A more mature work is Harold, an opera in five acts, or nine scenes, first performed in St. Petersburg in November, 1886, with every possible advantage in the way of scenery and costumes. Vassilievich, Melnikov and Stravinsky took the leading male parts; while Pavlovskaya and Slavina created the two chief female characters. The success of the opera was immediate, the audience demanding the repetition of several numbers; but it must have been to some extent a succès d’estime, for the work, which is declamatory rather than lyrical, contains a good deal of monotonous recitative and—because it is more modern and Wagnerian in form—the fine choral effects which lent interest to Napravnik’s first opera are lacking here. In 1888 Harold was given in Moscow and Prague. Napravnik’s third operatic work, Doubrovsky, was produced at the Maryinsky Theatre in 1895, and soon travelled to Moscow, and the round of the provincial opera houses, finding its way to Prague in 1896, and to Leipzig in 1897. The libretto by Modeste Tchaikovsky, brother of the composer, based upon Poushkin’s ultra-romantic Byronic tale “Doubrovsky” is not very inspiring. Such dramatic and emotional qualities as the story contains have been ruthlessly deleted in this colourless adaptation for operatic purposes. The musical material matches the book in its facile and reminiscent quality; but this experienced conductor writes gratefully and skilfully for the singers, the orchestra being carefully subordinated to vocal effects. Interpolated in the opera, by way of a solo for Doubrovsky, is a setting of Coppée’s charming words “Ne jamais la voir, ni l’entendre.”
Napravnik’s fourth opera, Francesca da Rimini, is composed to a libretto by E. Ponomariev founded on Stephen Phillip’s “Francesca and Paolo.” It was first presented to the public in November 1902, the leading parts being created by that gifted pair, Nicholas and Medea Figner. Less popular than Harold or Doubrovsky, the musical value of Francesca is incontestably greater. Although the composer cannot altogether free himself from the influence of Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde,” the subject has inspired him to write some very expressive and touching music, especially in the scene where the unhappy lovers, reading of Lancelot, seal their own doom with one supreme and guilty kiss; and in the love duet in the third act. Besides these operas, Napravnik composed a Prologue and six choral numbers for Count Alexis Tolstoy’s dramatic poem “Don Juan.”
Although not of influential importance, the name of Paul Ivanovich Blaramberg cannot be omitted from a history of Russian opera. The son of a distinguished General of French extraction, he was born in Orenburg, September 14/26, 1841. His first impulsion towards a musical career originated in his acquaintance with Balakirev’s circle; but his relations with the nationalist school must have been fleeting, as some time during the ’sixties he went abroad for a long stay, and on his return to Russia, in 1870, he settled in Moscow, where he divided his time between writing for the Moscow Viedomosty and teaching theory in the Philharmonic School. Later on he went to live on an estate belonging to him in the Crimea.
Blaramberg has written five operas in all. Skomorokhi (The Mummers), a comic opera in three acts, based on one of Ostrovsky’s comedies, was composed in 1881, and was partly produced by the pupils of the opera class of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, in the Little Theatre, in 1887. The opera is a curious blend, some portions of it being in the declamatory manner of Dargomijsky, without his expressive realism, and others in the conventional style of opera buffa, degenerating at times into mere farcical patter-singing. It contains, however, a few successful numbers in the folk-style, especially the love-duet in 5-4 measure, and shows the influence of the national school. The music of The Roussalka-Maiden is more cohesive, and written with a clearer sense of form. There are fresh and pleasant pages in this work, in which local colour is used with unaffected simplicity. Blaramberg’s third opera, Mary of Burgundy, is a more pretentious work, obviously inspired by Meyerbeer. The subject is borrowed from Victor Hugo’s drama “Marie Tudor.” It was produced at the Imperial Opera House, Moscow, in 1888. In his fourth opera, Blaramberg has not been fortunate in his choice of a libretto, which is based upon one of Ostrovsky’s “Dramatic Chronicles,” Toushino—rather a dull historical play dating from 1606, the period of Boris Godounov’s regency. Strong, direct, elementary treatment, such as it might have received at the hands of Moussorgsky, could alone have invested the subject with dramatic interest; whereas Blaramberg has clothed it in music of rather conventional and insipid character. In common with Skomorokhi, however, the work contains some admirable touches of national colour, the composer imitating the style of the folk-singing with considerable success. Blaramberg’s fifth operatic work, entitled The Wave (Volna), is described as “an Idyll in two acts,” the subject borrowed from Byron’s “Don Juan”: namely, the episode of Haidée’s love for Don Juan, who is cast at her feet “half-senseless from the sea.” Of this work Cheshikin says: “It consists of a series of duets and trios, with a set of Eastern dances and a ballad for bass, thrown in for variety’s sake, but having no real connection with the plot. The music is reminiscent of Gounod; the melody is of the popular order, but not altogether commonplace, and embellished by Oriental fiorituri.” An atmosphere of Eastern languor pervades the whole opera, which may be attributed to the composer’s long sojourn in the Crimea.
A name more distinguished in the annals of Russian music is that of Anton Stepanovich Arensky, born in Old Novgorod, in 1861. The son of a medical man, he received his musical education at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, where he studied under Rimsky-Korsakov. On leaving this institution, in 1882, he was appointed to a professorship at the Moscow Conservatoire. He was also a member of the Council of the Synodal School of Church Music at Moscow, and conducted the concerts of the Russian choral society for a period of over seven years. In 1894, Balakirev recommended Arensky for the Directorship of the Imperial Chapel at St. Petersburg, a post which he held until 1901. Arensky’s first opera A Dream on the Volga was produced at the Imperial Opera House, Moscow, in December 1892. The work was not given in St. Petersburg until 1903, when it was performed at the People’s Palace. The subject is identical with Ostrovsky’s comedy “The Voyevode,” which the dramatist himself arranged for Tchaikovsky’s use in 1867. Tchaikovsky, as we have seen, destroyed the greater part of the opera which he wrote to this libretto, but the manuscript of the book remained, and in 1882, at Arensky’s request, he handed it over to him “with his benediction.” Arensky approached the subject in a different spirit to Tchaikovsky, giving to his music greater dramatic force and veracity, and making more of the Russian element contained in the play. The scene entitled “The Voyevode’s Dream,” in the fourth act, in which the startled, nightmare cries of the guilty old Voyevode are heard in strange contrast to the lullaby sung by the old woman as she rocks the child in the cradle, is highly effective. In his use of the folk-tunes Arensky follows Melgounov’s system of the “natural minor,” and his handling of national themes is always appropriate and interesting. His harmonisation and elaboration by means of variations of the familiar tune “Down by Mother Volga” is an excellent example of his skill in this respect. Arensky’s melody has not the sweeping lines and sustained power of Tchaikovsky’s, but his tendency is lyrical and romantic rather than realistic and declamatory, and his use of arioso is marked by breadth and clearness of outline.
Arensky’s second opera Raphael was composed for the first Congress of Russian Artists held in Moscow; the occasion probably gives us the clue to his choice of subject. The first production of the opera took place in April 1894, and in the autumn of the following year it was given at the Maryinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg. The part of Raphael, which is written for a female voice, was sung by Slavina, La Fornarina being represented by Mravina. The work consists of a series of small delicately wrought musical cameos. By its tenderness and sweet romantic fancy the music often recalls Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Oniegin; but it is more closely united with the text, and greater attention is paid to the natural accentuation of the words. Between Raphael and his last opera, Nal and Damyanti, Arensky wrote music to Poushkin’s poem “The Fountain of Bakhchisarai,” for the commemoration of the centenary of the poet’s birth. The analysis of this work does not come within the scope of my subject, but I mention it because it was a great advance on any of his previous vocal works and led up to the increased maturity shown in Nal and Damyanti.
The libretto of this opera was prepared by Modeste Tchaikovsky from Joukovsky’s free translation of Rückert’s poem. Nal and Damyanti was first performed at the Moscow Opera House in January 1904. Some external influences are still apparent in the work, but they now proceed from Wagner rather than from Tchaikovsky. The orchestral introduction, an excellent piece of work, is occasionally heard in the concert room; it depicts the strife between the spirits of light and darkness which forms the basis of this Oriental poem. This opera is the most suitable for stage performance of any of Arensky’s works; the libretto is well written, the plot holds our attention and the scenic effects follow in swift succession. Here Arensky has thrown off the tendency to miniature painting which is more or less perceptible in his earlier dramatic works, and has produced an opera altogether on broader and stronger lines. It is unfortunate, however, that he still shows a lack of complete musical independence; as Cheshikin remarks: “from Tchaikovsky to Wagner is rather an abrupt modulation!”
Perhaps the nearest approach to a recognised “school” now extant in Russia is to be found in Moscow, where the influence of Tchaikovsky lingers among a few of his direct disciples, such as Rachmaninov, Grechyaninov, and Ippolitov-Ivanov.
Sergius Vassilievich Rachmaninov (b. 1873), so well known to us in England as a pianist and composer of instrumental music, was a pupil of the Moscow Conservatoire, where he studied under Taneiev and Arensky. Dramatic music does not seem to exercise much attraction for this composer. His one-act opera Aleko, the subject borrowed from Poushkin’s poem “The Gipsies,” was originally written as a diploma work for his final examination at the Conservatoire in 1872, and had the honour of being produced at the Imperial Opera House, Moscow, in the following season. Aleko was given in St. Petersburg, at the Taurida Palace, during the celebration of the Poushkin centenary in 1899, when Shaliapin took part in the performance. It is a blend of the declamatory and lyrical styles, and the music, though not strikingly original, runs a pleasing, sympathetic, and somewhat uneventful course.
Alexander Tikhonovich Grechyaninov, born October 13/25 1864, in Moscow, entered the Conservatoire of his native city where he made the pianoforte his chief study under the guidance of Vassily Safonov. In 1893 he joined the St. Petersburg Conservatoire in order to learn composition from Rimsky-Korsakov. The following year a quartet by him won the prize at the competition organised by the St. Petersburg Chamber Music Society. He wrote incidental music to Ostrovsky’s “Snow Maiden” and to Count Alexis Tolstoy’s historical dramas “Tsar Feodor” and “Ivan the Terrible” before attempting to compose the opera Dobrynia Nikitich on the subject of one of the ancient Byliny or national legends. The introduction and third act of this work was first given in public in February 1903, at one of Count Sheremetiev’s popular concerts, and in the following spring it was performed in its entirety at the Imperial Opera House, with Shaliapin in the title rôle. It is a picturesque, wholly lyrical work. Kashkin describes the music as agreeable and flowing, even in those scenes where the nature of the subject demands a more robust and vigorous musical treatment. Dobrynia Nikitich obviously owes much to Glinka’s Russlan and Liudmilla and Borodin’s Prince Igor.