Khovanshchina

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Work data
Title: The princes Khovansky
Original title: Хованщина
Khovanshchina
Original language: Russian
Music: Modest Mussorgsky
Libretto : Vladimir Stasov
Premiere: Version by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: February 9th July / February 21, 1886 greg.
Place of premiere: Musical Dramatic Club, Kononov Auditorium St. Petersburg (private performance)
Playing time: about 3 hours
Place and time of the action: Moscow, 1682 (at the time of the Moscow Uprising )
people
  • Prince Ivan Chowanski, leader of the Strelitzen, bass
  • Prince Andrei Chowanski, his son, tenor
  • Prince Vasily Golitsyn, tenor
  • Shaklovity, boyar, baritone
  • Dossifei, leader of the Old Believers, Bass
  • Marfa, Old Believers, Old
  • Emma, ​​a girl from the “German Quarter”, soprano
  • Strelitzen
  • Old Believers

Khovanshchina ( Russian Хованщина , literally “The Khovansky affair”, but with a thoroughly pejorative influence, so more like Khovansky or Khovansky mess), with the German title Die Fürsten Khovansky , is a political opera in five acts by Modest Mussorgsky with a libretto by Vladimir Stasov .

The work was neither performed nor completed when the composer died in 1881. The premiere took place on February 9th July. / February 21, 1886 greg. in a version clearly shortened by the censorship authority as a private amateur performance in Saint Petersburg , after Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov had taken care of the completion of the work. The first official performance took place on November 20, 1911 in the Mariinsky Theater in Saint Petersburg. Sergei Diaghilew then asked Igor Stravinsky to orchestrate his newly written version of the finale in 1912/13 . The version by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was mixed with Stravinski's version, and some of Stravinsky was cut and shortened. The final chorus, for which Mussorgsky had only written the theme, a Russian folk song, was taken over by Rimsky-Korsakov. Dmitri Shostakovich later revised the opera on the basis of the singing part in Mussorgsky's score. Shostakovich's revision also premiered on November 25, 1960 in Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad). In this version the work is usually performed today.

Like Mussorgski's earlier work Boris Godunov , the Khovanshchina is about an episode in Russian history to which the composer was drawn to by Vladimir Stasov.

action

prehistory

Towards the end of the 17th century, Russia found itself in a deep government and religious crisis. Decades earlier, the official church had carried out a reform that corrected church records and changed rituals. However, many of the believers do not accept this reform. They are pejoratively called Raskolniki (literally "Spalter", in German mostly called " Old Believers "), excluded from the official church and persecuted.

When Tsar Fyodor III. dies, there is no heir to the throne of legal age. The two half-brothers Iwan and Peter , who belong to two divided families and are only related through their father Alexei I , are placed on the throne . As they are still minors, Ivan's sister Sofia is first installed as regent. She relies entirely on the Strelitzen, the palace guard and their leader, Prince Iwan Chowanski . As she wants to become the sole ruler, Sofia provokes the Strelizos to a riot in which the majority of Peter's family and confidants are killed in the course of a single night.

I. act

The Strelizos remember their uprising the night before. The boyar Shakloviti dictates to a scribe a denunciation of the leader of the rebellion, Prince Ivan Khovansky, who is planning a conspiracy against Tsar Peter. Khovansky is very respected and supported by the Moscow people.

Meanwhile, his son Andrei is harassing Emma, ​​a young woman from the German suburbs, who is being protected from Andrei by the Old Believer Marfa, Andreis' former lover. Prince Chowanski also wants Emma to himself and orders the Strelizians to arrest her. Andrei defends himself against Emma's arrest. Dossifej, the spiritual leader of the Old Believers, settles the dispute between father and son. He hires Marfa to take care of Emma. He also tells everyone that at any moment the public dispute over the faith can break out between the Old Believers and the followers of the official Church.

II. Act

Prince Golitsyn , an important member of the government, commander in chief of the army and lover of Tsarevna Sofia, receives a love letter from her. He is expecting Ivan Khovansky and Dossifei to meet to discuss their conspiracy. Before that, Golitsyn calls Marfa to tell him the fortune. She prophesies that he will soon be destroyed and that he will be banished. The enraged Golitsyn orders that Marfa be secretly murdered to avoid public attention.

Khovansky arrives and immediately starts a quarrel with Golitsyn, accusing him of military failures and decisions that are humiliating for him. Dossifei warns to think about the future of the government of the empire. Because of their ongoing quarrels, the conspirators cannot come to a joint decision. Marfa comes back to Golitsyn's house to tell the men about Tsar Peter's troops, which they saved from Golitsyn's attack. The unexpected arrival of the boyar Shaklovitis destroys the last hope of the conspirators: Shakloviti, as much a lover of Sofia as Golitsyn, reports on their behalf that the court knows about the conspiracy of the Khovanskiy, which Tsar Peter calls "the Khovansky affair" (= Khovanshchina) has been designated. The tsar orders an investigation into this conspiracy.

III. act

Marfa is attacked by some Old Believers who condemn her love for Andrei Chowanski as sinful. Dossifej defends Marfa, who in turn confesses to Dossifej how much her passion torments her. She would like to burn herself with Andrei in order to finally achieve redemption. But Dossifej thinks it is too early to give up.

Shakloviti is with Tsarevna Sofia. He tells her how obsessed he is with the idea of ​​saving Russia. All his hope is in a strong single rule.

Drunken Strelizos rage and riot. Not even their wives can reassure them. When the riot was in full swing, the clerk spreads the news of the approaching Petrovzen troops, Tsar Peters' bodyguard. Panic spreads in the ranks of the Strelizos. Ivan Chowanski, however, orders them not to offer any resistance, not to fight and to lock themselves in their houses.

IV. Act

First picture

In his house, Ivan Chowanski tries to numb his fear, which is heightened by the warning of his imminent demise. All efforts of his subordinates to disperse him are unsuccessful. Unexpectedly, Shakloviti delivered an honorable invitation to Khovansky at Tsarevna Sofia. But this invitation turns out to be a message of death for the prince.

Second picture

Golitsyn is sent into exile and sympathetically adopted by the Moscow people. Marfa excitedly tells Dossifej that the government has ordered the extermination of the Old Believers. Dossifej resolves death by collective self-immolation. Marfa reports to Andrei Chowanski about the death of his father and the fact that the Petrovzen himself are wanted. Andrei doesn't believe her and accuses her of having destroyed his life with her lies. But the chiming of the bells, which heralds the beginning of the execution of the condemned Strelizos, confirms Andrei that Marfa was telling the truth. Now he is ready to follow her anywhere. At the last moment, however, Tsar Peter pardoned the Strelizos.

V. act

Since they can no longer see a way out, Dossifej, Marfa, Andrei and other Old Believers burn themselves. By doing this, they hope for a better life in another world.

literature

Web links

Commons : Khovanshchina  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files