Tchaikovsky

Opera

Tchaikovsky

Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila

Opera 36

Glink: Ruslan and Lyudmila

Soloists 

Kirov Opera

Valery Gergiev 

Ruslan and Lyudmila is of course famous for its overture - one of the great showpieces of the orchestral repertoire (I remember how scary it felt the first time I played it). But I had never heard any of the rest of the opera before.  I thought it was an absolutely fascinating piece.

You can feel Glinka here trying (and succeeding) to create a Russian operatic tradition out of so many different strands. The influence of French Grand Opera is very clear is some of the big set piece ensembles (such as the end of the first act)  but Weber is another influence and there is a Bellini-like Italianate lyricism to some of the lyrical numbers. Some of the ballet music seems to belong to the same world as Adam and Auber but others is distinctly Russian in style and looks forward to the ballet music of Tchaikovsky. But you also get elements of what would become the standard tropes of Russian opera. Folksong-based melodies, big choruses with a religious feel to them, major roles for low voices and oriental touches, including the use of the whole-tone scale.

The orchestration is fascinating. There is a prominent part for piano in the first act (it returns later)  and some of the magic music uses the glass harmonica (it is not exactly clear what Glinka had in mind) though in this recording some sort of glockenspiel appears to be used.  

Glinka manages to make a coherent opera out of all of these diverse elements and I really enjoyed getting to know the piece. You can see what Glinka had such an influence over the next generation of Russian opera composers.  It was also satisfying, some 50+ years since I first heard the overture, to put in into the context of the operas as a whole. The big second-subject tune is a baritone aria in Act 2 and the fast scale-based music at the start occurs at the very end of the opera. The overture is such a good piece on its own that one admires the way that Glinka wove everything together seamlessly.  

Fomin: The coachman at the horse stage post

 Opera 35

Fomin: The coachman at the horse stage-post 

Following a series of Czech operas I am now turning to Russia. Opera took a while to get going in Russian  and the early years were dominated by Italian composers. Those Russians who did write operas generally wrote them in Italian as well so Russian language operas by native composers were rare until the end of the 18th century.

This is one of the first of them, Fomin was the son of a military family and he undertook musical training in Bologna. He then returned to St Petersburg where he was associated with the imperial theatre. He wrote some 30 operas, although there are some issues over the attribution of some of them.  

I found it difficult to find out much about this opera on line so I listened to it more or less blind. It started as I expected with a rather jolly overture in a sub-Haydnesque style but then came a surprise. Instead of continuing in that vein we had about 10 mins of mainly choral music which was solemn and religious in character. It reminded me of Gluck or the Armed Men scene in The Magic Flute with some moments that seem positively Handelian. Then it reverted back to the Haydnesque idiom with some attractive songs and ensembles. The music was in truth quite crude in places, but the composer did have the knack of writing some catchy tunes. The last ensemble seemed to be based on the same folk song that Tchaikovsky used in the last movement of the 4th symphony.

In truth this seemed more like a play with songs rather than an opera as we know it - though I am still mystified by those opening choral sections. It is remarkable to think that the huge accomplishments of 19th Russian opera composers were built on such slight foundations as this.

Janáček: The excursions of Mr Brouček

 Opera 34

Janáček: The excursions of Mr Brouček

Soloists

Czech Philharmonic orchestra and chorus

František Jilek

I was lucky enough to have the great Janáćek scholar John Tyrrell as my Ph D supervisor so I learned a lot about the composer from talking to John and reading his books as they came out. I knew the ‘big five’ operas from the Mackerras recordings (for which John wrote the booklet notes) but I had not heard this opera before.

What a strange yet wonderful piece it is. Simon Rattle called it ‘really beautiful and off the charts surreal’ and that sums it up very well. The first part, the excursion to the moon, is dominated by a manic waltz rhythm which crops up time and time again in various guises. The orchestration is wonderfully distinctive and hair-raising lay difficult - one wonders quite how the orchestra coped with it in 1920. The second part is perhaps slightly less inspired thought it does have some extraordinary choral writing, which not surprisingly gave the original performers real problems and required some discrete instrumental doubling. Yet it many ways the highlight is the absolutely gorgeous love duet that forms an interlude between the two parts of the opera. This shows that Janáċek had a melodic gift equal to anybody of his generation.

I can’t believe that it has taken me so long to listen to this peice. I will certainly return to it.

This concludes this series of Czech operas, If you include the Foerster  https://andrew365newpieces.blogspot.com/search/label/Foerster I included in last year’s project I have covered most of the major 19th figures. I’ll return to the Czech lands later in this project to pick up some more 20th century works.

Smetana: Dalibor

Opera 33

Smetana: Dalibor

Soloists

Prague National Theatre chorus and orchestra

Jaroslav Krombholc

Dalibor is one of the central works in the Czech operatic repertoire, although initially it had little success - Mahler's conducting of the work in Vienna helped to establish its importance. It has been compared to Fidelio in that the plot concerns a political prisoner whose lover disguises herself as a man in order to work in the prison and help rescue him.

I thought that it was a very impressive piece. It is not as overtly melodramatic as the Kovařovic opera (the previous work in this project) but makes a strong impression throughout. Perhaps the high point is the big solo for Dalibor himself in the third act but the duet for the lovers is also intensely moving. 

Last year I was impressed by Smetana's The Kiss https://andrew365newpieces.blogspot.com/2025/10/smetana-hubicka.html and said that I would like to explore more of the composer's operas. Listening to this opera today certainly increases my enthusiasm for Smetana as an opera composer - there's certainly more to go at.

Kovařovic: The Dogheads

Opera 32

Kovařovic: The Dogheads

Soloists

Prague radio orchestra and choir

František Dyk

Kovařovic is primarily remembered for his connection with Janáček: he conducted the 1916 Prague revival of Jenůfa, which did much to establish Janáček's international reputation. But in doing so he revised and re-orchestrated some of the work and for 60 years or so the opera was almost always heard in Kovařovic's version.

As a composer Kovařovic wrote several operas before his appointment as musical director of the Prague National Opera meant he had no more time to compose large scale works. This opera, about a rebellion against the Hapsburg forces in 1695 was his most popular work and remained on the fringes of the repertoire in the Czech lands for many years.  

It is quite an old-fashioned piece for an opera written at the very end of the 19th century. It feels, and sounds, like something from a generation earlier. It has all the apparatus of a French grand opera with lots of blood and thunder and, to be frank, little subtlety. But on its own terms it was enjoyable and clearly shows a composer who understood the theatre and the power of opera to convey emotion and fervour.

I can't imagine that it could ever make any headway outside the Czech lands, and is really now of historical interest only. But that doesn't make it any the less enjoyable as a one-off experience.

Blodek: In the Well

Opera 31

Blodek: In the well

Soloists

Prague National Theatre

Jan Štych

This was a delightful work. The obvious point of comparison is The Bartered Bride which was first performed around the same time and indeed has the same librettist. This is a lighthearted story about village life and love - the well is where young girls to to see an image of their future husband and the prospective suitor of the heroine hides in a tree above the well so that it is his reflection that is seen. Inevitably he falls into well, but all ends happily ever after.

The music is very much in the early romantic style of composers such as Lortzing with an overlay of  the Czech style familiar from Smetana and Dvóřak. It is a short piece which places few demands on the performers - John Tyrrell points out that the piece is often performed by amateurs and is still very much in the Czech operatic repertoire.