Life for the Tsar - Ivan Susanin (opera)

The main articles are:

• Music by Mikhail Glinka. List of works
• History of music in Russia
• The best music of Russia. TAdviser list

Creating an opera

Glinka's European experiences and lessons

Glinka comes to the conclusion of the national opera as a result of her two trips abroad. Firstly, he finds himself in Milan, and finds himself in fantastic times for bel canto. 1830s - the peak of the romantic bel canto in Italy, its triumphs, loud and popular. Opera is beginning to be replicated, it is truly mass art. It is played by organ artists, it is sung by gondoliers, notes are issued, piano transcriptions are written. To create a sample of the same mass influence on Russian material, the first Russian opera, is, of course, a very powerful task.

Mikhail Glinka. From the portrait thin. N. Volkova. 1837

At the same time, Glinka was interested in the other side: he settles in Berlin, where he falls in love, and most importantly, is engaged in composition and counterpoint with a very sensible German teacher Denn. Denne and his lessons in Glinka's head combined everything he had heard in Milan and everything he had learned in Berlin. So he comes to Russia, equipped with two completely different stories, Italian and German, and having, moreover, a lively and not idle interest in Russian choral singing, in particular, in Partes.

Zhukovsky advises the plot for the libretto to please the tsar

The opera "Life for the Tsar" appeared as a result of two timely united ambitions: Glinka himself and Glinka's entourage, primarily Zhukovsky.

Glinka's ambition - to create the first national opera - was the ambition of the "translator" artist, a person who understood a lot about the new opera genre in Europe and really wanted to apply this to Russian material, to the Russian musical tradition.

Zhukovsky's ambition - to create the first national opera - was the ambition of a statesman and politician, it implied that a cultural and political event was to take place. An event recognized at the highest level, at the yard level.

The first plot for the libretto with which Glinka begins to work is Zhukovsky's "Maryina Roshcha," a sentimental story about the girl Mary and her fiancé Uslad. Chamber, local plot, absolutely unrelated to any patriotism of imperial property.

But the plot of "Life for the Tsar" (Susanin takes the Poles to the swamp, who go to kill the young Kostroma boyar Mikhail Romanov; the boyar is saved, and Susanin himself dies in the Kostroma forests) appears on the "Saturdays of Zhukovsky" and on his advice. It is believed that it was Zhukovsky's circle, realizing that a very loud event could really turn out, in every possible way begins to lobby through the connections of the Puppeteer and several other defendants for the performance of the opera on the imperial stage. Which can only take place with the highest approval - and therefore tantamount to it.

The idea, apparently, arose from Zhukovsky, but the hardly cautious Zhukovsky made public how and where it came from. Because both the plot and, most importantly, its presentation were directly related to the "Duma" of Kondraty Ryleev, one of the five executed Decembrists. And this surname itself in the mid-1830s was absolutely unpronounceable. Yes, at least without a surname - the text was, in fact, permeated with the ideas of the Decembrists: the "Duma" rather stood up for the peasants than glorified the imperial house. And this is not at all a monarchical property reading, hiding its origin, Zhukovsky politically technologically and re-proposed.

However, the legend of Susanin was reproduced in the literature repeatedly and in parallel with Ryleevskaya, many other versions perfectly exist that process history in a completely loyal spirit. If necessary, Zhukovsky could refer to the completely trustworthy Polevoy with his play "Kostroma Forests." In general, the plot, as they say, is in the air - since 1815, the opera "Ivan Susanin" by Katarino Kavos, created on the basis of just such a loyal text, has been performed on the imperial stage. And Kavos directed the Bolshoi, and later the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. He behaved either prudently or nobly, because when Glinka's score was accepted for performance, he not only headed the rehearsals and had a very high-quality premiere, but also removed his opera without noise and resentment into the background.

As a result, the cunning and cautious Zhukovsky based the libretto of the first Russian opera on the Decembrist version of history.

When some musical pieces were already performed in the salons, the circle raised a wave about the fact that a grandiose national opera was about to be ready. Here Glinka was strongly advised to devote the opera to Nicholas the First. At this point, the opera was called "Death for the King." Under this name, Nicholas, accordingly, was sent with a request to allow dedication. Nicholas took the whole story quite favorably, but returned the score with the title "Life for the Tsar."

Court-German accent: Rosen

In the interested circle were Zhukovsky, and Kukolnik, and Odoevsky, and in general a certain number of first-class, recognized writers who could assist in the direct creation of the libretto. But. Either one of the friends, or Nikolai himself - who was aware of the matter before the score came to him - very much advised Glinka to take Baron Georg (Yegor Fedorovich) Rosen, secretary of the Tsarevich, into the librettists. And this, of course, is the brightest paradox in the context of the creation of the Russian national opera.

Because Baron Rosen in Russian spoke approximately like Monsieur Triquet: "Vi rose, vi rose, bel Tatiana." In addition, most likely, 60-70 percent of Rosen's poems inside the libretto are written on ready-made music, that is, with Glinka's large phonetic pulls - on which note the letter A should stand, and where the letter O, and which letter should not be at all. I must say, as a result, it is not even very clear that this libretto has a desire to imitate the "court folk" style, and that there is a consequence of problems with the Russian language. "Like a rosan in a garden, Antonida blooms among the people" - the story is overgrown with loose cranberries performed by a German a la ryus to please the emperor. Glinka won back only the scene in the forest, which he most likely wrote to his own poems.

Zhukovsky was more interested as a lobbyist rather than a librettist. Although, of course, he saved this text in every possible way. He was also saved by Kukolnik, he was saved by Odoevsky, moreover, there is a letter from Zhukovsky to Pushkin with a request to come to a meeting on the opera - and, apparently, the text was also saved there. And later Pushkin, firstly, was in the hall, and secondly, even in his verses he answered all sorts of zools, primarily Bulgarin, on the subject of the fact that Glinka could not be trampled into the mud.

As a result, we can say that the state order for the monarchist opera was born, in fact, by the time the opera itself was written. And her idea arose not at court, but in circles close to the court, but fed on strong reform ideas that they hoped to interest the monarch. It was a kind of "pro-government front" wanting change in the monarchy for its own good.

Opera

Actors

Time of action: 1612-1613. Place of action: Domnino village, Poleta, Moscow (in the epilogue).

• IVAN SUSANIN, peasant of the village of Domnina (bass)

• ANTONIDA, his daughter (soprano)

• VANYA, his adopted son (contralto)

• BOGDAN SOBININ, warrior, fiancé of Antonida (tenor)

• HEAD OF THE POLISH DETACHMENT (bass)

• VESTNIK (tenor)

• HEAD OF THE RUSSIAN DETACHMENT (bass)

Overture

The overture begins with a majestic introduction. The agitation and dynamism of her main quick section anticipate the dramatic events of the opera.

Action I

Street of the village of Domnina. In the distance, the river; at the foreground a group of peasants. Their choir "In a storm, in a thunderstorm" sounds. She sang solo in the choir: "I'm not afraid of fear! I'm not afraid of death! " The choir celebrates the military feat. Behind the stage, a choir of peasant women is heard. They glorify the arrival of spring ("Spring took its toll, spring came red," in productions based on the literary edition of S. Gorodetsky, the action takes place in the fall, apparently, due to the fact that the movement raised by Minin began in the fall of 1611; music, however, does convey the spring mood) and the arrival (to the kingdom) of Mikhail Fedorovich. All together the peasants call him.

The peasants gradually disperse. Antonida slowly comes out, she looks sadly towards the river. She is waiting for the return home of her betrothed, Bogdan Sobinin, who with the squad left to smash the Polish gentry (Kavatina "They are waiting for the blueberry home in the settlement behind the river"). Gradually, by the end of the cavatin, the peasants are filling the stage again.

Susanin enters, returning from the city. The wedding that Antonida is waiting for is not to be: the country is in danger, the Poles are advancing, "grief to the Russian people, if Moscow again falls under the control of enemies!" - he says.

A chorus of rowers is heard behind the stage. A boat appears on the river; Sobinin comes out of it. With a warm greeting, he appeals to Antonida: "The joy is immense! Are you, my soul, a red girl! " Susanin asks him what news he has granted. What's in Moscow? Is it ours? Sobinin talks about the victory of Pozharsky's army over the Poles. Peasants listen to his story with glee, picking up his lines. Starik Susanin, however, is restrained: "It's not time yet! No, it's not time not to worry about the native country, about the unfortunate Russia! "

Antonida looks at Susanin, sees concern on his face. "What should we expect?" she asks her father, thinking all the time about the wedding with Sobinin. Now Sobinin himself approaches Antonida; they talk quietly about something while several voices drag out the song - "I delete the song." "Prince Pozharsky said the word..." They say Antonida and Sobinin, apparently, about Susanin's ban on their wedding. And so Sobinin quickly interrupts the performance of the song and directly asks Susanin a question: "How? Uzhel won't be my wedding? " Susanin is adamant: "What fun is this timelessness!" And then Sobinin and Antonida very cordially ask the old man (their tercet "Not Tom, Dear" sounds). Susanin resolutely declares that the wedding will be when God gives Rus the king. But according to Sobinin, who returned from Moscow, it turns out that the great cathedral is already setting (choosing) the tsar. And who is he? "Our boyar" (that is, Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov). If so, says Susanin, it is a wedding to be. Everyone is jubilant. Susanin, with his daughter and fiancé, goes to his court; the people diverge.

Action II

Luxury ball in Poland. On the sides of the stage sit feasting puns and panels. Deep in the stage, a brass band; in the middle of the dance. The choir sings: "The god of war after the battle gives us living joy." Everyone is looking forward to an early victory over Moscow. Singing gives way to dancing - the famous dance suite from the opera is performed: a solemn polonaise, an energetic swift krakow, a smooth light waltz, a temperamental mazurka.

Dancing stops and the herald enters. He has bad news: "Fate broke into a thunderstorm!" "What, isn't the king (or rather, royal Vladislav) not in the Kremlin?" - exclamations are heard. A group of dupes stands out from the crowd and goes to the fore. They are called to go to Moscow and capture Mikhail. Everyone is confident in the success of this plan, and dancing resumes. The orchestra plays and the choir sings mazurka.

Action III

The interior view of Susanin's huts. In the middle is the door; on the side is another door leading to the inner chambers. On the opposite side of the window. Vanya sits busy with work and sings her song: "How a mother was killed from a small chick." It's a sad account of his own orphanage. Enter Susanin; he listens to Vanya's song. Now it's time to sing more cheerful songs, Susanin argues and informs Vanya about the election of Mikhail Fedorovich - after all, this is their master! - to the kingdom. Soon Vanya comes to mind that it will be bad if the bloopers come here to capture Mikhail Fedorovich. But immediately both - Susanin and Vanya-resolutely declare that he will stand up for the king. They are full of courage to serve the king and report it in their duet.

Peasants enter, going to work in the forest and singing about it in chorus. Then they intend to come to Susanin to wish him happiness. According to the sign of Susanin, Vanya treats the peasants with wine. Those glorify Susanin. The peasants leave.

Susanin calls Antonida. She comes. Now the whole family is assembled (Susanin, Antonida, Vanya and, Sobinin). Susanin blesses the young. Everyone rejoices. Praise goes out to God. Everyone prays to God to love the tsar, appeals for mercy to the Russian land. Evenings - it's time to prepare for the hen party.

Suddenly, a horse stomp is heard. At first, Susanin thinks that these are royal Poles. But no, it turns out to be Poles. They demand without further ado that they be escorted to the king, as they are certain that he is somewhere here. Susanin answers them with mock hospitality, hiding indignation: "How can we know where the king will deign to live!" Susanin - again feignly (and maybe in the hope of pulling time) - invites them to drink at the wedding, which is being prepared in his house. Poles sharply refuse - they are only interested in the king. Susanin tries his best to delay time, but the Poles show impatience and turn to him with increasing anger and in the end even swing sabers at him. Susanin exposes his chest with fearlessness. Susanin's determination puzzles the Poles. They don't know what to do with it. They are conferring.

Here Susanin comes to mind (he addresses Vanya decisively and mysteriously): "I will go, I will go. I will lead them into the swamp, into the wilderness, into the quagmire, into the swamp. " He instructs Vanya to ride the shortest road directly to the king in order to notify him of the danger before the morning. Vanya quietly leaves. The Poles want to bribe Susanin and offer him gold. Susanin pretends that gold seduces him, and agrees to take the Polish detachment to the king. Antonina carefully monitors her father's actions. She thinks that her father is really going to lead the Poles to the tsar. She runs out to him and pleads with him not to do it, not to leave them. Susanin reassures Antonida. He blesses her and asks her to have a wedding without him, as he will not be able to return soon. Antonina again rushes to her father with an insistent question: "Where is your road?" The Poles tear Antonida away from his father and hastily leave with him. In exhaustion, she rushes to the bench and, covering her face with her hands, sobs bitterly.

Behind the stage, the wedding choir "Ran wild, hanging water spilled." But it's hard on Antonida's soul. She sings her romance - one of the most popular arias of the opera - "Not about that grief, girlfriends."

Sobinin enters. He had just learned that the Poles had taken Susanin. He wonders where the enemy came from. Antonida tells him how it was: "Evil kites flew in, the Poles ran in, they captured the birthman, they will cause trouble over him!" Peasants reassure Antonida ("You do not cry, he will come!"). Sobinin is determined to free Susanin from Polish captivity. With Antonida, he sings the duet "How much grief is chosen on this day." Gradually, armed peasants and warriors gather; by the end of the duo, they are already a whole militia. Sobinin once again assures Antonida that he will save Susanin. The warriors rush him to go hiking. Their chorus "On the enemy!" Sounds courageously and decisively. Sobinin and the peasants hastily leave.

Action IV

The fourth action is divided into two scenes. It begins with an orchestral introduction - a symphonic intermission that paints a night winter landscape. The Deaf Forest. Night. Armed peasants enter and Sobinin with them (this scene is usually omitted in opera productions). The peasants (they sing in chorus) ponder which way to go to the Poles. The peasants are encouraged by Sobinin. He sings his aria "Brothers, in a blizzard, in an unknown wilderness." By the end of the aria, everyone is again inspired and ready to go further in search of Susanin. Sobinin and the peasants leave. There is a change of scenery.

The stage is part of the forest near the monastery estate. Vanya runs in. His great heroic aria "Poor Horse in the Field Fell" sounds (this number was composed by the composer after the opera was staged on stage and is usually performed instead of Sobinin's previous scene with peasants in a remote forest). So Vanya ran here to the royal court. He knocks on the gates of the monastery. Nobody answers him. He laments that he is not a knight or a hero - he would then break the gate and enter the monastery and warn the king and the queen of danger. He knocks again and shouts to open the gate. Finally, voices are heard outside the gate. It was a boyar servant who woke up. They are surprised who it breaks for them, because it is not a blizzard howling, not a bird shouting, not a dead man gets into the gate. "No, then the woe is at the gate. Should we go out? " - they fluctuate. Finally, they unlock the gate, see Vanya. He tells them about everything that happened: how the Poles came, how they demanded that Susanin take them to the king, how a courageous peasant led them by a false road and led them into an impassable forest. Vanya's account encourages the boyars to rather go to the king (he, as it turned out, is not here where Vanya came). The boyars send Vanya forward: "You, as God's ambassador, step ahead!" Vanya agrees not without pride: "I, as God's ambassador, will go ahead." Everyone is leaving.

The opera's finale is its most dramatic scene, culminating in Susanin's scene with Poles in a remote forest, where this courageous peasant took them to ruin. In the depths of the scene, Poles are shown, exhausted, barely walking accompanied by Susanin. They swear to the "cursed Muscovite." They go out to the gulch: at least relax here. They're going to make a fire. For now, they think he has accidentally lost his way. "My way is straight, but here is the reason: our Russia is bad weather and bitter for your brothers!" The Poles settle down to sleep by a divorced fire.

Susanin is left alone on the proscenium. He sings his most famous aria, "They smell the truth!.." (her text is significantly different from what S. Gorodetsky put into the hero's mouth). After mournful reflections and pleas to the Lord to reinforce him at the death hour, Susanin recalls the family. He mentally says goodbye to Antonida, Sobinin entrusts care for her, laments for Van, who will again become orphaned. He eventually says goodbye to all of them. Susanin looks around: everyone is sleeping all around. He also lies down ("Yes, and I will take a nap-sleep, I will support myself with sleep-nap: you need a lot of strength for torture"). Wrapped in a sheepskin coat.

The orchestra features music depicting the wind howling. The blizzard intensifies. Poles wake up, the storm subsides. They're going on their way. But now it becomes clear to them that Susanin deliberately led them into this wilderness so that they would die here. They approach Susanin, wake him up and wonder if he is cunning or not. And then he reveals to them the truth: "I took you there, where the gray wolf did not run!" The Poles are furious: "Beat the enemy to death!" - they shout and kill Susanin.

Epilog

Grand mass scene. The orchestral introduction sounds. The curtain rises. The scene is one of the streets of Moscow. Crowds of people in festive dresses slowly walk across the stage. The famous choir "Glory, glory, Holy Russia" sounds. The people will praise the king: "Celebrate the solemn day of the king, rejoice, have fun: your king is coming! Tsar-sovereign meets the people! "

Antonida, Vanya and Sobinin slowly enter. They are sad, because Susanin did not live to see this solemn day. A small military detachment passes through the stage, which, noticing this sad group, slows down the step. The leader of the detachment addresses them. He asks why are they sad when everyone is jubilant? He is amazed when he suddenly finds out that they are relatives of Susanin, about whom "the people say that he saved the king!" He, along with the soldiers of his squad, expresses mournful feelings about Susanin's death and reports that they have repaid the Poles in full.

And again - even more powerful - the final choir "Glory" sounds, which all the people sing already on Red Square in Moscow, to the jubilant ringing of bells. A solemn royal train is visible in the distance, heading to the Spassky Gate of the Kremlin^[1].

Premiere

Highest approval

A dress orchestral rehearsal for the first act took place in Yusupov's mansion. That is, in principle, even rehearsals and pre-screenings of "Life for the Tsar" have already become an event. More secular than state, but, in general, everyone wanted it to work out. And in some ways, the risk that the sovereign emperor would be dissatisfied with what he was offered as a result was minimal. Zhukovsky insured himself everywhere and even went to the workshops to explain to Roller, the famous decorator, how to make the final scene. In fact, Roller's scenery reproduced a very competent sketch of Zhukovsky, who was a good draftsman. Everything was provided so that, God forbid, not to be mistaken, so that nothing would interfere with success. And, in general, nowhere shibanulo, with one or only exception.

The premiere took place on December 9, 1836 with great success, but Glinka was terribly worried - and especially nervous when after a very spectacular Polish act there was not a single cotton. And the fact was that there were beautiful proud Poles on the stage, most recently suppressed in the Polish uprising. And no one understood what to do with this circumstance. They did not applaud from the royal box - well, no one applauded. But after the trio sounded and Anna Petrova-Vorobyova sang, who performed the part of the boy Vanya, it was already clear that there was success. And indeed, Odoevsky, Pushkin, and Kukolnik, and many others, and later, already in the 1850s, and Stasov, all of them write about the fact that the meaning was obvious immediately, after all, an event happened, the first Russian opera was born - an event that cannot be overestimated. And Glinka is no longer just very talented, but on the verge of genius - this is literally how it is published in newspapers.

The sovereign emperor invites the composer to the royal box and presents him with a ring with a topaz, surrounded by five large diamonds, for 4,000 rubles. And I must say that there was another initially extremely unpleasant circumstance. The imperial stage was ready to accept the opera from the composer only if he completely refused the fee. He refused.

But when Nikolai gave the ring, he remembered that the composer did not receive a fee. And 4000 rubles is an amount very comparable to the fee, for example, of the same Italians. That is, everything that is called was returned to him, the empress congratulated him, the great princesses also thanked him, and everything was received extremely favorably.

Aristocratic discontent

Favorably, the reaction in the hall was not homogeneous at all. There were evil articles by Thaddeus Bulgarin. One of them is devoted to the polemic with Odoevsky, who says that, they say, a new word is said in music. Bulgarin answers this: we believe that music is eternal and that no new word can be said in it. That is, simply in its pure form the spiritual space of Russian Eurasia.

And there Bulgarin calls Glinka's music in French exclusively the music of coachmen. (It is ridiculous and indicative at the same time that Bulgarin's imagination does not move further than the coachman, that is, he has ideas about who the people are made of, also quite courtier.)

Stasov scolds Glinka for the Italianisms 20 years later, and contemporaries said that this was all done in a completely landscape way. Someone scolded for games with a German counterpoint, someone scolded for academicism, a little later, most likely, in the same imperial hall, the Italianisms were just what they liked and made them clap. But the old nobility pressed the sponges in every possible way and said that my peasant women sing like that. Serfs. That is, the situation was still twofold. But in general, this offering was prepared exclusively competently, it was impossible not to eat it.

Statements

1842-1904: Productions in Moscow

In 1842, they played the premiere in Moscow, with the forces of mainly St. Petersburg artists, since the troupe was the same. And from that moment, "Life for the Tsar" becomes a very Moscow opera.

It is resumed twice in the second half of the 19th century, and at the turn of the century a new production is made, in which Antonidou is sung by her almost namesake, a very young Nezhdanova, and this becomes her debut - she is immediately accepted into the troupe.

Nezhdanova as Antonida, 1902

And then, in 1904, Rachmaninoff conducts, Chaliapin appears.

Fedor Chaliapin as Ivan Susanin

Nezhdanova and Chaliapin become the shock composition of "Life for the Tsar" in the last pre-revolutionary year.

Fedor Chaliapin as Ivan Susanin

The production of the opera "Life for the Tsar" in 1904 on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater was dedicated to the centenary of the composer M.I. Glinka. It was to be embodied "in the original and undistorted form."

The artwork of the play was commissioned by K.A. Korovin. He decides to invite A.M. Vasnetsov as an assistant artist. Vasnetsov owns sketches of two paintings of the epilogue - "Suburban Settlement" and the unsaved "Red Square."

The sketch "Prigorodnaya Sloboda" is inspired by wooden architectural monuments of the Russian North. In the sketch, the master symbolically displayed the resilience of the folk spirit, preserving a small tent church untouched by the fire.

After the premiere, they wrote about the scenography of the opera: "Old Moscow is original and peculiar, positively charming."

And, it seems, it was during these years that notes appear on the harlequin of the curtain of the Bolshoi Theater, in fact, "Glory, glory, our sovereign, Glory to our great land." They did not go anywhere even in the revolutionary years and throughout the 20th century.

Vladimir Tatlin. "Spassky Gate," sketch of the scenery for the epilogue of the unfulfilled production of the opera "Life for the Tsar," 1913

1939: Anti-monarchist restoration - libretto by Gorodetsky

From the revolution until 1939, this "monarchical burp" was not performed. True, it must be said that the revolution is a revolution, but all this clumsy circling textual allegiance of Baron Rosen, of course, at the beginning of the 20th century looks unbearable not only for the Bolsheviks. In general, it already causes some irritation.

A new interest arises in 1937, one hundred years after the premiere. By the 20th anniversary of the Great October Revolution, it was decided to return this feat of the Russian people to the stage, once again installing the first Russian opera into the repertoire. But in 1937 they did not have time: it turned out that the volume of work was very large. Librettist Gorodetsky and conductor-director Lynching tried to bring the libretto into divine form. On the one hand, removing all monarchism from there, and on the other hand, turning poems into some kind of Russian language. And if Zhukovsky and Odoevsky helped to save Pushkin, then Mikhail Bulgakov was seconded to Samuzud and Gorodetsky for the same purpose. The result was Russian, but new phonetic problems arose, because there was no Glinka nearby who would force them to replace A with O. That is, this text sounds better in Russian, but, frankly, it is not as convenient to sing as Rosen's text.

In addition, after the dynastic line was amputated from the plot, a lot of inaccuracies and tensions arose. According to the new libretto, the Poles equip an army that threatens Moscow, but for some reason finds itself in the Kostroma forests on the way from Poland.

The original opera is a story of life given not even for the king, but for the person who will now be chosen as king. The story of a private feat in the name of the life of a private person. Which will have to fulfill the state function. The Poles understood that now they can choose this strong boyar and it will not be good for them. Therefore, they equipped a small flying detachment, which should attack the village and decide on the boyar. And since he is not yet in the kingdom, then not in Moscow, it means that the Poles initially do not need to go to Moscow at all.

Much is clear simply from the geography of this feat, if you figure out who went where, who won whom, who fled where, where Ivan Susanin actually died and how the Poles died. Because around the village of Istomino, which is in the sources and under which this most pure swamp is located, there was no thicket, but such a small crooked yelnichek. And it is clear that Susanin did not just get them lost more often - he brought them into the winter swamp, and they all swept under the ice, he simply soaked them to death. More importantly, all this happened in a very specific and small place. And it is clear that there really was enough Polish detachment of two dozen mercenaries. This is special forces, which goes with a very specific goal - to remove one person who is not yet too protected. The main thing from the point of view of the official monarchical version of the legend is that the Poles should have time until the moment when the boyars come to ask Mikhail to be elected to the kingdom. In general, a kind of story of the salvation of the Romanovs before the birth of the Romanov dynasty.

Fedor Fedorovsky. Sketch for the scenery of the final scene, 1939

And Gorodetsky and Samuzud, of course, turned everything towards Minin and Pozharsky, and the danger in our country should have already threatened not the boyar Romanov, but the whole homeland. So what twenty mercenaries there are - there is a serious military force, horde. That is, Susanin leads into the forests not a small Polish special forces, but a Polish army, which for some reason pretended to Moscow on some circuitous bueraks. And this is all not only ridiculous, but also turns into a huge problem with music, with the composition and strength of the choir. With the fact that you have a crowded Polish act - and immediately after it you need to bring this horde to the stage.

"Ivan Susanin" directed by Boris Mordvinov at the Bolshoi Theater, 1939

As a result, all this was quite wealthy as a bronze monument, but the original plan was completely blemished. And a swollen orchestra, and huge voices, and, in general, a very badly Russified school of singing - all together turned Glinka into some kind of "Health" Prokofiev. Belkant delights left there, as did the original private history. They killed the entire Maryina grove, killed everything laid down by Donizetti - killed with scale, orchestra, parade, cast iron, which was poured there in large quantities.

Lynching, Bulgakov and Gorodetsky suffered with this order for a long time, and as a result, the production was carried out only in 1939. She went to the Bolshoi Theater with great success, however, the scenery did not survive the evacuation. So upon the return of the troupe to Moscow, a new "canonical" version was made in the scenery of Williams and the direction of Baratov. And since then, this "Ivan Susanin" Bolshoi Theater opened every season, until 2006. That is, in such a crooked way, all this imperial history took its rightful place.

1940: Molotova-Ribbentropa version in Berlin

There is a kind of indirect confirmation that the order to update "Life for the King" and embed the plot in the new socialist state apologetics came from the very top. This is the premiere of "Life for the Tsar (Ivan Susanin)" in Berlin in 1940. After the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact happened, a rather sincere - insincere, but intense - Russian-German cultural exchange began. Under this case, the Bolshoi Theater hosted a rather fateful premiere of Valkyrie directed by Sergei Eisenstein - the only late Wagner for the entire existence of the Soviet Union. A terribly interesting production, from which Eisenstein's photographs, sketches and recordings are preserved, but this is a completely different conversation. The Valkyrie, by the way, was visited by some very high German rank - and, judging by the report of the German consul accompanying him, he did not appreciate the efforts of the Soviet government, saying that this was not Wagner, but a Jewish-Bolshevik perversion.

And in parallel with this in Berlin, Herbert von Karayan conducts Glinka.

"Life for the Tsar (Ivan Susanin)" staged by the Berlin State Opera, 1940

The record is not entirely preserved, but it is very similar to the fact that it was a version of "Life for the King" and not "Susanin" - or some mixed one. In any case, there, for example, was Sobinin's aria (preserved in the record) - and it just fell out of the Soviet version because of its Belkant complexity. In general, it was most likely a translation of Rosen's text, simply because it already existed, and it was probably under the title "Life for the Tsar (Ivan Susanin)." The choice itself emphasized the state importance of returning the plot to the opera stage. And the best soloists who were in Germany at that time sang there - including the fantastically gifted and beautiful Maria Chebotari with an excellent lyrical soprano, who sang at Hitler's birthdays and receptions. And Sobinina sang Helge Roswenge, the famous Danish-German tenor.

The artist of the production was a prominent representative of the Russian emigrant Cossacks Vladimir Novikov. He came up with a completely fabulous scenography a la Ptushko, with domes, with huge fur caps, a kind of imperial Bilibin. He came up with a great knowledge of the matter, because he was not only a scenographer, but also a specialist in heraldry, the author of the first monograph on the two-headed eagle, which he himself published in 1960, with eggs. Our historical and patriotic resources still adore her.

After the summer of 1941, Glinka immediately flew out of the Berlin posters, but before that he enjoyed great success, in particular, by the way, thanks to the same Polish theme. Bad Poles were very beneficial to both Germany and Russia.

1957: A dissident version of Markevich in Paris

In principle, after 1940, "Ivan Susanin" almost disappears from the world posters for fifteen years, becoming exclusively the property of the Bolshoi Theater.

And in 1957 in Paris, "Life for the Tsar" was recorded by conductor Igor Markevich, a highly remarkable personality, a close friend of Diaghilev, a participant in many of his fateful premieres of late years, one of the main specialists in the Russian repertoire in Europe. He writes in principle in Russian - and it is terribly ridiculous to listen to Teresa Stich-Randall, a delightful soprano who has absolutely no difficulties in coloratura, and the only thing she struggles with painfully is Russian. But there is also Bulgarian Boris Khristov, and Swede Nikolai Gedda, who grew up with Russian adoptive parents - both sing beautifully in Russian. All this is recorded at EMI and has a rather large resonance - including in Russia. But only in Russia is this resonance of a special property. It is unlikely that Markevich meant some kind of conscious front, but when these plates were smuggled into the USSR, they found additional value. During the thaw, the record went through dissident circles as some alternative to the official "Ivan Susanin": listen, as it was with the priest tsar. Never before have Baron Rosen's words been listened to so favorably. And, also, in terms of voices and musical richness, this is perhaps the best recording of "Life for the King."

1992: Production of Lazarev in the original edition in Bolshoi

In 1992, the canon of "Ivan Susanin" breaks at the Bolshoi Theater and Alexander Lazarev does "Life for the Tsar" with Yevgeny Nesterenko, Marina Meshcheryakova and Elena Zaremba, and this is quite felt both on stage and in the stalls as an event, although neither Lazarev, nor Nesterenko, nor the choir and orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater at that time were ready to return Glinka some pristine sound.

1996: Staged by Fedoseev in Zurich

The opera is often performed abroad. Among such productions is the 1996 performance in Zurich (deer. Fedoseev).

2004: "Little Man" and the State: A Scandalous Version of Gergiev and Chernyakov

The last important production in time is still the joint work of Valery Gergiev and Dmitry Chernyakov at the Mariinsky Theater in 2004 - important, despite the abundance of negligence of various kinds. But in directing, the story of the attitude to this plot of all sovereign people of all eras, for whom he is simply part of a big souvenir legend about power, was very clearly drawn out. Everything was mixed there: swollen, loose-cranberry domes, pseudo-Russian Bilibin feast, completely hellish neon structures, almost exactly the same as those used today on our streets as decor for various uplifting holidays. In the Mariinsky, all this was even too good a taste, but in 2004 it still hit hard in the eyes.

Mariinsky Theatre production, 2004

There was also an absolutely human, chamber history of the Susanin family. The most piercing scene was in the final, when the relatives of the deceased Susanin, Antonid, Sobinin and Vanya - they all come to the choirs, where they celebrate, among other things, the feat of Ivan Susanin - and absolutely no one needs it there. They are rather contemptuously presented with an award certificate with which they return to their house, and very quiet and very poor commemorations begin there - with vodka and a black woman. And this is the moment of clarification of the main contradiction of the opera: lyrical, private beginning, chamber feat will always argue in this opera with officialdom - this is somehow embedded not only in the circumstances of the first performance, but also somewhere in its gut, in its poetics.

With all that, musically, it was, of course, a performance by Valery Gergiev, who is not very close to the ideas of musical authenticity at all. And as a result, he still had a large traditional performance of the Leningrad conducting school - with a large orchestra on the large imperial stage. There was an attempt to take slightly lighter coloratura voices, but at that time, even in the Mariinsky, the stylistic and technical training of Russian singers to the level of bel canto that this score requires did not yet correspond.

At the second performance of the premiere opera "Life for the Tsar" there was an unprecedented scandal. The audience, waiting for a Russian-style lubka, felt deceived.

Already the very beginning of the second show of the new production of Glinka's "Life for the Tsar" was marked by slight disappointment: Vladimir Putin, promised to the audience, who was going to pay his respects to the Mariinka, did not appear (however, Valentina Matvienko was present as a consolation). However, from the first bars of the overture, the audience, which had previously carefully studied the inhabitants of the royal box, completely switched attention to the stage. And if in the first picture with its idyllic village color the hall with a lively and generally benevolent curiosity looked at Susanin and his household, marveling at the absence of life-size kokoshniks and village huts, then the Polish act, devoid of any Polish will accept and portray the top of power in its Moscow version, plunged everyone into bewilderment, replaced by an aggressive protest. Contrasting the quiet family happiness of one small family with the generalized grotesque image of "those in power" and thus making the state the enemy of the "little man," director Dmitry Chernyakov probably counted on people who were ready to accept or at least perceive his individual interpretation of Glinka's opera.

Obviously, people came to the second premiere, less sophisticated in modern opera directing, and maybe not at all aware of what exactly they have to see.

A wonderful ballet staged by Sergei Vikharev is a kind of parody, not so much on Swan Lake as on its version, which was included on TV during the coup and funeral in the USSR, was noted in the review Kommersant of Susanin's^[2]

The vitriolic irony of the dances staged by Sergei Vikharev in the best traditions of the Kremlin techniques (deliberately clumsy white ballet interspersed with a wide-ranging folklore style) at first did not arouse any suspicion - the hall watched what was happening in all seriousness, contemplating the caustic post-Soviet lubok with the same attention that Swan Lake or Bayaderka contemplates on other days. The stronger was the shock of the appearance of brave Suvorovites, and then girls with bayonets: a tough and cruel director's move, designed to turn a skillful pretence into a frank grotesque, made the audience feel completely fooled.

A loud murmur began in the hall, and the word "shame" sounded from the stalls in a thunderous male voice, supported by applause (albeit rather liquid). The piquancy of the situation was that the play was filmed by the Kultura TV channel. All this, however, did not bother Valery Gergiev at all, who continued to conduct the performance with the same dynamic pace: the girls with bayonets left with the Suvorov, but Glinka's music was accompanied throughout the remaining evening by an obsessive background created by the audience: any detail, any movement of soloists immediately caused a flurry of comments - "what horror," "nightmare," "well, is it possible to allow this?"

According to eyewitnesses, in one of the intermission, the Minister of Culture and Mass Communications Alexander Sokolov retired with Valery Gergiev in his office. Their conversation clearly dragged on, so that the dead began to worry if the maestro would be late for the start of the next act. It can be assumed that the minister told Mariinsky's artistic director, who recently complained in an interview that the modern stage was flooded with "fevronias in sneakers" and "princes of vsevolod," similar to collective farm agronomists (Dmitry Chernyakov's previous production in Mariinka was just "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh").

After the intermission, the people threw them into the hall with the appropriate attitude - foreigners who feel that they had the honor of witnessing a real scandal, greedily caught every line. Actually, neither the music, nor the performance, nor the performance itself no longer mattered - the audience was experiencing the insult inflicted on it in the Polish act. Absolutely everything caused irritation: cucumber cans standing on the wedding table, the cheeky behavior of the Poles who fell into the Susanina room (although how else the conquerors can behave), finally, the behavior of Antonida, who, after her father left the enemy detachment, frantically accepted to rub an apple at the table, while the villagers sang her wedding song.

Probably, the problematic ending of the performance, when the disadvantaged and orphaned Antonida, Vanya and Sobinin roam among the indifferent retinue singing "Glory" to their tsar, saved from the scandal only the fact that closer to midnight, when the action reached the finish line, many spectators had already left the theater, the Izvestia newspaper^[3].

2012

Production at the Chelyabinsk Opera and Ballet Theater

In 2012, the opera "Life for the Tsar" was staged at the Chelyabinsk Opera and Ballet Theater in the original edition on Rosen's libretto.

Concert version in Montpellier

In 2012, in a concert performance, the opera "Life for the Tsar" was performed in French Montpellier under the direction of the former chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theater Alexander Vedernikov with Russian soloists, choir and orchestra of French Radio.

2018: Concert Production

On August 29, 2018, a concert production took place at the Moscow New Opera Theater.

Waiting for a new production

In a sense, we still have not heard the "real" "Life for the King." Although now the picture has changed - in the Bolshoi, and in the Mariinsky, and even in Perm there are singers and conductors who can do all this. But if there are fewer musical problems, then problems with the text have rather worsened. Whoever takes up the next production, if it is still Rosen's text, then at best there will be an acoustic addition to the anniversary exhibition about the Romanov dynasty. And if it is Gorodetsky's text, then it is impossible to avoid extremely unprofitable allusions since 1937. Probably the most interesting thing today would be to look at someone's attempt to reconstruct the libretto that could be written by Zhukovsky, with Odoevsky and Kukolnik... But this is a job that is hard to do at first and then very hard to legitimize.

Records

Original edition

1957 - Belgrade Opera Choir, Orchestra of the Paris Conservatory Concert Society, conductor - Igor Markevich. Susanin - Boris Hristov, Antonida - Teresa Stich-Randall, Vanya - Melania Bugarinovich, Sobinin - Nikolai Gedda.

1989 (September 9-15) - Sofia National Opera Choir, Sofia Festival Orchestra, conductor - Emil Chakyrov. Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture, Sofia (original edition). Ivan Susanin - Boris Martinovich, Antonida - Alexandrina Pendachanska, Sobinin - Chris Merrit, Vanya - Stefania Tochiska.

Editing by Gorodetsky

1947 - Choir and orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater, conductor Alexander Melik-Pashayev. Susanin - Maxim Mikhailov, Antonida - Natalia Spiller, Sobinin - Georgy Nelepp, Vanya - Elizaveta Antonova and others.

1965 - Choir and orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater of the USSR, conductor - Boris Khaikin. Susanin - Ivan Petrov, Antonida - Vera Firsova, Sobinin - Nikolai Gres, Vanya - Valentina Klepatskaya, Gonets - Vladimir Valaitis, Sigismund - Georgy Pankov, Russian warrior - A. Mishutin.

1967 - Choir, orchestra of the Leningrad State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater named after Kirov. Recording November 30, 1967 Conductor - Sergey Yeltsin, choirmaster - Alexander Murin. Ivan Susanin - Boris Shtokolov, Antonida - Galina Kovaleva, Vanya - N. Aksyuchits, Bogdan Sobinin - A. Pronchev, Vestnik - artist Borovikov

Ivan Susanin - Boris Stokolov, Antonida - Galina Kovaleva

1979 - Choir and orchestra of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of the USSR, conductor - Mark Ermler. Ivan Susanin - Evgeny Nesterenko, Antonida - Bela Rudenko, Sobinin - Vladimir Shcherbakov, Vanya - Tamara Sinyavskaya.

1986 - Ivan Marinov (conductor), choir and orchestra of the Sofia National Opera. Susanin - Nikola Guzelev (Ivan Susanin), Rumen Doikov (Sobinin), Elena Stoyanova, Dimitar Stanchev, Angel Petkov.

CD:

• Teldec. Deer. Lazarev, Ivan Susanin (Nesterenko), Antonida (Meshcheryakova), Vanya (Zaremba), Sobinin (Lomonosov)
• EMI. Deer. Markevich, Ivan Susanin (Hristov), Antonida (Stih-Randall), Vanya (Bugarinovich), Sobinin (Gedda).

Video

1979: Ivan Susanin - Evgeny Nesterenko, Antonida - Bela Rudenko, Sobinin - Evgeny Shapin, Vanya - Raisa Kotova, choir and orchestra of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of the USSR, conductor - Mark Ermler. Film-opera, production on the stage of the Grand Kremlin Palace of Congresses, director - Alexander Barannikov, production of the USSR State Radio and Television. Editing by Gorodetsky.

1992: Ivan Susanin - Evgeny Nesterenko, Antonida - Marina Meshcheryakova, Sobinin - Alexander Lomonosov, Vanya - Elena Zaremba, head of the Polish detachment - Boris Bezhko, choir and orchestra of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater, conductor - Alexander Lazarev. Film-opera, director - Nikolay Kuznetsov, artist - Valery Leventhal, production of NVC ARTS. Original revision.

See also

• Ruslan and Lyudmila (Glinka opera)

Notes