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[Illustration: FEODOR IVANOVICH SHALIAPIN]
THE
RUSSIAN OPERA
BY
ROSA
NEWMARCH
[Illustration: colophon]
WITH SIXTEEN
ILLUSTRATIONS
HERBERT JENKINS LIMITED
ARUNDEL PLACE HAYMARKET
LONDON S.W. MCMXIV
THE ANCHOR PRESS, LTD., TIPTREE, ESSEX.
TO
FEODOR IVANOVICH SHALIAPIN
IN MEMORY OF OUR OLD FRIEND
VLADIMIR VASSILIEVICH STASSOV
PREFACE
Between January 19th, 1900, and April 4th, 1905, I read before the
Musical Association of London five papers dealing with the Development
of National Opera in Russia, covering a period from the first
performance of Glinka's _A Life for the Tsar_ in 1836, to the production
of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera _The Tsar's Bride_, in 1899. These lectures
were illustrated by the following artists: the late Mrs. Henry J. Wood,
Miss Grainger Kerr, Mr. Seth Hughes, Mr. Robert Maitland; Sir (Mr.)
Henry J. Wood and Mr. Richard Epstein at the piano. While using these
lectures as the scaffolding of my present book, I have added a
considerable amount of new material, amassed during ten years
unremitting research into my subject. The additions concern chiefly the
earlier phases of Russian music, and the operas that have appeared since
1900. The volume also contains some account of the foundation of the
nationalist school of composers under the leadership of Balakirev. It
has been my privilege to meet and converse with most of the members of
this circle. I give also a few details about the literary champion of
"the Invincible Band," Vladimir Stassov, under whose guidance I first
studied the history of Russian music. With all modesty I believe I may
claim to have been a pioneer worker in this field. When in 1895 I
published my translation (from the French edition of M. Habets) of
Stassov's book on Borodin, and followed it up in 1897 by a series of
articles--the fruits of my first visit to Russia--in that short-lived
weekly _The Musician_, the literature of the subject was by no means
copious, even in Russia itself; while the daily increasing public in
Western Europe who were anxious to learn something about the remarkable
galaxy of composers newly arisen in the east, based their knowledge and
opinions almost entirely upon César Cui's pamphlet _La Musique en
Russie_, an interesting, but in many respects misleading, statement of
the phenomenon; or upon the views propagated by Rubinstein and his
followers, wherefrom they learnt that the Russians, though musically
gifted, were only represented by incapable amateurs.
Happily for its own enjoyment, the world has grown wiser. The last few
years have witnessed the vindication of Moussorgsky's genius in France
and England; a consummation devoutly wished, but hardly anticipated, by
those who had been convinced from the beginning of the nobility and
sincerity of spirit and motive which entitles his two finished operas to
be regarded as masterpieces. During Sir Joseph Beecham's season of
Russian Opera at Drury Lane last year, Rimsky-Korsakov's early
music-drama _Ivan the Terrible_ ("The Maid of Pskov") made a profound
impression, with Shaliapin in the part of the tyrant Tsar. In the
forthcoming season it is Borodin's turn to be introduced to the British
public, and I confidently predict the success of his lyric opera _Prince
Igor_. So, one by one, these Russians, "eaters of tallow candles, Polar
bears, too long consumers of foreign products, are admitted in their
turn in the character of producers."[1]
In view of the extended interest now felt in Russian opera, drama and
ballet, it has been thought worth while to offer to the public this
outline of the development of a genuine national opera, from the history
of which we have much to learn in this country, both as regards the
things to be attempted and those to be shunned. Too much technical
analysis has been intentionally avoided in this volume. The musician can
supply this deficiency by the study of the scores mentioned in the book,
which, dating from Glinka's time, have nearly all been published and are
therefore accessible to the student; the average opera-goer will be glad
to gain a general view of the subject, unencumbered by the monotonous
terminology of musical analysis.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
THE DAWN OF MUSIC IN RUSSIA
.....PAGE
Primitive music of the Russian Slavs. The four periods of Russian music.
The Skomorokhi or Gleemen. Clerical Intolerance. Church pageants. Tsar
Alexis Mikhaïlovich, the first patron of music and the drama. Biblical
plays with incidental music. Mystery plays of Dmitri of Rostov. Origin
of the Ballet. First public theatre in Russia, 1703......1