Mlada
Encyclopedia
Alexander Serov
Alexander Nikolayevich Serov – was a Russian composer and music critic. He and his wife Valentina were the parents of painter Valentin Serov...
and choreographed by Marius Petipa
Marius Petipa
Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa was a French ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. Petipa is considered to be the most influential ballet master and choreographer of ballet that has ever lived....
. The project was later revised in 1872 as an opera-ballet in four acts, with the composition of the score to be divided between César Cui
César Cui
César Antonovich Cui was a Russian of French and Lithuanian descent. His profession was as an army officer and a teacher of fortifications; his avocational life has particular significance in the history of music, in that he was a composer and music critic; in this sideline he is known as a...
, Léon Minkus, Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...
, Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
, and Aleksandr Borodin
Alexander Borodin
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five , who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music...
. The libretto was written by Viktor Krylov. The project was never completed, and no performing edition is in use. An exhaustive study of this opera has been made by German musicologist Albrecht Gaub (see bibliography below) and provides information for this article.
Composition history
ConceptionThe scenario
Scenario
A scenario is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the Commedia dell'arte it was an outline of entrances, exits, and action describing the plot of a play that was literally pinned to the back of the scenery...
was conceived in 1870 by Stepan Alexandrovich Gedeonov (1815-1878), who was the Director of the Imperial Theatres at the time. It was originally to be a ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
, with choreography by Marius Petipa
Marius Petipa
Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa was a French ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. Petipa is considered to be the most influential ballet master and choreographer of ballet that has ever lived....
and music by Alexander Serov
Alexander Serov
Alexander Nikolayevich Serov – was a Russian composer and music critic. He and his wife Valentina were the parents of painter Valentin Serov...
, who died in 1871 before composing anything for the work.
Gedeonov revised his conception as an opera-ballet, and it became a grand collaborative effort with a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Viktor Krylov and music by five Russian composers: César Cui
César Cui
César Antonovich Cui was a Russian of French and Lithuanian descent. His profession was as an army officer and a teacher of fortifications; his avocational life has particular significance in the history of music, in that he was a composer and music critic; in this sideline he is known as a...
, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
, Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...
and Alexander Borodin
Alexander Borodin
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five , who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music...
– all members of The Five
The Five
The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie , refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin...
– were to write music for the sung portions of the libretto and dramatic action. Ludwig Minkus
Ludwig Minkus
Ludwig Minkus a.k.a. Léon Fyodorovich Minkus was an Austrian composer of ballet music, a violin virtuoso and teacher.Minkus is most noted for the music he composed while serving as Ballet Composer of the St...
, at that time the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre
Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre
The Saint Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre was a theatre in Saint Petersburg.- History :It was built in 1783 to Antonio Rinaldi's Neoclassical design as the Kamenny Theatre. It was rebuilt in 1802 and renamed the Bolshoi, but burned down in 1811. The building was restored in 1818, and...
's First Imperial Ballet Composer, was to write ballet music to be inserted at various points. The members of The Five divided up the rest of the work as follows:
- Act I -- Cui
- Separate portions of Acts II and III -- Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov
- Act IV -- Borodin
Although the music was essentially completed, Gedeonov's plans fell through, however, and the collaborative work was never staged.
Fate of the Composed Music
Most of the composers used their music from the 1872 project in later works. To this date there is no published edition that collates the original manuscripts containing all the extant music composed for the Mlada of 1872.
The only extended unrecycled music from The Five
The Five
The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie , refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin...
's collaborative Mlada is Act I, which was composed by Cui (except for inserted dance music assigned to Minkus). Although Cui borrowed a terzett therefrom for his revision of Prisoner of the Caucasus in 1881-1882, the remainder of the act was not appropriated for other works. Late in life (1911) he edited and published Act I and dedicated it to the memory of Borodin, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov.
Mussorgsky's contribution involved his producing a new version of his Night on Bald Mountain
Night on Bald Mountain
Night on Bald Mountain is a composition by Modest Mussorgsky that exists in, at least, two versions—a seldom performed 1867 version or a later and very popular "fantasy for orchestra" arranged by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, A Night on the Bare Mountain , based on the vocal score of the "Dream Vision...
for use in the scene of the witches' sabbath
Sabbath (witchcraft)
The Witches' Sabbath or Sabbat is a supposed meeting of those who practice witchcraft, and other rites.European records indicate cases of persons being accused or tried for taking part in Sabbat gatherings, from the Middle Ages to the 17th century or later.- Etymology :The English word “sabbat”...
in Act III. Among other changes, this revision saw the addition of a chorus to what had previously been a purely orchestral score. (Mussorgsky was later to produce a third version – also with chorus, but featuring a new, quiet ending – for the unfinished opera The Fair at Sorochyntsi; none of the three versions was performed in his lifetime).
After Borodin's death, Rimsky-Korsakov edited and published the Finale from Act IV as an orchestral concert piece.
Roles
- Princess Voyslava, daughter of Mstivoy
- Mstivoy, Prince of Retra
- Svyatokhna, later transformed into the goddess MorenaMarzannaMaržanna, Mara, Maržena, Morana, Moréna, Mora, Marmora or Morena is a Slavic goddess associated with death, winter and nightmares. Some sources equate her with the Latvian goddess Māra, who takes a person's body after their death...
- Yaromir, Prince of Arkona, Voyslava's fiancé, formerly betrothed to Mlada
- A RuthenianRutheniansThe name Ruthenian |Rus']]) is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially, it was the ethnonym used for the East Slavic peoples who lived in Rus'. Later it was used predominantly for Ukrainians...
- Lumir, a Czech singer
- A Priest
- The High Priest
- Chernobog [The Black God]
- Mlada (non-singing, ballet-pantomime dancer)
- Maidens, people, hunters, merchants, Polabians, Novgorodians, devils, witches, dwarves
- Corps de ballet
Synopsis
- Time: The 9th to 10th centuries
- Place: Among ancient Polabian SlavsPolabian SlavsPolabian Slavs - is a collective term applied to a number of Lechites tribes who lived along the Elbe river, between the Baltic Sea to the north, the Saale and the Limes Saxoniae to the west, the Ore Mountains and the Western Sudetes to the south, and Poland to the east. They have also been known...
near the ElbeElbeThe Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
River.
Note: The basic plot of Mlada, with different place and time, is adapted from a ballet by Filippo Taglioni
Filippo Taglioni
Filippo Taglioni was an Italian dancer and choreographer and personal teacher to his own daughter, the famous Romantic ballerina Marie Taglioni. He is the son of Carlo and father of both Marie and Paul...
entitled The Phantom, which premiered in 1839 in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
. Certain elements of the plot below are not attested by surviving documents from the 1872 project, but are interpolated from the plots of Minkus' ballet and Rimsky-Korsakov's complete operatic setting.
Act 1
Voyslava has killed Mlada, Yaromir's bride, to have him for herself. With the help of Morena, the goddess of the underworld, she has captivated Yaromir. But he sees the murder in his dreams.Act 2
At the midsummer festival the people dance, while the spirit of Mlada interves between Yaromir and Voyslava.Act 3
By night Mlada leads Yaromir up Mount TriglavTriglav
Triglav is the highest mountain in Slovenia and the highest peak of the Julian Alps. While its name, meaning "three-headed", can describe its shape as seen from the Bohinj area, the mountain was most probably named after the Slavic god Triglav. The mountain is the preeminent symbol of the Slovene...
, where the dead gather, before the Witches' Sabbath
Sabbath (witchcraft)
The Witches' Sabbath or Sabbat is a supposed meeting of those who practice witchcraft, and other rites.European records indicate cases of persons being accused or tried for taking part in Sabbat gatherings, from the Middle Ages to the 17th century or later.- Etymology :The English word “sabbat”...
in which Yaromir is shown a vision of Cleopatra.
Act 4
Yaromir, at the Temple of RadegastRadegast (god)
Radegast, also Radigost, Redigast, Riedegost or Radogost, is mentioned by Adam of Bremen in his Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum as the deity worshipped in the Lutician city of Rethra. Likewise, Helmold in his Chronica Slavorum wrote of Radegast as a Lutician god...
, is shown by the spirits that Voyslava is guilty. She confesses her sin and he kills her. Morena, with whom Voyslava had made a compact, destroys the temple and the city of Retra, but Yaromir is united with Mlada in heaven.
Later versions
A pure ballet adaptationMlada (ballet)
Mlada is a Fantastic ballet in 4 Acts/9 Scenes, with choreography by Marius Petipa, and music by Ludwig Minkus.The ballet was first presented by the Imperial Ballet on December 2/14 , 1879 at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia...
of the scenario was later realized by choreographer Marius Petipa
Marius Petipa
Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa was a French ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. Petipa is considered to be the most influential ballet master and choreographer of ballet that has ever lived....
and composer Ludwig Minkus, premiering on December 2, 1879, the year after Gedeonov's death, at the St. Petersburg Imperial Bolshoi Kammeny Theatre by the Imperial Ballet
Mariinsky Ballet
The Mariinsky Ballet is a classical ballet company based at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russian Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet is one of the world's leading ballet companies...
. A revival of the ballet, mounted by Petipa
Marius Petipa
Victor Marius Alphonse Petipa was a French ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer. Petipa is considered to be the most influential ballet master and choreographer of ballet that has ever lived....
, was presented on September 25, 1896.
In 1889-1890 Rimsky-Korsakov dusted off the libretto of 1872 and composed his own complete setting
Mlada (Rimsky-Korsakov)
Mlada is an opera-ballet in four acts, composed between 1889 and 1890 by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, to a libretto by Viktor Krylov that was originally employed for an aborted project of the same name from 1872.-Performance history:...
of the opera-ballet.