“One of the most striking features of his technique is the remarkable fidelity of word utterance which removes all sense of artificiality, so frequently associated with operatic singing. His diction floats on a beautiful cantilena, particularly in his mezzo-voce singing, which—though one would hardly expect it from a singer endowed with such a noble bass voice—is one of the most telling features of his performance. There is never any striving after vocal effects, and his voice is always subservient to the words. This style of singing is surely that which Wagner so continually demanded from his interpreters; but it is the antithesis of that staccato ‘Bayreuth bark’ which a few years ago so woefully misrepresented the master’s ideal of fine lyric diction. The atmosphere and tone-colour which Shaliapin imparts to his singing are of such remarkable quality that one feels his interpretation of Schubert’s ‘Doppelgänger’ must of necessity be a thing of genius, unapproachable by other contemporary singers. The range of his voice is extensive, for though of considerable weight in the lower parts, his upper register is remarkable in its conformity to his demands. The sustained upper E natural with which he finishes that great song ‘When the king went forth to war,’ is uttered with a delicate pianissimo that would do credit to any lyric tenor or soprano. Yet his technique is of that high order that never obtrudes itself upon the hearer. It is always his servant, never his master. His readings are also his own, and it is his absence of all conventionality that makes his singing of the ‘Calunnia’ aria from ‘Il Barbiere’ a thing of delight, so full of humour is its interpretation, and so satisfying to the demands of the most exacting ‘bel cantist.’ The reason is not far to seek, for his method is based upon a thoroughly sound breath control, which produces such splendid cantabile results. Every student should listen to this great singer and profit by his art.”[56]
A few concluding words as to the present conditions of opera in Russia. They have greatly changed during the last thirty years. In St. Petersburg the Maryinsky Theatre, erected in 1860, renovated in 1894, and more or less reorganised in 1900, was for a long time the only theatre available for Russian opera in the capital. In 1900 the People’s Palace, with a theatre that accommodates 1,200 spectators, was opened with a performance of A Life for the Tsar; here the masterpieces of national opera are now given from time to time at popular prices. Opera is also given in the great hall of the Conservatoire, formerly the “Great Theatre”; and occasionally in the “Little Theatre.” In Moscow the “Great Theatre” or Opera House is the official home of music-drama. It now has as rivals, the Zimin Opera (under the management of S. I. Zimin) and the National Opera. In 1897 the Moscow Private Opera Company was started with the object of producing novelties by Russian composers, and encouraging native opera in general. It was located at first in the Solodovnikov Theatre, under the management of Vinter, and the conductorship of Zeleny. It soon blossomed into a fine organisation when S. Mamantov, a wealthy patron of art, came to its support. Through its palmy days (1897-1900), Ippolitov-Ivanov was the conductor, and a whole series of national operas by Cui, Rimsky-Korsakov, and others were superbly staged. Shaliapin first made his mark at this time.
Numerous private opera companies sprang up in Russia about the close of last century. Cheshikin gives a list of over sixty, mounting opera in the provinces between 1896 and 1903; indeed the whole country from Archangel to Astrakhan and from Vilna to Vladivostok seems to have been covered by these enterprising managers; and the number has doubtless increased in the last ten years. When, in addition to these, we reckon the many centres which boast a state-supported opera house, it would appear that Russians have not much to complain of as regards this form of entertainment. But the surface of the country is vast, and there are still districts where cultivated music, good or bad, is an unknown enjoyment. Nor must we imagine that the standard of these provincial private companies is always an exalted one, or that national operas, if presented at all, are mounted as we are accustomed to see them in Western Europe. We may hope that the case cited by a critic, of a Moscow manager who produced Donizetti’s “La Fille du Régiment” under the title of “A Daughter of the Regiment of La Grande Armée,” in a Russian version said to have been the work of an English nursery governess, with a picture of the Battle of Marengo as a set background, was altogether exceptional. But indifferent performances do occur, even in a country so highly educated in operatic matters as Russia may fairly claim to be.
As I write the last pages of this book, the comprehensiveness of its title fills me with dismay. “An Introduction to the Study of Russian Opera” would have been more modest and appropriate, since no complete and well-balanced survey of the subject could possibly be contained in a volume of this size. Much that is interesting has been passed over without comment; and many questions demanded much fuller treatment. One fact, however, I have endeavoured to set forth in these pages in the clearest and most emphatic terms: Russian opera is beyond all question a genuine growth of the Russian soil; it includes the aroma and flavour of its native land “as the wine must taste of its own grapes.” Its roots lie deep in the folk-music, where they have spread and flourished naturally and without effort. So profoundly embedded and so full of vitality are its fibres, that nothing has been able to check their growth and expansion. Discouraged by the Church, its germs still lived on in the music of the people; neglected by the professional element, it found shelter in the hearts of amateurs; refused by the Imperial Opera Houses, it flourished in the drawing-rooms of a handful of enthusiasts. It has always existed in some embryonic form as an inherent part of the national life; and when at last it received official recognition, it quickly absorbed all that was given to it in the way of support and attention, but persisted in throwing out its vigorous branches in whatever direction it pleased. Persecution could not kill it, nor patronage spoil it; because it is one with the soul of the people. May it long retain its lofty idealism and sane vigour!
INDEX OF OPERAS
[A], [B], [C], [D], [E], [F], [G], [H], [I], [J], [K], [L], [M], [N], [O], [P], [Q], [R], [S], [T], [U], [V], [W], [Y].
Abizare, [35]
Acts of Artaxerxes, The, [16], [17]
Act of Joseph, The, [32]
Adam and Eve, [18]
Alcide, [53]
Aleko, [373]
Alexander and Darius, [25]
Americans, The, [41], [43]
Amore per Regnante, [34]
Angel of Death, The, [380]
Angelo, [272], [273], [274]
Aniouta, [40], [41], [42], [96]
Armida, [50]
Askold’s Tomb, [64]
Assya, [375]
Belshazzar’s Feast, [380]
Berenice, [34]
Bird of Fire, The, [59], [382]
Boeslavich, The Novgorodian Hero, [40], [41]
Boris Godounov, [225], [228-240], [250], [388]
Boundary Hills, The, [64]
Boyarinya Vera Sheloga, [291], [308]
Caprice d’Oxane, Le (see Cherevichek), [304]
Captain’s Daughter, The, [280]
Captive in the Caucasus, The, [269], [274]
Cephalus and Procius, [36]
Charodeika (see The Enchantress)
Chaste Joseph, The, [18]
Cherevichek, [342], [343], [358], [359]
Chlorida and Milon, [41]
Christmas Eve Revels, [304], [305], [306], [341]
Christmas Festivals of Old, [67]
Christmas Tree, The, [379]
Christus, [166]
Citizens of Nijny-Novgorod, The, [364], [365]
Clemenza di Tito, La, [36]
Cosa Rara, La, [49]
Cossack Poet, The, [59]
Credulity, [67]
Cruelty of Nero, The, [25]
Daphnis Pursued, [28]
Deborah, [66]
Demofonti, [53]
Demon, The, [165], [172-177]
Dianino, [49]
Dido Forsaken, [35]
Didone, [52]
Dmitri Donskoi, [163], [168-172]
Dobrynia Nikitich, [59], [374]
Doubrovsky, [366]
Dream on the Volga, A, [370], [371]
Early Reign of Oleg, The, [47], [50]
Enchantress, The, [353], [354], [358]
Epic of the Army of Igor, The, [2]
Esmeralda, [119], [124], [171]
Esther, [66]
Eudocia Crowned, or Theodosia II, [35]
Eugene Oniegin, [344-347], [350], [353], [355], [357], [358], [359], [363], [371], [375]
Fair at Sorochinsi, The, [228]
Fall of Sophonisba, The, [27]
Faucon, Le, [54]
Feast in Time of Plague, A, [277]
Fedoul and Her Children, [47], [49]
Feramors, [165], 181
Feveï, Tsarevich, [46], [47]
Fils Rival, Le, [54]
Fingal, [66]
Flibustier, Le, [275], [276]
Forced Marriage, The, [67]
Forza dell’Amore e dell’Odio, La, [34]
Francesca da Rimini, [366], [367]
Golden Calf, The, [22]
Golden Cock, The, [325-331], [382]
Good Luke, or Here’s my Day, [49]
Good Maiden, The, [40]
Goriousha, [166]
Gostinny Dvor of St. Petersburg, The, [45]
Gromoboi, [65]
Hadji-Abrek, [164], [171]
Harold, [365], [366]
Homesickness, [64]
Ice Palace, The, [380]
Ilya the Hero, [59], [60]
In the Storm, [378]
Invisible Prince, The, [59]
Iolanthe, [357], [358]
Iphigenia in Aulis, [49]
Iphigenia in Taurida, [52]
Ivan Sousanin, [59], [60], [62], [90], [91], [92]
Ivan the Terrible (see The Maid of Pskov)
Judith, [150-154], [191]
Judith cut off the head of Holofernes, How, [18], [19], [20]
Kastchei the Immortal, [318], [319], [320]
Khovanstchina, [241-248], [293]
Kinder der Heide, [165]
Kitezh, the Invisible City of, [321-325], [329]
—— The legend of the City of, [379], [380]
Legend of Tsar Saltan, The, [315], [316]
Life for the Tsar, A, [62], [86], [93-104], [145], [171], [291], [292], [363], [393]
Love Brings Trouble, [46]
Maccabees, The, [165]
Mahomet and Zulima, [25]
Maid of Orleans, The, [349], [350], [358]
Maid of Pskov, The, [171], [283], [289-295], [308], [340]
Mam’selle Fifi, [276]
Mandarin’s Son, The, [269]
Mary of Burgundy, [368]
Match-Maker, The, [226], [227]
Mazeppa, [350-353], [358], [359]
Médecin malgré lui, Le, [25]
Merchant Kalashnikov, The, [166], [177-180]
Miller, The Wizard-, [40], [42], [44], [56], [96]
Minerva Triumphant, [39]
Miroslava, or the Funeral Pyre, [60]
Miser, The, [48]
Mithriadates, [35]
Mlada, [303], [304]
Moonlight Night, or The Domovoi, A, [68]
Moses, [166]
Mountains of Piedmont, The, [60]
Mozart and Salieri, [307], [317]
Mummers, The, [367]
Nal and Damyanti, [372]
Nativity, [22]
Nebuchadnezzar, [21]
Nero, [165], [171]
Night in May, A, [295-299], [382]
Nightingale, The, [382]
Œdipus, [224], [225]
Œdipus in Athens, [66]
Œdipus Rex, [66]
Oprichnik, The, [337-341], [350], [358], [359], [363]
Orestes, [376], [377]
Orpheus, [41]
Orpheus and Eurydice, 18
Pan Sotnik, [380]
Pan Tvardovsky, [64]
Pan Voyevode, [320], [321]
Papagei, Der, [166]
Paradise Lost, [165]
Peasants, The, or The Unexpected Meeting, [59]
Petrouchka, [322], [382]
Pique-Dame (see The Queen of Spades)
Power of Evil, The, [157], [158], [159]
Prince Igor, [171], [182], [192], [206], [256-266], [296], [374]
Prince Kholmsky, [104]
Prince Serebryany, [380]
Prisoner in the Caucasus, The, [68], [188]
Prodigal Son, The, [22]
Queen of Spades, The, [354-357], [358], [359], [363]
Quinto Fabio, [53]
Raphael, [371]
Regeneration, [40]
Ré Pastore, Il, [52]
Rogneda, [154], [155], [156]
Roussalka, The, [121-130]
Roussalka of the Dnieper, The, [59]
Roussalka-Maiden, The, [368]
Ruins of Babylon, The, [59]
Russlan and Liudmilla, [77], [83], [105-114], [145], [261], [291], [292], [374]
Ruth, [375]
Sadko, The Rich Merchant, [1]
Sadko, a legendary opera, [251], [288], [309-312]
Saint Alexis, [21]
Salammbô, [225]
Saracen, The, [274], [275]
Scipio Africanus, [27]
Seleucus, [35]
Servilia, [317], [318]
Shulamite, The, [166], [180]
Sibirskie Okhotniki (The Siberian Hunters), [164]
Sinner’s Repentance, The, [38]
Skomorokhi (see The Mummers)
Snow-Maiden, The, [295], [299-303]
Stone Guest, The, [123], [130-136], [187], [218], [251], [261], [290]
Svietlana, [60]
Tale of the Invisible City of Kitezh, The, (see Kitezh)
Taniousha, or the Fortunate Meeting, [39], [42]
Terrible Revenge, [380]
Three Hunchback Brothers, The, [59]
Tobias, [18]
Tom the Fool (Thomouska-Dourachok), [163]
Toushino, [368]
Tower of Babel, The, [165], [171], [180]
Tradimento per l’honore, Il, [27]
Triumph of Bacchus, The, [120], [122]
Tsar’s Bride, The, [312-315]
Tutor-Professor, The, [41]
Two Antons, The, [48]
Undine, [337]
Vadim, or The Twenty Sleeping Maidens, [64]
Vakoula the Smith (see Le Caprice d’Oxane), [304], [342]
Veillée des Paysans, La, [67]
Village Festival, a, [49]
Voyevode, The, [336-338]
Wave, The, [369]
William Ratcliff, [269-272]
Wizard, The Fortune-Teller and the Match-maker, The, [41]
Year 1812, The, [375]
Youth of John III, The, [60]
INDEX OF NAMES
[A], [B], [C], [D], [E], [F], [G], [H], [I], [J], [K], [L], [M], [N], [O], [P], [R], [S], [T], [U], [V], [W], [Y], [Z]