Program Twelve
The Tsar’s Bride

About the Program

No 19th-century composer contributed more substantially to Russia’s opera repertoire than Rimsky-Korsakov, who wrote 15 examples of the genre. In many cases, like The Snow Maiden and Le coq d’or, he drew primarily on fantasy material. For his tenth opera, however, he combined the fantastic with the historical, turning to the so-called Time of Troubles, the same period of Russian history that inspired Boris Godunov and SummerScape 2017’s Dimitrij. Based on a play by Lev Mey, The Tsar’s Bride depicts Ivan the Terrible and merchant’s daughter Marfa, whom he chooses from among thousands of pretty girls. However, she is already in love with another and subject to the unwanted attentions of a third, who attempts to give her a love potion. When poison is substituted, and the man she loves is blamed and executed, Marfa loses her mind, providing the opera with a bona fide mad scene. Although the familiarSlava anthem functions throughout as a leitmotif, Rimsky-Korsakov explained that he intended The Tsar’s Bride as a reaction against Wagner’s ideas, and aimed for “cantilena par excellence.” This proved successful in his homeland, where the opera was warmly welcomed at its premiere, and has remained in regular rotation ever since. In the West, by contrast, revivals are rare. Yet The Tsar’s Bride is “an upfront rumbustious melodrama, packed with big tunes and thrilling climaxes” (The Telegraph, UK), offers “a compelling study of power and powerlessness” (The Independent, UK), and has “one of the most lyrical of all Rimsky-Korsakov scores” (New York Times). Presenting the opera with a strong cast supported by the Bard Festival Chorale and The Orchestra Now, Program 12 makes a riveting end to Bard’s probing and far-reaching festival.

Bard Music Festival Presents

Program Twelve
The Tsar’s Bride

3:30 pm Preconcert Talk
4:30 pm Performance: Lyubov Petrova, soprano; Nadezhda Babintseva, mezzo-soprano; Yefim Zavalniy, baritone; Andrey Valentiy, bass; Yakov Strizhak, bass; Joel Sorensen, tenor; Gerard Schneider, tenor; Teresa Buchholz, mezzo-soprano, and others; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; The Orchestra Now, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director; designed and directed by Doug Fitch; lighting design by Anshuman Bhatia
 
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
   The Tsar’s Bride (1898)

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