Borodin, himself, wrote: "In winter I can only compose when I am too unwell to give my lectures. So my friends, reversing the usual custom, never say to me, 'I hope you are well' but 'I do hope you are ill.' At Christmas I had influenza, so I stayed at home and wrote the Thanksgiving Chorus in the last act of 'Igor.'"
He never finished his opera. It was completed by Rimsky-Korsakoff and his pupil Glazounoff, and three years after his death received its first performance. Borodin never wrote down the overture, but Glazounoff heard him play it so frequently that it was an easy matter for him to orchestrate it according to Borodin's wishes. The composer left this note about his opera: "It is curious to see how all the members of our set agree in praise of my work. While controversy rages amongst us on every other subject, all, so far, are pleased with 'Igor.' Moussorgsky, the ultra-realist, the innovating lyrico-dramatist, Cui, our master, Balakireff, so severe as regards form and tradition, Vladimir Stassoff himself, our valiant champion of everything that bears the stamp of novelty or greatness."
BORIS GODOUNOFF
Opera in four acts and eight scenes; libretto taken from the dramatic scenes of Pushkin which bear this title; music by Moussorgsky; produced at the theatre Marie in Petrograd in 1874.
Characters
| Boris Godounoff | Baritone |
| Feodor | Mezzo-Soprano |
| Xenia | Soprano |
| The Old Nurse | Contralto |
| Prince Shouisky | Tenor |
| Andrey Stchelakov, clerk of the Douma | Baritone |
| Pimen, monk and chronicler | Bass |
| The Pretender Dimitri, called Gregory | Tenor |
| Marina | Soprano |
| Rangoni, a Jesuit in disguise | Bass |
| Varlaam | Bass |
| Missail | Tenor |
| The Hostess | Mezzo-Soprano |
| Nikitin (Michael), constable | Bass |
Time—1598-1605.
Place—Russia.
