Rimsky-Korsakov, Nicolai

Preface

Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov / Николай Андреевич Римский-Корсаков

The Tsar’s Bride | Царская невеста
Overture

(18 March [O.S. 6 March] 1844, Tikhvin, Russia – 21 June [O.S. 8 June] 1908, at his Lubensk estate near Luga, Russia)

Orchestration
3 flutes with piccolo, 2 oboes/English horn, 2 clarinets (B♭, A), 2 bassoons,
4 horns (F), 2 trumpets (C), 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, harp, strings

Composed: 1898, orchestration completed 1899.M. M. Ippolitov-Ivanov conducted the premiere of the full four-act opera in Moscow’s Solodovnikov Theater on 22 October [3 November] 1899.

The cast included Nikolay Mutin (as the merchant Sobakin), Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel (as Marfa), Shevelev (as the oprichnik Gryaznoy), Tarasov (as Malyuta), Sekar-Rozhansky (as the Boyar Lykov), and Rostovtseva (as Lyubasha). Due to censorship put in place after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, Tsar Ivan IV (“The Terrible”) was a silent role. One aria was added for Lykov at the request of the tenor Sekar-Rozhansky; Rimsky-Korsakov had never made this kind of addition at the request of a singer before, but composed the new song (“Tucha nyenastya” / Storm clouds departing) on Christmas 1899 and it was first interpolated into the full opera on 3 [16] January 1900.

The vocal score was published in 1899 by M.P. Belaieff (Leipzig, plate 2004) and the full score by M. P. Belaieff in 1900 (Leipzig, plate 2000) and parts (plates 2001-2003). The full score was reissued as part of the collected works (Polnoe Sobranie Sochinenii) by the Soviet state publishing house that incorporated P. Jürgensen following a decree of Lenin (Muzgiz [known as Muzyka from 1964-2006], Moscow, 1955, plate M. 25391G).

Early Biography
Although born two hundred kilometers outside of Saint Petersburg and having never seen the sea, Rimsky-Korsakov enrolled in the Naval Cadet Corps (now called the Peter the Great Naval Corps – St. Petersburg Naval Institute). During his studies there (from ages twelve to eighteen), he began piano lessons, attended opera and orchestral performances, and eventually took two years of piano and composition lessons with French pianist Théodore Canillé (known as Feodor Kanille). These private sessions (1859-61) continued as informal opportunities for the young man to play piano duets. Canillé introduced him to Mily Balakirev, César Cui, and Modest Mussorgsky (still in their twenties). Rimsky-Korsakov later wrote, “With what delight I listened to real business discussions of instrumentation, part writing, etc.! And besides, how much talking there was about current musical matters! All at once I had been plunged into a new world, unknown to me, formerly only heard of in the society of my dilettante friends.”

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