Ruslan and Lyudmila
Encyclopedia
Ruslan and Lyudmila is an opera
in five acts (eight tableaux) composed by Mikhail Glinka
between 1837 and 1842. The opera is based on the 1820 poem of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. The Russian
libretto
was written by Valerian Shirkov, Nestor Kukolnik
and N. A. Markevich, among others. Pushkin's death in the famous duel prevented him from writing the libretto himself as planned.
Today, the best-known music from the opera is its overture
.
on 27 November(Old Style
) 1842 at the Bolshoy Theater
. Four years later, the opera was given its Moscow
premiere at the Bolshoy Theatre
in 1846.
The opera was first performed on 4 June 1931 at the Lyceum Theatre in London and in the US as a concert version in New York on 26 December 1942. It was given its first staged performance in the US by Sarah Caldwell
's Opera Company of Boston
on 5 March 1977.
(9th to 13th centuries).
Place: Kiev
; various imaginary and fantastic locations.
Ruslan comes upon the cave of the kindly wizard Finn, who tells him that the evil sorcerer Chernomor has absconded with Lyudmila and that Ruslan is the man who will destroy him. Ruslan asks Finn why he lives in this deserted place, and Finn relates the story of many years ago, when he was a shepherd in his distant homeland (he says he is "a Finn") and fell in love with a beautiful girl named Naina. When she rejected his declaration of love, he went off to do battle with enemies for booty. Returning with this booty, he presented it to Naina, but she yet again spurned him. Then he resolved to study magic to win her; many years went by, and through sorcery he finally summoned an old, grey-haired, humpbacked woman – it was Naina, who now was mad with passion for him. He ran away from her and has been hiding from her ever since. For abandoning her, Naina is consumed by vengeful hatred, which will likewise fall upon Ruslan. Assuring him that Lyudmila will not be harmed, Finn instructs Ruslan to head north, and the two of them exit in opposite directions.
Tableau 2
In a deserted place, the cowardly Farlaf wonders whether he should continue searching for Lyudmila, when the decrepit Naina approaches him. She promises to get Lyudmila for him and send Ruslan far away. She disappears, and Farlaf rejoices in his triumph.
Tableau 3
Ruslan, having come upon a foggy desert strewn with weapons and bones from a past battle, wonders at the cause of this scene and whether he, too, may end up the same way. He chooses a new shield and spear from the ground to replace his broken weaponry, but cannot find a sword heavy enough to complete his new set of armor. When the fog lifts, a giant Head is revealed and blows through its lips to bring up a storm so as to drive Ruslan away. When Ruslan strikes the head with his spear, the Head falls back and reveals a sword underneath. He takes it and asks the Head whence it came. As it is dying, the Head explains that it once was a giant, and his dwarf brother is the evil sorcerer Chernomor. The sword was destined to kill both of them; so, in order to forestall fate, Chernomor tricked the giant, beheaded him, and flew his live head away to the distant desert to keep the sword protected underneath it. With the sword now in Ruslan's hands, the Head calls for vengeance on Chernomor.
In a moonlit valley, Ruslan, Ratmir, and Gorislava, with Lyudmila, have camped for the night. Ratmir, who is standing guard, worries about Ruslan, and then expresses his happiness at his reunion with Gorislava. Suddenly the slaves report that Lyudmila once again has been abducted and that Ruslan has left in search of her. Finn appears, gives a magic ring to Ratmir that will awaken Lyudmila when she is brought back to Kiev.
Tableau 2
Lyudmila lies asleep in Svetozar's banquet hall. It turns out that Farlaf, with Naina's assistance, kidnapped Lyudmila and brought her to Kiev so as to appear to have been her rescuer. However, he cannot waken her. Horses approach, and Ruslan, Ratmir, and Gorislava arrive. Ruslan brings the magic ring to Lyudmila, and she awakens. As the tableau opens onto a view of Kiev, the people rejoice in their gods, their motherland, and the young couple.
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Act 4
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Act 4
Act 5
, Ruslan employs some aspects of Russian folk music; it is also noted for imaginative use of dissonance, chromaticism, whole tone scale
s, and Eastern elements.
The rollicking overture is one of the best known orchestral showpieces in the West. An orchestral feature of Act I is the use of piano
and harp
to suggest the timbre
of the gusli. Glinka's debt to Western operatic models is abundantly apparent in Farlaf's Rondo, a Russian emulation of Figaro's "Largo al factotum
" from Rossini's The Barber of Seville
.
Along with its counterpart A Life for the Tsar, this second opera by Glinka confirmed a Russian national operatic foundation that was to be built upon by the next generation of Russian composers. In particular, Ruslan served as the model for Russian operatic fairy tale
s, particularly those of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in five acts (eight tableaux) composed by Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Glinka
Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka , was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country, and is often regarded as the father of Russian classical music...
between 1837 and 1842. The opera is based on the 1820 poem of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. The Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
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...
was written by Valerian Shirkov, Nestor Kukolnik
Nestor Kukolnik
Nestor Vasilievich Kukolnik was a Russian playwright and prose writer of Carpatho-Rusyn origin. Immensely popular during the early part of his career, his works were subsequently dismissed as sententious and sentimental. Today, he is best remembered for having contributed to the libretto of the...
and N. A. Markevich, among others. Pushkin's death in the famous duel prevented him from writing the libretto himself as planned.
Today, the best-known music from the opera is its overture
Overture
Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...
.
Performance history
The premiere took place in Saint PetersburgSaint 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...
on 27 November(Old Style
Old Style and New Style dates
Old Style and New Style are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January even though documents written at the time use a different start of year ; or to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian...
) 1842 at the Bolshoy Theater
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...
. Four years later, the opera was given its Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
premiere at the Bolshoy Theatre
Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...
in 1846.
The opera was first performed on 4 June 1931 at the Lyceum Theatre in London and in the US as a concert version in New York on 26 December 1942. It was given its first staged performance in the US by Sarah Caldwell
Sarah Caldwell
Sarah Caldwell was a notable American opera conductor, impresario, and stage director of opera.- Life :Caldwell was born in Maryville, Missouri, and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She was a child prodigy and gave public performances on the violin by the time she was ten years old...
's Opera Company of Boston
Opera Company of Boston
The Opera Company of Boston was an American opera company located in Boston, Massachusetts that was active during the late 1950s through the early 1990s. The company was founded by American conductor Sarah Caldwell in 1958 under the name Boston Opera Group. At one time, the touring arm of the...
on 5 March 1977.
Roles
| Role | Voice type Voice type A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types... |
St. Petersburg premiere, 27 November(Old Style Old Style and New Style dates Old Style and New Style are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January even though documents written at the time use a different start of year ; or to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian... ) 1842 (Conductor Conducting Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble... : Albrecht) |
Moscow premiere, 1846 (Conductor: Ivan Iogannis) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Svetozar, Great Prince of Kiev Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240.... |
bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... |
Sergey Baykov | |
| Lyudmila, his daughter | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Mariya Stepanova | Mariya Stepanova |
| Ruslan, a Kievan knight Knight A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior.... , Lyudmila’s betrothed |
bass | Osip Petrov Osip Petrov Osip Afanasievich Petrov was a Russian operatic bass-baritone of great range and renown whose career centred on St Petersburg.He started his career by singing in a church chorus... |
Semen Hulak-Artemovsky Semen Hulak-Artemovsky Semen Stepanovych Hulak-Artemovsky , was a Ukrainian opera composer, singer , actor, and dramatist who lived and worked in Imperial Russia.... |
| Ratmir, a Khazar Khazars The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of... prince |
contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above... |
Anna Petrova-Vorobyova | Anfisa Petrova |
| Farlaf, a Varangian Varangians The Varangians or Varyags , sometimes referred to as Variagians, were people from the Baltic region, most often associated with Vikings, who from the 9th to 11th centuries ventured eastwards and southwards along the rivers of Eastern Europe, through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.According... knight |
bass | Dominic Tozi | Osip Petrov |
| Gorislava, a captive of Ratmir | soprano | Emiliya Lileyeva | Emiliya Lileyeva |
| Finn, a good sorcerer Magician (fantasy) A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources... |
tenor | Lev Leonov | Lev Leonov |
| Naina, an evil sorceress | mezzo-soprano | Yelizaveta Rïkalova (Marcel) | |
| Bayan, a bard | tenor | N. Likhansky | |
| Chorus, silent roles: Sons of Svetozar, knights, boyar Boyar A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century.... s and boyarïnyas, chamber-maids and nurse-maids, page boys, bodyguards, cupbearers, stolnik Stolnik Stolnik was a court office in Poland and Muscovy, responsible for serving the royal table.- Stolnik in Crown of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania : In Crown of Poland under the first Piast dukes and kings, this was a court office.... s, the Prince's armed force, people, maids of the magic castle, blackamoors, dwarves, slaves of Chernomor, nymph Nymph A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;... s, water-nymphs |
|||
Synopsis
Time: The time of Kievan Rus'Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
(9th to 13th centuries).
Place: Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
; various imaginary and fantastic locations.
Act 1
In Svetozar's banquet hall, the wedding feast for Ruslan and Lyudmila is taking place. The guests listen to Bayan sing a song foretelling misfortune for the bride and groom, followed by happiness from true love. Lyudmila, saddened by the prospect of leaving her father, offers words of comfort to her unsuccessful suitors, Farlaf and Ratmir, and then pledges herself to Ruslan. Svetozar blesses the couple. All of a sudden everything goes dark and there is a crash of thunder. The people are paralysed by a spell while two monsters carry Lyudmila away. When light returns and everyone recovers, they panic over Lyudmila's disappearance. Svetozar promises half his kingdom and Lyudmila's hand to the man who brings her back. The three suitors ready themselves for the journey to find Lyudmila.Act 2
Tableau 1Ruslan comes upon the cave of the kindly wizard Finn, who tells him that the evil sorcerer Chernomor has absconded with Lyudmila and that Ruslan is the man who will destroy him. Ruslan asks Finn why he lives in this deserted place, and Finn relates the story of many years ago, when he was a shepherd in his distant homeland (he says he is "a Finn") and fell in love with a beautiful girl named Naina. When she rejected his declaration of love, he went off to do battle with enemies for booty. Returning with this booty, he presented it to Naina, but she yet again spurned him. Then he resolved to study magic to win her; many years went by, and through sorcery he finally summoned an old, grey-haired, humpbacked woman – it was Naina, who now was mad with passion for him. He ran away from her and has been hiding from her ever since. For abandoning her, Naina is consumed by vengeful hatred, which will likewise fall upon Ruslan. Assuring him that Lyudmila will not be harmed, Finn instructs Ruslan to head north, and the two of them exit in opposite directions.
Tableau 2
In a deserted place, the cowardly Farlaf wonders whether he should continue searching for Lyudmila, when the decrepit Naina approaches him. She promises to get Lyudmila for him and send Ruslan far away. She disappears, and Farlaf rejoices in his triumph.
Ruslan, having come upon a foggy desert strewn with weapons and bones from a past battle, wonders at the cause of this scene and whether he, too, may end up the same way. He chooses a new shield and spear from the ground to replace his broken weaponry, but cannot find a sword heavy enough to complete his new set of armor. When the fog lifts, a giant Head is revealed and blows through its lips to bring up a storm so as to drive Ruslan away. When Ruslan strikes the head with his spear, the Head falls back and reveals a sword underneath. He takes it and asks the Head whence it came. As it is dying, the Head explains that it once was a giant, and his dwarf brother is the evil sorcerer Chernomor. The sword was destined to kill both of them; so, in order to forestall fate, Chernomor tricked the giant, beheaded him, and flew his live head away to the distant desert to keep the sword protected underneath it. With the sword now in Ruslan's hands, the Head calls for vengeance on Chernomor.
Act 3
Young maidens are luring passing travelers to enter Naina's magical castle. Gorislava appears, looking for Ratmir, who had taken her captive and then abandoned her. After she goes away for a moment, Ratmir himself comes on the scene and falls under the spell of the maidens, who seduce him with dance. The final guest attracted to the castle is Ruslan, who finds himself forgetting Lyudmila upon seeing Gorislava. Suddenly Finn appears; and, after pronouncing a happy fate for Ratmir with Gorislava, and for Ruslan with Lyudmila, the castle turns into a forest as they resolve to rescue Lyudmila.Act 4
Within Chernomor's magical gardens, Lyudmila longs for Ruslan and resists the influence of the enchanted surroundings. Chernomor with his retinue arrives; dances are performed. A trumpet call signals a challenge from Ruslan. Chernomor puts Lyudmila under a sleeping spell and goes off to fight Ruslan, who shortly comes on the scene triumphantly wearing Chernomor's beard around his helmet. Although he is disheartened by Lyudmila's condition, Ruslan, along with Ratmir and Gorislava, resolve to return to Kiev with Lyudmila to seek the aid of the magicians there. Chernomor's former slaves freely come along.Act 5
Tableau 1In a moonlit valley, Ruslan, Ratmir, and Gorislava, with Lyudmila, have camped for the night. Ratmir, who is standing guard, worries about Ruslan, and then expresses his happiness at his reunion with Gorislava. Suddenly the slaves report that Lyudmila once again has been abducted and that Ruslan has left in search of her. Finn appears, gives a magic ring to Ratmir that will awaken Lyudmila when she is brought back to Kiev.
Tableau 2
Lyudmila lies asleep in Svetozar's banquet hall. It turns out that Farlaf, with Naina's assistance, kidnapped Lyudmila and brought her to Kiev so as to appear to have been her rescuer. However, he cannot waken her. Horses approach, and Ruslan, Ratmir, and Gorislava arrive. Ruslan brings the magic ring to Lyudmila, and she awakens. As the tableau opens onto a view of Kiev, the people rejoice in their gods, their motherland, and the young couple.
Principal arias and numbers
- Overture
Act 1
- Aria: Cavatina "I'm sad, dear father!", Каватина «Грустно мне, родитель дорогой!» (Lyudmila)
Act 2
- Aria: Ballad "Welcome, my son", Баллада «Добро пожаловать, мой сын» (Finn, Ruslan)
- Aria: Rondo "The hour of my triumph is near", Рондо «Близок уж час торжества моего» (Farlaf)
- Aria: "O field, field, who has strewn you with dead men's bones", «О поле, поле, кто тебя усеял мертвыми костями» (Ruslan)
Act 3
- Aria: «И жар и зной сменила ночи тень» (Ratmir)
- Dance: Dances
Act 4
- Aria: Aria (Lyudmila)
- March: Chernomor's March, «Марш Черномора» (Orchestra)
- Dance: Oriental Dances, «Восточные танцы» (Orchestra)
- Turkish Dance, «турецкий танец»
- Arabian Dance, «арабский танец»
- LezginkaLezginkaLezginka or Lezghinka is a national dance of many people in the Caucasus Mountains. It derives its names from the Lezgin people; nevertheless, Georgians, Chechens, Lezghins, Ossetians, Circassians, Karachays, Balkars, Armenians, Abkhazians, Kabardins, Ingush, Ingilos, Azerbaijanis, Iranian...
, «лезгинка»
Structure
- Overture
Act 1
- No. 1: Introduction
- No. 2: Cavatina (Lyudmila)
- No. 3: Finale
Act 2
- No. 4: Entr'acte
- No. 5: Ballad (Finn)
- No. 6: Duettino (Ruslan, Finn)
- No. 7: Scene and Rondo (Farlaf)
- No. 8: Aria (Ruslan)
- No. 9: Scene with the Head
- No. 10: Finale – Tale of the Head
Act 3
- No. 11: Entr'acte
- No. 12: Persian Chorus
- No. 13: Cavatina (Gorislava)
- No. 14: Aria (Ratmir)
- No. 15: Dances
- No. 16: Finale
Act 4
- No. 17: Entr'acte
- No. 18: Scene and Aria (Lyudmila)
- No. 19: March
- No. 20: Oriental Dances
- No. 21: Chorus
- No. 22: Finale
Act 5
- No. 23: Entr'acte
- No. 24: Romance (Ratmir)
- No. 25: Recitative and Chorus
- No. 26: Duet (Finn, Ratmir)
- No. 27: Finale
Analysis
As with A Life for the TsarA Life for the Tsar
A Life for the Tsar , as it is known in English, although its original name was Ivan Susanin is a "patriotic-heroic tragic opera" in four acts with an epilogue by Mikhail Glinka. The original Russian libretto, based on historical events, was written by Nestor Kukolnik, Georgy Fyodorovich Rozen,...
, Ruslan employs some aspects of Russian folk music; it is also noted for imaginative use of dissonance, chromaticism, whole tone scale
Whole tone scale
In music, a whole tone scale is a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole step. There are only two complementary whole tone scales, both six-note or hexatonic scales:...
s, and Eastern elements.
The rollicking overture is one of the best known orchestral showpieces in the West. An orchestral feature of Act I is the use of piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
to suggest the timbre
Timbre
In music, timbre is the quality of a musical note or sound or tone that distinguishes different types of sound production, such as voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. The physical characteristics of sound that determine the...
of the gusli. Glinka's debt to Western operatic models is abundantly apparent in Farlaf's Rondo, a Russian emulation of Figaro's "Largo al factotum
Largo al factotum
Largo al factotum is an aria from The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini, sung at the first entrance of the title character; the repeated "Figaro"s before the final patter section are an icon in popular culture of operatic singing...
" from Rossini's The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
.
Along with its counterpart A Life for the Tsar, this second opera by Glinka confirmed a Russian national operatic foundation that was to be built upon by the next generation of Russian composers. In particular, Ruslan served as the model for Russian operatic fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
s, particularly those of 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...
.
Recordings
- 1938, Samuil SamosudSamuil SamosudSamuil Abramovich Samosud |Georgia]], — Moscow, 6 November 1964) was a Russian conductor. He started his musical career on the cello, before conducting in the Mariinsky Theater, Petrograd in 1917. From 1918 to 1936 he conducted at the Maly Operny, Leningrad. In 1936 he became musical...
(conductor), Bolshoy Theatre Orchestra and Chorus, Maksim Mikhaylov (Svetozar), Valeriya Barsova (Lyudmila), Mark ReyzenMark ReizenMark Osipovich Reizen, also Reisen or Reyzen — died November 25, 1992 Moscow, Russia) was a leading Soviet opera singer with a beautiful and expansive bass voice.-Life and career:...
(Ruslan), Yelizaveta Antonova (Ratmir), Vasiliy Lubenchov (Farlaf), Yelena Slivinskaya (Gorislava), Nikander Khanayev (Finn), Lyudmila Stavrovskaya (Naina), Solomon Khromchenko (Bayan). - 1995, DVD Video Valery GergievValery GergievValery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.- Early life :Gergiev,...
(conductor), Kirov Orchestra, Opera Chorus and Ballet, St. Petersburg, in association with San Francisco Opera, Anna Netrebko (Lyudmila),Valdimir Ognovenko (Ruslan),Larissa Diadkova (Ratmir), Gennady Bezzubenkov (Farlaf), Galina Gorchakova (Gorislava)