakov He began to fully work on the music of the "Legend", this time he was even engaged in orchestration not after, but as far as writing scenes. A year later, in September 1904, the opera was mainly completed. Basically - because until the spring of 1905, the composer repeatedly copied and corrected individual episodes. Then he prepared the opera for printing, but was in no hurry to give it to the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters. Moreover, even when in 1905 its head, V.I. Telyakovsky himself offered to stage an opera at the Mariinsky Theater, Nikolai Andreevich promised to give him a printed copy of the score, but noted that he no longer intends to submit his operas to the Directorate. It was an emotional reaction - after the scandalous evening of the premiere of his opera Koschei, which ended with the participation of the police (1905, revolutionary events, and someone cried out from the audience: "Down with autocracy!"), The works of Rimsky-Korsakov were forbidden to be performed in St. Petersburg. It lasted only two months, but the resentment of power in Nikolai Andreevich was still seething.

Nevertheless, he kept his promise by presenting the score to Telyakovsky. And in the spring of 1906, the Mariinsky Theater began to learn the "Legend". The rehearsals were long and nervous. Some ideas of the composer were so unusual that misunderstanding and conflicts arose with the theater team. February 7, 1907 premiere, the value of which, like success, it is difficult to overestimate. Contemporaries called it a grand cultural event - along with the release of books by L. Tolstoy. The young singer Maria Kuznetsova-Benoit appeared on the stage of Fevronia, an outstanding tenor Ivan Ershov sang to Grishka. In 1908, the opera was staged by the Bolshoi Theater. On the two main stages of the country, "The Legend" appeared repeatedly: 5 productions at the Mariinsky Theater, 6 - at the Bolshoi. In 1926, the opera was first performed abroad - at the Barcelona Liceu Theater. In 2012, several leading European opera houses created the production of The Tale in the direction of D. Chernyakov, which was shown in Amsterdam, Milan, Barcelona, ​​Paris.

"Legend ..." on video

The "Legend" was performed several times in the open air, in 2004 - in Tikhvin, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, in September 2016 - under the historical walls of the Astrakhan Kremlin. The first performance was created by the Mariinsky Theater, the second by the Astrakhan Opera and Ballet Theater, both exist in video versions.

You can also get acquainted with the productions:

• Netherlands Opera, 2012, director D. Chernyakov, in major roles: S. Ignatovich (Fevronia), D. Dashak (Grishka), V. Vaneev (Prince Yuri), M. Aksyonov (Kniazhich Vsevolod);
• Theater Liriko di Cagliari (joint production with the Bolshoi Theater of Russia), 2008, director E. Nyakrosius, in the main parts: T. Monogarova, M. Gubsky, M. Kazakov, V. Panfilov.

Amazingly beautiful and insultingly low-performing opera. The reason for this is both a complex topic, and duration, and high demands on the performing staff, and the difficulty of stage performance. "The Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevronia“as the director of his first production, VP Shkofer, noted, this is an“ exceptional event in the musical world. ”It still is today.