Opera Rostov Musical Theatre. N. Rimsky-Korsakov "The Tsar`s Bride" Brilliant Classical Stanislavsky Ballet and Opera theatre (established 1887, founded by Stanislavsky)
Schedule for Rostov Musical Theatre. N. Rimsky-Korsakov "The Tsar`s Bride" 2022
Orchestra: Stanislavsky theatre symphony orchestra
Synopsis
Act I
The Carousal Chamber in Oprichnik Grigory Gryaznoy’s house. Grigory is
plunged in deep thought. He has fallen passionately in love with Marfa, daughter
of the merchant Sobakin, but she is already betrothed to the young boyar, Ivan
Lykov. In order to put his love out of his mind, Grigory decides to organize a
drinking-party. One of his guests is the Tsar’s foreign physician,
Bomelius; Gryaznoy has an important matter to discuss with him.
His guests start arriving: the oprichniks led by Malyuta Skuratov, Gryaznoy’s
friend, Ivan Lykov and the long-awaited Yelisey Bomelius. Lykov tells the
assembled company of the foreign parts from whence he has recently
returned. Psaltery players and singers entertain the guests with songs and
dancing. The guests sing the praises of their sovereign, Ivan the Terrible.
During the revelries, Malyuta mentions Lyubasha. "Who is Lyubasha?" Bomelius
asks. "Gryaznoy’s mistress, a right bonny lass!" Malyuta replies. Gryaznoy calls
Lyubasha and, at Malyuta’s request, she sings a song about the bitter fate of a
girl who is forced to marry a man she doesn’t love. The carousal comes to an end
and the guests depart. Gryaznoy detains Bomelius. Lyubasha, sensing that
something is wrong, hides and listens to their conversation. Graznoy asks
Bomelius for a love potion. The physician promises to provide him with a powder
which has the power to arouse love in a girl’s heart. After Bomelius has gone,
Lyubasha accuses Grigory of having fallen out of love with her. But Grigory
doesn’t listen. He can think of nothing else but his passion for Marfa. The
bells sound for the early morning service. Grigory departs leaving Lyubasha
alone with her despair. She cannot live without Grigory’s love. Lyubasha vows
she will seek out the girl who is the cause other troubles and bewitch her away
from Gryaznoy.
Act II
The Love Potion A street in the Alexandrov sloboda. The parishioners are
coming out of the monastery after the evening service. The oprichniks turn up:
they are concocting some new mischief against the boyars. The common people try
to keep out of their way: they fear both the boyars and the oprichniks, loyal
servants to the stern Tsar.
Marfa, accompanied by Dunyasha and Petrovna, the housekeeper, come out
of the monastery gates. At the porch of her house, Marfa stands talking to her
friend other betrothed, Ivan Lykov. Suddenly someone in a black monk’s cassock
and skullcap appears through the monastery gates and walks slowly along the
street. Marfa’s eyes meet those of the monk. She doesn’t recognize Ivan the
Terrible but the stranger’s intent gaze frightens her. It is only when she
catches sight of her father and her betrothed, who are approaching the house,
that she calms down and forgets her weird encounter. Sobakin invites Lykin into
the house and the girls follow them in. Dusk is falling. A shadow is circling
round the Sobakin house. It is Lyubasha. She cautiously steals up to the porch:
she wants to have a look at her rival. Having peeped through the lit-up
window, Dunyasha clams down: "Is that Marfa? There is no need for me to
worry then, Grigory will soon tire other!" But, peeping again through the
window, Dunyasha realizes she has mistaken Dunyasha for Marfa. Dunyasha is
struck by Marfa’s beauty. "He won’t fall out of love with her in a hurry.
I’ll soon show her, though!"
Out of her mind with despair, Lyubasha rushes to Bomelius’s house. Bomelius
appears in answer to her call. Lyubasha begs him to sell her a potion which will
destroy human beauty. Bomelius agrees, demanding in return Lyubasha’s love.
Indignant, Lyubasha wants to leave, but Bomelius threatens to tell Gryaznoy what
she has asked him for.
The sound of Marfa’s laughter coming from the Sobakins house, makes Lyubasha
agree to Bomelius’s terms. Bomelius goes off to mix the potion, leaving Lyubasha
alone with her oppressive thoughts. At this point, Lykov leaves the Sobakin
household accompanied by the master of the house. Learning from their
conversation that Grigory is expected at Marfa’s home the next day, Lyubasha
renews her pleas for a potion: Bomelius has now reappeared. Bomelius tries to
drag the desperate girl into his house, but the sound of the oprichniks
singing in the distance stays his hand. Lyubasha is about to rush towards the
oprichniks, where she will find Grigory, when she remembers he no longer loves
her and comes to a halt. Bomelius hides by the door, waiting for Lyubasha.
Lyubasha forces herself to go to the physician. She feels as if she is going to
her execution. The oprichniks appear in the street. Led by Malyuta, they are on
their way to massacre the seditious boyars. The light goes out in Bomelius’
house.
Act III
Druzhka Chamber in Merchant Sobakin’s house. Sobakin tells Ivan Lykov and
Gryaznoy that Marfa, together with Dunyasha and the boyars’ daughters, have been
summoned to the palace for the Tsar intends to choose himself a bride. This
alarms both Lykov and Gryaznoy. Sobakin tries to calm down Lykov. Echoing
Sobakin’s sentiments, Gryaznoy suggests he be druzhka (one of the
participants, representing the bridegroom, in the old wedding rites) at
Lykov’s wedding. But as he congratulates Lykov, there is a mocking
intonation in his voice. Domna Saburova, Dunyasha’s mother, appears. She
describes how the ceremony for choosing the Tsar’s bride went. The Tsar hardly
glanced in Marfa’s direction, but he paid Dunyasha a lot of attention, joking
and talking with her. Lykov sighs with relief.
Grigory fills two goblets, he intends to drink a toast to the bride and
bridegroom. Unnoticed, he pours the powder that Bomelius has given him into
Marfa’s goblet - the love potion. As soon as Marfa, who has returned from the
palace together with Dunyasha, enters the room, Grigory congratulates the couple
and gives then each a goblet. In accordance with tradition, Marfa drinks her
goblet dry. Everyone congratulates Marfa and Lykov. Saburova strikes up a song
in honor of the bride in which the latter’s friends join in.
Suddenly, Petrovna rushes into the room and falls at Sobakin’s feet. "The
boyars are on their way to you bearing a message from the Tsar!" "To me? You are
out о your mind, woman!" Sobakin exclaims.
Malyuta appears with the boyars and proclaims the Tsar’s will - Marfa is to
be his wife.
Act IV
The Bride The Tsar’s chamber where Marfa, the Tsar’s bride, is now living
preparatory to her wedding. An unknown ailment afflicts her. Bitter fears for
his daughter give Sobakin no peace. Domna Saburova tries in vain to allay his
anxiety. Gryaznoy appears: "The person responsible has confessed to everything
and the Tsar’s foreign physician has promised to cure her ailment", he tells
Sobakin. Sobakin has no idea who this person is. He makes haste to tell his
daughter what he has heard. Marfa, at her wits end, runs into the chamber. She
realizes that Lykov has been blamed for her ailment, trying to save him, she
pretends to feel quite well again. "I’m quite well, I’m quite well", she says in
an agitated voice. But Gryaznoy replies that the Tsar had ordered the execution
of Lykov who, according to Gryaznoy, had confessed to giving Marfa a potion, and
that he, Gryaznoy, with his own hands had carried out the sentence. Learning of
the death of her beloved, Marfa falls unconscious to the floor.
On coming to, Marfa recognizes no one. Mistaking Gryaznoy for Lykov, she
converses tenderly with him, recalling the happy hours they have spent together.
Shaken by Marfa’s words, Gryaznoy admits that he had slandered Lykov and that
he, himself, and given Marfa the love potion. But Marfa doesn’t hear him,
all her thoughts are in the past. She again recalls her childhood, spent in
Novgorod, and her betrothed. Gryaznoy is in despair. But before giving himself
up into the hands of the oprichniks, he wants to "have things out with" Bomelius
who deceived him. "You’d better have things out with me", says Lyubasha who has
appeared on the scene. And she tells Grigory how she had substituted poison for
the love potion Bomelius had given Grigory and which Grigory had then given
Marfa. Grigory kills Lyubasha by plunging his knife into her heart. Grigory bids
farewell to Marfa and gives himself up to the oprichniks and Malyuta. But Marfa
sees and hears nothing. All her thoughts are in the past, with Lykov. She dies
with his name on her lips.
Schedule for Rostov Musical Theatre. N. Rimsky-Korsakov "The Tsar`s Bride" 2022
|