Mozart and Salieri, an opera in one act consisting of two scenes.
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), composer. Libretto derived from Alexander Puskhin's play of the same name.
First performance: 7 December 1898 in Moscow.
Ariadne auf Naxos, Oper with a prologue and one act. Music composed by Richard Strauss. Libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.
La Vestale, a tragédie lyrique in three acts.
Boris Godunov, an opera in four acts with prologue
Modest Mussorgsky, composer. Libretto by the composer, based on Alexander Pushkin's drama Boris Godunov and Nikolai Karamazin's History of the Russian Empire
First performance: 8 February 1874 at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg
Il Trovatore, dramma in four parts.
Only a few months following the premiere of Der Rosenkavalier, Hugo von Hofmannsthal proposed a new opera to Richard Strauss based on Molière’s comedy-ballet, Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (in German, Der Bürger als Edelmann).
Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Singspiel in 3 Acts.
Music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). Libretto by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger, based on an earlier libretto by
Christoph Friedrich Bretzner.
Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Singspiel in 3 Acts.
Music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). Libretto by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger, based on an earlier libretto by
Christoph Friedrich Bretzner.
Arabella: Lyrische Komödie in three acts
Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Singspiel in 3 Acts.
Music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). Libretto by Johann Gottlieb Stephanie the Younger, based on an earlier libretto by
Christoph Friedrich Bretzner.
La Gioconda, dramma lirico in four acts.
Music composed by Amilcare Ponchielli (1834–1886). Libretto by Arrigo Boito (under the pseudonym Tobia Gorrio), based upon Victor Hugo's Angelo, Tyrant of Padua (1835).
Don Carlo, an opera in four acts. Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901). Libretto by Joseph Méry and Camille Du Locle after Friedrich von Schiller’s dramatic poem Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien. Revised version in four acts (French text revised by Du Locle, Italian translation by Achille de Lauzières and Angelo Zanardini).
Un ballo in maschera, a melodramma in three acts.
Music composed by Giuseppe Verdi. Libretto by Antonio Somma, based upon the work of Eugène Scribe Gustave III ou Le bal masqué (1833)
Medea: Melodramma tragico in three acts.
Die Tote Stadt, an opera in three acts.
Music composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957). Libretto by Paul Schott (Julius and E. W. Korngold) after the novel Bruges la morte by Georges Rodenbach.
Manon Lescaut, dramma lirico in quattro atti
Elektra: Tragedy in one act.
Una cosa rara, ossia Bellezza ed onestà. Dramma giocoso in two acts.
Music composed by Vicente Martín y Soler (1754–1806). Libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte from the comedy La luna de la Sierra by Luis Vélez de Guevara.
Hamlet: Opéra in five acts. Music composed by Ambroise Thomas. Libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier after The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by William Shakespeare.
Das Liebesverbot: Grosse komische Oper in two acts.
![Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) [Source: Wikipedia]](http://www.operatoday.com/Modest_M%C3%BAsorgski%2C_por_Ili%C3%A1_Repin.png)
Boris Godunov, an opera in four acts with prologue
Modest Mussorgsky, composer. Libretto by the composer, based on Alexander Pushkin's drama Boris Godunov and Nikolai Karamazin's History of the Russian Empire
First performance: 8 February 1874 at the Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg
Streaming Audio
Principal Characters
| Boris Godunov | Baritone |
| Fyodor, his son | Mezzo-soprano |
| Xenia, his daughter | Soprano |
| Xenia's nurse | Low mezzo-soprano |
| Prince Vasiliĭ Ivanovič Shuĭskiĭ | Tenor |
| Andreĭ Ščelkalov, council secretary | Baritone |
| Pimen, chronicler, anchorite | Bass |
| Pretender (False Dimitriĭ, Grigoriĭ) | Tenor |
| Marina Mnishek, daughter of the governor of Sandomir | Mezzo-soprano or dramatic soprano |
| Rangoni, conspiratorial Jesuit | Bass |
| Varlaam, itinerant monk | Bass |
| Misail, itinerant monk | Tenor |
| Hostess of the inn | Mezzo-soprano |
| Simpleton (Yurodivyĭ) | Tenor |
| Mikitič, police officer | Bass |
Time and Place
1598-1605, Russia and Poland
Summary
Boris Godunov, the regent of the young Tsar Fyodor, has arranged the assasination of the Tsar's half-brother and heir Dimitriĭ, in order to seize power. When the Tsar himself dies Boris pretends to decline the crown, but his agents incite the Muscovite crowd to acclaim him as the new Tsar. Though racked with guilt, Boris is crowned. In the monastery of Chudov an old monk Pimen is writing a chronicle of Russia. He tells his novice Grigoriĭ of the history surrounding Boris, and Grigoriĭ resolves to avenge the murdered Dimitriĭ. Leaving the monastery Grigoriĭ claims to be the dead Tsarevich and with two vagabond friars Varlaam and Misail escapes across the border into Lithuania. In his Kremlin rooms Boris learns of the pretender. His councillor Shuĭskiĭ aims to reassure him by recounting the murder of Dimitriĭ but this throws Boris into a state of hallucination.
In Poland, Grigoriĭ's lover Marina dreams of becoming tsarina and her Jesuit confessor Rangoni exhorts her to support the Catholic cause. Marina joins Grigoriĭ in a moonlit rendezvous and she drives him forward with his ambitions.
In the Kromy forest the people are in disordered revolt against Boris but rally behind Grigoriĭ's call to follow him to Moscow. A simpleton is left behind bewailing the fate of the Russian people. The boyars hold an emergency meeting in the council hall in Moscow and Shuĭskiĭ describes the Tsar's unstable mental state, confirmed when Boris enters. Pimen arrives to describe a miraculous cure performed at the tomb of Dimitriĭ, causing the Tsar to collapse. Boris bids farewell to his son, prays for Russia, and dies.
Schematic (Rimsky-Korsakov Edition, 1908)
| Prologue | |
| Scene 1. | At the Novodeviči Cloister |
| Chorus of Wandering Holy Beggars | |
| Scene 2. | Kremlin. Coronation |
| Act I | |
| Scene 1. | Monk's Cell. Night |
| Scene 2. | Inn near the Lithuanian Border |
| Hostess' Song | |
| Varlaam's Song | |
| Act II | |
| In Boris' Apartment | |
| Song about the Gnat | |
| Clapping Game | |
| Boris' Recitative and Aria | |
| Chiming Clock | |
| Act III | |
| Scene 1. | Marina's Boudoir. Chorus of Girls of Sandomir |
| Marina's Aria | |
| Scene 2. | Night, Garden, Fountain |
| Polonaise with Chorus | |
| Duet | |
| Act IV | |
| Scene 1. | Near Kromy |
| Scene 2. | Session of the Council of Boyars. Death of Boris |
| Pimen's Narrative |
