Sunday Classics: In "Boris Godunov," the Russian people do just as they're told

Although I titled Friday night's preview post "Long live Tsar Boris Feodorovich," we never did get to that famous line from the Coronation Scene of Boris Godunov. If I could have edited this clip, I would have stopped it at 1:58, so we would have heard just:

PRINCE SHUISKY: Long live Tsar Boris Feodorovich!
THE PEOPLE: Long live the Tsar, our father!
PRINCE SHUISKY: Praise him!

(This clip of the Coronation Scene is from the Andrei Tarkovsky-directed Unitel film of Boris, with Yevgeny Boitsov as Prince Shuisky and Robert Lloyd as Boris, Valery Gergiev conducting Covent Garden forces.)

by Ken

As noted in the caption above, I never did get around to the line "Long live Tsar Boris Feodorovich," from the Coronation Scene of Boris Godunov, in Friday night's preview post of that name. So that's where I wanted to start today, and I remembered that YouTube now at least sometimes allows you to edit clips. But apparently it's only the starting point you can choose, whereas I wanted to start at the start and choose my own stopping point. So I'm trusting you to remember that you're honor-bound to watch no farther than that 1:58 point for now.

I think it's hard for anyone not to be gripped by those stark opening chords of the Coronation Scene of Boris Godunov, especially as amped up -- into lusher starkness! -- by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in his now-widely-disparaged version of the opera. For the record, here's how it sounded in Mussorgsky's head:


Andrei Sokolov (t), Prince Shuisky; USSR TV and Radio Large Chorus and Large Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev, cond. Melodiya-Philips, recorded 1978-83

I have to say that this is the most impactful performance of the composer's version I've heard (though I do wish those damned bells had been reined in). Most pure-Mussorgsky performances tend to sound thin and underpowered. Here again is Rimsky's version:


[ed. Rimsky-Korsakov] Alexei Maslennikov (t), Prince Shuisky; Sofia Radio Chorus, Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. Decca, recorded November 1970

THE "SUNDAY CLASSICS WITH KEN" STAND-ALONE BLOG . . .

. . . is at sundayclassicswithken.blogspot.com.

THE RIMSKY-REVILERS LIKE TO WAX RHAPSODIC . . .

. . . about how much more "primitive" Mussorgsky's much leaner-textured, harmonically-unfilled-in version is. For me there's no question that Rimsky understood perfectly well what his friend was trying to achieve, and in this case -- and lots of others over the course of the opera -- achieved it better.

(I don't think there's much doubt that the composer would have been grateful to Maestro Karajan for rustling up a decent Shuisky -- the wonderful tenor Alexei Maslennikov. I must have told the story of how I lucked into catching him as Lensky in Tchaikovsky's Yevgeny Onegin when the Bolshoi Opera first visited the U.S. He not only gave a ravishing performance but made me understand the character in a whole different way. By the way, in the Karajan-Decca Boris, Maslennikov also sings the tiny but crucial role of the Simpleton. I could have sworn we already heard that, but I can't find any such audio clip. Well, one of these weeks we do some listening to a couple of operatic fools.)


NOW TO OUR TWO SCENES FOR TODAY

Long acquaintance has only deepened my fascination and awe in the face of the individual scenes of Boris Godunov. We've picked at the opera a number of times in a number of ways over the years of Sunday Classics, in going back to the beginning now, I just don't want to rush over the two scenes that make up the Prologue as the opera was finally structured.

It's often suggested that the chorus representing the Russian people is the true protagonist of Boris, and I don't have a great problem with this as long as we remember that protagonist isn't necessarily at all the same thing as hero, and indeed, extraordinary as the choral writing is
(and remember how deeply choral singing is embedded in the Russian musical psyche), it's not at all a kindly portrait, this musicodramatic snapshot of the Russian people in this time of troubles.

In the first scene we see this mass of peasants beseeching the supposedly reluctant Boris to accept the throne of Russia, to which he has no claim, while mostly unaware of or indifferent to the cause. We see them clearly browbeaten, and when necessary literally beaten, to participate. We have that hauntingly beautiful address in which Shchelkalov, the secretary of the Duma (and remember that the Duma was made up entirely of, and served only the interests of, the Russian nobility), informs the crowd that Boris will not relent, and we know it's all stage play -- and sure enough, by the end of the scene the crowd is instructed to report the following day to the Kremlin for more enthusiastic Boris worship -- at this coronation, which is the second scene of the Prologue.

UPDATE: BORIS TEXTS ONLINE

You can find an English version of the libretto (not a great one, but better than nothing) here, and the text of just the Coronation Scene here.

THE NOVODEVICHY MONASTERY SCENE

Friday night we heard the haunting orchestral introduction to the opera, which was clearly leading into some new, clearly ugly and even violent action. That would be the Police Officer, whose name we know is Nikich because some of the peasants know him well enough to address him by name, whipping this sorry-ass mob into shape for some serious heartfelt entreating. Now let's listen again to the Prelude leading directly into this scene.

MUSSORGSKY: Boris Godunov: Prologue, Scene 1 beginning


[in German] Adolf Keil (bs), Police Officer; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eugen Jochum, cond. Broadcast performance, 1957

[ed. Rimsky-Korsakov] Gregor Radev (bs) Police Officer; Leo Heppe (b), Mityukha; Sofia Radio Chorus, Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. Decca, recorded November 1970

This is the point at which Shchelkalov, the secretary of the Duma, emerges from inside to share with the crowd the tragic news that Boris will not relent, in the extraordinary address we heard Friday night. Here we hear the fine Bolshoi baritone Ilya Bogdanov and Eberhard Wächter in his sonorous prime (admittedly stretched to the limit by Maestro Karajan's gradual tempo).

MUSSORGSKY: Boris Godunov: Prologue, Scene 1, Shchelkalov's address

SHCHELKALOV: True Believers! The boyar is implacable.
When the boyars' Duma and the Patriarch
made their sad appeal, he would not even listen
to anything about the Tsar's throne.
A great sorrow has befallen Russia,
a desperate sorrow,
True Believers!
Our land groans with the evil of lawlessness.
Bow down to the Almighty
that He may send some consolation
to sorrowing Russia . . .
that he may brighten Boris's weary soul
with the light of heaven.
[He goes back into the monastery.]

[ed. Rimsky-Korsakov] Ilya Bogdanov (b), Shchelkalov; Bolshoi Opera Orchestra, Nikolai Golovanov, cond. Melodiya, recorded 1948-49

[ed. Rimsky-Korsakov] Eberhard Wächter (b), Shchelkalov; Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. Live performance from the Salzburg Festival, July 26, 1964

Again, it's clear at the end of this excerpt that something special is about to happen. Now let's hear it happen -- the passing of a chorus of pilgrims. Then there's more forced beseeching, and the final instruction to the crowd to report to the Kremlin tomorrow.

In our first performance, the Uhde-Jochum, we pick up from Shchelkalov's address. Uhde, it should be noted was a notable bass-baritone, unusual casting for a role that's normally tilted to high baritones. Interesting!

MUSSORGSKY: Boris Godunov: Prologue, Scene 1 conclusion


[in German, beginning at Shchelkalov's address] Hermann Uhde (bs-b), Shchelkalov; Adolf Keil (bs), Police Officer; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Eugen Jochum, cond. Broadcast performance, 1957

[ed. Rimsky-Korsakov] Gregor Radev (bs) Police Officer; Leo Heppe (b), Mityukha; Sofia Radio Chorus, Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. Decca, recorded November 1970

Stefan Szkafarowsky (bs) Police Officer; Richard Cowan (b), Mityukha; Oratorio Society of Washington, Choral Arts Society of Washington, National Symphony Orchestra, Mstislav Rostropovich, cond. Erato, recorded July 1987

The complete Novodevichy Monastery scene

Mikhail Krutikov (bs), Police Officer (Nikich); Wojciech Drabowicz (b), Mityukha; Albert Shagidullin (b), Shchelkalov; Slovak Philharmonic Chorus (Bratislava), Berlin Radio Chorus, Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado, cond. Sony, recorded November 1993

TURNING NOW TO THE CORONATION SCENE

In Scene 2 of the Prologue to Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Boris (bass Yevgeny Nesterenko) is crowned tsar. Boris Khaikin conducts Bolshoi Opera forces.

We heard the very opening of the scene earlier. Now here's the first part, as the crowd assembled at the Kremlin responds to Prince Shuisky's admonition to praise the new Tsar.

MUSSORGSKY: Boris Godunov: Prologue, Scene 2 (Coronation Scene) beginning

The people are gathered on their knees in a square in the Kremlin between the Cathedral of the Assumption and the Cathedral of the Archangel. A procession of boyars et al. emerges headed toward the Cathedral of the Assumption. PRINCE SHUISKY is carrying the crown of Monomakh on a cushion.

PRINCE SHUISKY: Long live Tsar Boris Feodorovich!
THE PEOPLE: Long live the Tsar, our father!
PRINCE SHUISKY: Praise him!

The crowd assembled at the Kremlin responds to Prince Shuisky's admonition to praise the new Tsar, who emerges from the Cathedral of the Assumption.

[in German] Lorenz Fehenberger (t), Prince Shuisky; Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, Eugen Jochum, cond. Broadcast performance, 1957

[ed. Rimsky-Korsakov] Alexei Maslennikov (t), Prince Shuisky; Sofia Radio Chorus, Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic, Herbert von Karajan, cond. Decca, recorded November 1970

Now Boris delivers his darkly brooding address, followed by the invitation to celebrate and more rejoicing.

MUSSORGSKY: Boris Godunov: Prologue, Scene 2 (Coronation Scene) conclusion

BORIS [from the porch of the Cathedral of the Assumption]:
My soul is sad.
Some sort of involuntary fear
has gripped my heart
with a sense of evil foreboding.
O Righteous One! O sovereign Father of mine!
Look down from heaven on the tears of your faithful servants,
and send me a blessing for my rule.
Let me be good and righteous as you are;
may I rule my people in glory.
Now let us pay our respects
to the past rulers of Russia now deceased.
[Pause -- then grandly]
And now I invite the people to a feast,
all, from boyar to blind beggar.
Entrance is free to all.
Welcome, dear guests!
[He goes toward the Cathedral of the Archangel.]
THE PEOPLE: Glory! Glory! Glory!
Long live and prosper, our father the Tsar!

[in German] Hans Hotter (b), Boris Godunov; Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, Eugen Jochum, cond. Broadcast performance, 1957

[in English] Cesare Siepi (bs), Boris Godunov; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf, cond. Live performance, Mar. 21, 1959

[ed. Rimsky-Korsakov] Yevgeny Nesterenko (bs), Boris Godunov; Bolshoi Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Mark Ermler, cond. Melodiya, recorded 1982

The complete Coronation Scene

Chaliapin as Boris accepts the crown with grim foreboding.

[ed. Rimsky-Korsakov] Feodor Chaliapin (bs), Boris Godunov; chorus and orchestra. EMI, recorded in London and Paris, May 1926 and Jan. 1931

[in English, ed. Rathaus] Charles Kullman (t), Prince Shuisky; Giorgio Tozzi (bs), Boris Godunov; Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos, cond. Metropolitan Opera Record Club-RCA, recorded 1956

Andrei Sokolov (t), Prince Shuisky; Alexander Vedernikov (bs), Boris Godunov; USSR TV and Radio Large Chorus and Large Symphony Orchestra, Vladimir Fedoseyev, cond. Melodiya-Philips, recorded 1978-83

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