The sorceress
| Work data | |
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| Title: | The sorceress |
| Original title: | Ародейка |
| Original language: | Russian |
| Music: | Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky |
| Libretto : | Ippolit Spazhinsky |
| Literary source: | Чародейка from Ippolit Spazhinsky |
| Premiere: | October 20, 1887 |
| Place of premiere: | Mariinsky Theater , Saint Petersburg |
| Playing time: | about 3 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Nizhny Novgorod and the surrounding area, mid-15th century |
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The Sorceress (Чародейка, Charodéyka ) is an opera in four acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky . The libretto by Ippolit Spazhinsky is based on his play of the same name. The opera was composed in Maidanovo , Russia between September 1885 and May 1887 and premiered in Saint Petersburg in 1887 .
action
first act
Outside the city, Nastasia, known as Kuma, runs an inn where the men drink, play, fight and meet women. One also grumbles a lot about the corrupt and bigoted politicians and church people. Kuma's ability to charm the guests makes the men’s wives jealous and is said to have magical powers.
When the prince's son, Prince Juri, comes by, Kuma falls in love with him immediately, but cannot bring himself to invite him.
Shortly afterwards the prince himself appears with his clerk Mamirow. Everyone wants to flee in a panic because the conspiratorial place is a thorn in the side of the prince and Mamirov threatens to burn down the economy. But Kuma tries in her own way to save the situation: she flatters the prince, invites him to wine and convinces him that her alleged magic is only special kindness. It even takes the prince so far as to let Mamirow dance with jugglers who appear. Humiliated, this vows vengeance, while the prince, completely impressed by Kuma, drops his diamond ring into his empty cup.
Second act
The princess's jealousy is further nourished by Mamirow, who promises to continue spying on Kuma. In the spirit of Mamirov, who wants Kuma's death, his sister Nanila, the princess's maid, tells her about a poison, but the princess claims that she doesn't want to know anything about it.
The princess tells her son that she has found a wife for him. But the prince notices that something is bothering his mother. But she wants to keep him away from all bad news.
Mamirow hires the mendicant monk Paisi to watch the prince.
An open dispute ensues between the prince and the princess, who threatens to report the secret affair of her husband to the representatives of the church.
When some thieves bring goods into the Prince's Palace, the people accuse Mamirov of robbing it. When riots threatened, Prince Juri publicly sided with the citizens and fell out of favor with his parents. When he learns of his father's alleged affair, he vows to avenge his mother.
Third act
In her room, Prince Kuma confesses his love, which she does not reciprocate. Against his further pressure, she can only protect herself with a knife and the prince leaves her.
Two friends tell her about Juris' revenge plan, whom she loves. She pretends to be asleep and waits for him. The prince comes into her room with a dagger and is about to stab her when he is enchanted by her beauty and lets the weapon sink. Kuma admits that she doesn't love his father, but him. After a moment's hesitation, Yuri gives in.
Fourth act
Juri uses a hunt in the woods to flee with Kuma. Despite his friends' warnings about her supposed magical powers, he wants to meet her in the forest.
The princess has also come to the forest to get poison from the magician Kudma.
Kuma, who was brought into the forest by her companions and said goodbye, meets the princess disguised as a pilgrim who offers her water from a spring. She secretly mixed in the poison.
The princess moves away at the approaching hunting horns. Juri meets Kuma and both are happy to be able to flee together when she dies in his arms. When the princess admits the murder, her son curses her, but she has Kuma's body thrown into the river. The prince also appears, but does not want to believe his son that Kuma is dead. In the following argument, he kills him.
The prince realizes too late what he has done and goes mad.
Recordings
- Kisselioff, Borissenko, Nelepp , Sokolova, Korolioff; Samossud ; Moscow, 1954
- Gennady Provatorov, Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Oleg Klenov (Prince Kurlyatev), Lyudmila Simonova (Princess Yevpraksiya), Lev Kuznetsov (Prince Yuriy), Yevgeny Vladimirov (Mamirov), Nina Derbina (Nenila), Boris Dobrin (Ivan Zhuran), Rimma Glushkova (Natasya), Pyotr Gluboky (Foka), Galina Molodtsova (Polya), Vladimir Makhov (Balakin), Sergei Strukachev (Potap), Lev Eliseyev (Lukash), Vladimir Matorin (Kichiga), Andrei Sokolov (Payisy), Viktor Ribinsky (Kudma); Moscow, 1978
- Zyrianova, Alexeev, Shemchuk, Grigorian, Kit; Gergiev; Amsterdam, 1992
Web links
- The Sorceress : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project