Important Info

Type: Opera

City: Saint Petersburg, Russia

Starts at: 18:00

Acts: 5

Intervals: 2

Duration: 4h 40min

Sung in: Russian

Titles in: English,Russian

Ticket delivery: E-Tickets

E-tickets: Print at home or at the box office of the event if so specified. You will find more information in your booking confirmation email.

Can I choose my seats?

You can only select the category, and not the exact seats.
If you order 2 or 3 tickets: your seats will be next to each other.
If you order 4 or more tickets: your seats will be next to each other, or, if this is not possible, we will provide a combination of groups of seats (at least in pairs, for example 2+2 or 2+3).

Cast

Performers

Orchestra: Mariinsky Orchestra

Chorus: Mariinsky Chorus

Creators

Composer: Igor Stravinsky

Composer: Modest Mussorgsky

Choreographer: Fyodor Lopukhov

Music Director: Valery Gergiev

Lighting Designer: Andrei Ponizovsky

Set Designer: Fyodor Fyodorovsky

Stage Director: Leonid Baratov

Musical Preparation: Marina Mishuk

Librettist: Modest Mussorgsky

Costume designer: Tatiana Noginova

Lighting Designer: Vladimir Lukasevich

Set Director: Vyacheslav Okunev

Lighting Designer: Yegor Kartashov

Stage Director: Yuri Alexandrov

Stage Director: Yuri Laptev

Overview

Ever since Musorgsky, as he himself declared, “filled in a jotter and called it Khovanshchina” (1872) the opera has been met with both good and bad luck. Musorgsky almost completed the piano score, omitting only a small fragment in the final scene of self-immolation. After the composer’s death the opera was completed and instrumented by Rimsky-Korsakov.

The path to international acclaim was very roundabout: most of Khovanshchina – repeating the fate of Boris Godunov – was performed in the version produced by Rimsky-Korsakov. While paying their respects to this version, starting in the 1950s musicians began to express their preference for the composer’s original score, lovingly restored by Pavel Lamm (1932) and the orchestral score of Dmitry Shostakovich (1959), the closest to Musorgsky’s original idea. In its day the Kirov Theatre was the first to turn to Shostakovich’s version (1960). In December 1988 with the arrival of Valery Gergiev as the theatre’s Artistic Director this production was revived. That was Gergiev’s first major artistic production in his new role.
And twenty-five years after the revival we are again – to use an expression of Musorgsky – “swimming in the waters of Khovanshchina”. Even over such a lengthy period the production has never changed – in terms of the music or the décor. Perhaps this is all due to the magnificent stage direction of Leonid Baratov (1952), an outstanding master of the stage who worked with the USSR’s greatest musical theatres.
The attention to realistic details and the scale of the crowd scenes gave his productions historic veracity and monumentality. Baratov’s Khovanshchina survived Rimsky-Korsakov’s version and the score by Shostakovich (Baratov himself then made minor amendments in terms of the production). For the Musorgsky Festival in 1989 the production was edited by stage director Emil Pasynkov, while Valery Gergiev refreshed musical perceptions, restoring the music that had been unjustifiably cut. The fabled sets by Fyodor Fedorovsky were also restored, continuing in the Soviet era the traditions of the great theatre designers Konstantin Korovin and Alexander Golovin. That stage version was subsequently revived by Yuri Alexandrov and Yuri Laptev (2000).
The Mariinsky Theatre’s repertoire retains the production dating back to the premiere of Khovanshchina at the Mariinsky in November 1911 (Stage Director and performer of the role of Dosifei – Fyodor Chaliapin; Conductor - Albert Coates; Designer – Konstantin Korovin).
It is pleasing that Khovanshchina, although not yet having achieved the same public acclaim as, say, The Queen of Spades or Eugene Onegin, is becoming a favourite of prima donnas and principals.
Yet another – almost the most important – “character” in the opera is the orchestra which sings, at times ideally intoning the vocal parts, the orchestra which towers over the plot of the introduction in Dawn over the River Moskva and the gloomy Golitsyn Train... “For me the sound of the orchestra in the final scene is much more important than all the props on-stage. Is it so very important if the schismatic monastery is on fire or not? I believe that here it is the orchestra that has to be on fire.” These words of Gergiev convey the atmosphere of creative fire that accompanies Khovanshchina at the Mariinsky Theatre.
Today the composer could say with more justification than ever “Today I live in Khovanshchina as I once lived in Boris and I’m still the same Musorgsky...” It’s an opera about age-old Russian sedition, current at all times.
Iosif Raiskin

History

Premiere of this production: 21 February 1886, Amateur Musical-Dramatic Club in Kononov Auditorium, St Petersburg

Khovanshchina is a folk musical drama (Opera) by modest Mussorgsky in five acts and six pictures based on his own libretto, based on historical events that occurred in Russia between 1682 and 1689.

Synopsis

Act I
Red Square in Moscow. Dawn. The boyar Shaklovity – a protégé of Tsarevna Sofia – is dictating an anonymous letter to Peter I in which he denounces the head of the streltsys (a privileged military core instituted by Ivan the Terrible) Ivan Khovansky for planning to place this son on the throne and re-establish the old order in Russia. At the same time, the streltsys scouts praise themselves for their recent victory over the loathsome boyars. In memory of these bloody events a column is erected on the square onto which the names of the executed are carved. Strangers just arriving halt at the column. They make the scrivener read out the words to them. In gloomy contemplation they are struck down by the thought of sedition and the streltsys’ despotism.
To welcoming cries from the streltsy Prince Ivan Khovansky appears. He is followed by his son Andrei who is pursuing his love for Emma, a girl from the German sloboda. Through his promises and threats he will win Emma’s love. Marfa, Andrei’s new sweetheart, comes to her defence. Returning, Ivan Khovansky witnesses this scene. He himself has taken a fancy to Emma, but Andrei is ready to kill her rather than let his father have her. The knife held over the girl is imperiously removed by Dosifei, the leader of the dissenters.

Act II
The study of Prince Vasily Golitsyn, the favourite of Tsarevna Sofia. The Prince is immersed in gloomy thoughts and he is seized by a fear of the future.
The pastor from the German sloboda comes to him with a complaint about the Khovanskys’ arbitrariness, but the Prince does not with to hear him.
Marfa comes into the chamber through a secret door. Under the guise of a fortune-teller, Marfa predicts the Prince will face disgrace. Superstitious, Golitsyn is left confused. In order to keep the prophesy a secret he orders a servant to kill the fortune-teller, but Marfa manages to conceal herself.
At Golitsyn’s house the opponents of Peter I have assembled. Golitsyn and Khovansky’s talk of hidden rivals who hate and fear one another develops into a quarrel which is terminated by Dosifei. He orders them to control their arrogant pride and think of the salvation of Russia. Perturbed, Marfa runs in. She tells of the attempt on her life and her miraculous salvation thanks to a soldier of the young Tsar Peter. The conspirators hear this name in fear. But there is yet more disturbing news, brought to them by Shaklovity: the Tsar has learned of the plot branded it “the Khovansky Affair” and decreed that it be investigated.

Act III
Marfa has come to the Khovanskys’ house not far from the River Moskva. She feels Prince Andrei’s betrayal deeply. Dosifei, comforting her, takes her away with him.
Having woken up, the drunken streltsy give free reign to riotous and reckless merriment. It is interrupted by the scrivener who is frightened to death. A disaster has occurred: mercilessly killing the residents of the sloboda, Peter’s army is advancing. The streltsy are stunned. They ask Khovansky to lead the troops onto the battlefield. Fearing Peter, however, the Prince orders the streltsy to submit and go home.

Act IV
Scene 1
Golitsyn’s servant warns Khovansky, who has taken refuge at his estate near Moscow, that his life is in danger. Khovansky explodes in fury – who would dare touch him on his own lands? Shaklovity appears with an invitation from Tsarevna Sofia to a secret rendezvous. Khovansky orders his ceremonial clothes be put on. But as soon as the Prince leaves the chamber Shaklovity’s mercenary stabs him with a dagger.

Scene 2
Punishment awaits the other conspirators, too: Prince Golitsyn is sent into exile under escort and guards are given the order to surround the dissenters’ monastery. Andrei Khovansky alone knows nothing of the plot’s failure. He does not believe Marfa, who tells him about the murder of his father, and in vain blows into a horn, calling his regiment. However, when he sees the streltsys being led to their deaths, Andrei understands that all is over and in terror he asks Marfa to save him.
The streltsys are already bowing their heads on the executioner’s blocks, but at the very last minute the boyar Streshnev declares a decree of pardon, having been sent by Peter.

Act V
A clearing deep in the forest. Alone, Dosifei laments. He admits the dissenters are doomed. Filled with bold determination he turns to the brotherhood and calls on them to burn in fire in the name of Holy Truth. The sounds of trumpets can be heard from the forest. The dissenters enter the monastery with a prayer and set light to themselves. Along with the whole fraternity, Andrei also perishes, drawn into the flames by Marfa who dreamt of being united with her beloved in death.

Time: The year 1682
Place: Moscow

In some performances and recordings of the opera some segments are deleted, depending on the interpretation of the original notes, which are described in.

Act 1
Moscow, Red Square

In the morning in the Red Square, a member of the Streltsy (named Kuzka) sings his drunkenness off while two other Streltsy talk about their rowdy activities the night before. A scribe arrives; they all pick on him and then leave. Shaklovity, a Boyar and agent for the regent and the Tsars, enters and dictates a letter to the court, warning of a rebellion planned by Prince Ivan Khovansky (captain of the Streltsy Guards) and the Old Believers. After finishing the letter he warns the scribe not to repeat what he heard. The scribe, terrified by the prospect of being involved in a political intrigue, signs the letter with a false name. [The crowd enters and they force the scribe to read a new proclamation that has been published in the public square, which describes the atrocities committed by the Streltsy.] The crowd laments the state of Russia. Prince Ivan Khovansky enters promising an adoring crowd that he will defend the "young Tsars" (Ivan V and Peter I). He and the crowd exit.

Prince Andrey, Khovansky's son, chases in Emma, a German girl, intending to assault her. Marfa, an Old Believer and Andrey's former fiancée, interferes. Andrey threatens to kill Marfa, but Prince Ivan returns and decides to capture Emma himself. The ensuing quarrel between father and son is interrupted by the arrival of Dosifey, the leader of the Old Believers. Dosifey berates everyone for being so quarrelsome and un-Christian, and asks them all to join the Old Believers in reuniting Russia. Prince Ivan Khovansky leaves with Prince Andrey Khovansky. Marfa leaves with Emma. Dosifey, left alone, prays for the future of Russia.

Act 2
Summer study of Prince Vasily Golitsin

Golitsin, a nervous progressive nobleman, reads letters from his lover [and his mother, who warns him to keep himself pure]. [A German Lutheran pastor enters to complain of the murder of one of the scribes in his community by the Streltsy and Prince Andrey Khovansky's pursuit of Emma. Prince Golitsin tries to appease the pastor and offers some form of political advantage that the pastor promises to collect later, although Golitsin flatly refuses to let him build another church; then the Prince wonders about the true motives behind the pastor's actions]. The Prince hires Marfa to tell his fortune in secret. She predicts that he will fall from power and face exile; he dismisses her and orders his servant to kill her. Once alone he ponders on all the acts that he has made to advance Russia, but is interrupted when Prince Ivan Khovansky enters without being announced. (Ivan is ironically disrespecting Golitsin, who himself reformed the tradition of announcing noble visitors.) Prince Khovansky complains that Golitsin has been interfering with his friends in the nobility and diminishing the privileges of nobility, and states that only Tartars believe that all men are equal, and questions whether Russia shall become "tartarized". A quarrel ensues, [each making insulting remarks about the other's military campaigns,] but Dosifey enters and draws their attention away from their argument by criticising both of them: Golitsin for his modern views, and Prince Ivan for letting the Streltsy get drunk and run around making trouble all the time. [ In the discussion with Dosifey it turns out that he was once Prince Myshetsky who renounced all worldly matters, to which Prince Ivan Khovansky says that a Prince must die a Prince.] Marfa comes back, there has been an attempt on her life but she was saved by the Petrovskiy (the Tsar's personal army). After her enters Shaklovity, who menacingly announces that the Tsar has been warned of the planned rebellion and has issued orders to arrest the Princes Khovansky. Without resolving the drama, the act ends.

Act 3
The Streltsy Quarter, south of the Moscow River

As Old Believers chant a hymn for the future of Russia, Marfa sings of her lost love for Prince Andrey Khovansky. [Susanna, a fellow Old Believer, scolds Marfa until Dosifey appears and drives Susanna away.] Marfa admits to Dosifey that she still loves Prince Andrey Khovansky. Dosifey tells her to pray for relief. They exit and Shaklovity, who until now had been presented as a purely threatening character, sings a haunting prayer for troubled Russia's protection from the Streltsy (he refers to them as "mercenaries") and from the rebellious powers they obey. Hearing them coming he exits; some of the Streltsy enter and sing a drinking chorus followed by their wives who scold them about their drinking. [The soldiers ask Kuzka to help them with their wives; he ends up organizing an entire celebration with all the Streltsy and their women.] The scribe arrives and informs them that Tsar Peter's troops have initiated an attack on Streltsy—Russian soldiers. The Streltsy call their leader, Prince Ivan Khovansky, who enters and begs their forgiveness for declining to lead them into retaliation; the new Tsar is very powerful, he explains, and their time of power is over.

Act 4
Scene 1: A richly furnished chamber in Prince Ivan Khovansky's palace

Prince Ivan Khovansky is being entertained by the women in his retinue but they are interrupted by a servant of Golitsin (Varsonofyev) who has come to warn him that he is in danger. Prince Ivan Khovansky ignores the warning and has the messenger flogged. He orders his Persian slaves to dance for him. Shaklovity enters and stabs Khovansky to death. Shaklovity scornfully imitates the servants' song over the Prince's corpse.

Scene 2: Moscow. The square before the Cathedral of Vasiliy the Blessed

Prince Golitsin is led into exile. Dosifey mourns the conspirators' downfall and the success of Tsar Peter and learns that the Imperial Council has decreed that the Old Believers are next. He discusses with Marfa that an everlasting example must be set by the Old Believers and agree that they shall immolate themselves. Prince Andrey Khovansky enters and confronts Marfa about where she hid Emma, but Marfa tells him that she is safely on her way back to Germany, her father and fiancé. Prince Andrey Khovansky threatens that he will have her burnt as a witch and calls for the Streltsy with his horn but instead a menacing sound is heard. Marfa offers sanctuary to Prince Andrey Khovansky with the Old Believers after she tells him of his father's murder. The Streltsy are led to their execution. Tsar Peter, through an agent, intervenes to pardon them.

Act 5
A pine forest, a secluded monastery, a moonlit night

Dosifey and his followers have taken refuge in a hermitage in the forest. Although he is weighed down by the sorrows and sufferings of the brethren, he remains defiant and determined to win a "crown of glory" in fire and flame ("Here, in this holy place"). He exhorts the brethren to don white clothing and light candles, preparing for immolation. They enter the hermitage. Prince Andrey Khovansky enters, singing of his lost love, still seeking Emma. Marfa sings to him, reminding him of their own love, and assuring him that she will not leave him. Dosifey and the brethren return, dressed in white and carrying candles. They build a funeral pyre. Offstage trumpet calls herald the approach of Tsar Peter's soldiers. Marfa sings to Andrey of the hopelessness of their situation. The trumpet calls sound again. Dosifey exhorts the brethren to remain strong one last time. Marfa lights the pyre. The schismatics sing a final hymn ("God will save me"). As Dosifey, Marfa, Prince Andrey Khovansky, and the Old Believers perish in the flames, [Tsar Peter's Preobrazhensky soldiers arrive in a vain attempt to capture them.]

Mussorgsky's original vocal score remained unfinished. The final portion of the libretto must be reconstructed from Mussorgsky's themes. The Rimsky-Korsakov edition (1883) adds to the final hymn figures representing flames, trumpet fanfares, and a final reprise of the "March of the Preobrazhensky Regiment" that concludes Act 4. The Stravinsky version of the finale (1913) follows Mussorgsky's notes more closely regarding the key of the chant (A-flat minor) and that the ending must fade away. The Shostakovich version attempts to provide a musical conclusion of the opera by bringing back the theme of the sunrise from the Prelude to the opera.

Venue Info

Mariinsky Theatre - Saint Petersburg
1 Theatre Square

The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. Through most of the Soviet era, it was known as the Kirov Theatre. Today, the Mariinsky Theatre is home to the Mariinsky Ballet, Mariinsky Opera and Mariinsky Orchestra. Since Yuri Temirkanov's retirement in 1988, the conductor Valery Gergiev has served as the theatre's general director.

The theatre is named after Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Tsar Alexander II. There is a bust of the Empress in the main entrance foyer. The theatre's name has changed throughout its history, reflecting the political climate of the time.

The theatre building is commonly called the Mariinsky Theatre. The companies that operate within it have for brand recognition purposes retained the Kirov name, acquired during the Soviet era to commemorate the assassinated Leningrad Communist Party leader Sergey Kirov (1886–1934).

The Imperial drama, opera and ballet troupe in Saint Petersburg was established in 1783, at the behest of Catherine the Great, although an Italian ballet troupe had performed at the Russian court since the early 18th century. Originally, the ballet and opera performances were given in the wooden Karl Knipper Theatre on Tsaritsa Meadow, near the present-day Tripartite Bridge (also known as the Little Theatre or the Maly Theatre). The Hermitage Theatre, next door to the Winter Palace, was used to host performances for an elite audience of aristocratic guests invited by the Empress.

A permanent theatre building for the new company of opera and ballet artists was designed by Antonio Rinaldi and opened in 1783. Known as the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre the structure was situated on Carousel Square, which was renamed Theatre Square in honour of the building. Both names – "Kamenny" (Russian word for "stone") and "Bolshoi" (Russian word for "big") – were coined to distinguish it from the wooden Little Theatre. In 1836, the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre was renovated to a design by Albert Cavos (son of Catterino Cavos, an opera composer), and served as the principal theatre of the Imperial Ballet and opera.

On 29 January 1849, the Equestrian circus (Конный цирк) opened on Theatre Square. This was also the work of the architect Cavos. The building was designed to double as a theatre. It was a wooden structure in the then-fashionable neo-Byzantine style. Ten years later, when this circus burnt down, Albert Cavos rebuilt it as an opera and ballet house with the largest stage in the world. With a seating capacity of 1,625 and a U-shaped Italian-style auditorium, the theatre opened on 2 October 1860, with a performance of A Life for the Tsar. The new theatre was named Mariinsky after its imperial patroness, Empress Maria Alexandrovna.

Under Yuri Temirkanov, Principal Conductor from 1976 to 1988, the Opera Company continued to stage innovative productions of both modern and classic Russian operas. Although functioning separately from the Theatre’s Ballet Company, since 1988 both companies have been under the artistic leadership of Valery Gergiev as Artistic Director of the entire Theatre.

The Opera Company has entered a new era of artistic excellence and creativity. Since 1993, Gergiev’s impact on opera there has been enormous. Firstly, he reorganized the company’s operations and established links with many of the world's great opera houses, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, the Opéra Bastille, La Scala, La Fenice, the Israeli Opera, the Washington National Opera and the San Francisco Opera. Today, the Opera Company regularly tours to most of these cities.

Gergiev has also been innovative as far as Russian opera is concerned: in 1989, there was an all-Mussorgsky festival featuring the composer’s entire operatic output. Similarly, many of Prokofiev’s operas were presented from the late 1990s. Operas by non-Russian composers began to be performed in their original languages, which helped the Opera Company to incorporate world trends. The annual international "Stars of the White Nights Festival" in Saint Petersburg, started by Gergiev in 1993, has also put the Mariinsky on the world’s cultural map. That year, as a salute to the imperial origins of the Mariinsky, Verdi's La forza del destino, which received its premiere in Saint Petersburg in 1862, was produced with its original sets, costumes and scenery. Since then, it has become a characteristic of the "White Nights Festival" to present the premieres from the company’s upcoming season during this magical period, when the hours of darkness practically disappear as the summer solstice approaches.

Presently, the Company lists on its roster 22 sopranos (of whom Anna Netrebko may be the best known); 13 mezzo-sopranos (with Olga Borodina familiar to US and European audiences); 23 tenors; eight baritones; and 14 basses. With Gergiev in charge overall, there is a Head of Stage Administration, a Stage Director, Stage Managers and Assistants, along with 14 accompanists.

Khovanshchina

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Mariinsky Theatre - Saint Petersburg 1 Theatre Square

Mariinsky Theatre - Saint Petersburg
1 Theatre Square