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Khovanshchina, Act I: Introduction (Dawn over the Moscow River)
Composers:- Mussorgsky, Modest
- Rimsky-Korsakov, Nicolai
Duration: 5
Description:
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881) began working on the ‘national music drama’ KHOVANSHCHINA (THE KHOVANSKY AFFAIR) in 1872 and up through 1880, although the piano score remained barely unfinished at the time of his death. Writing the libretto himself based on historical sources, Mussorgsky’s opera in five acts relates the 1682 rebellion of Prince Ivan Khovansky and the Old Believers against the regent Sofia Alekseyevna and the two young joint Tsars Peter the Great and Ivan V. As the work was almost wholly in piano score format when the composer died, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov undertook to complete, revise, and orchestrate the opera between 1881 and 1882. The world premiere of the Rimsky-Korsakov orchestration took place in St. Petersburg on February 21, 1886, presented by artists of the Russian Opera Society. The INTRODUCTION to Act I, subtitled DAWN OVER THE MOSCOW RIVER, prepares the scene before a drunken Streltsy (the decommissioned elite soldiers fanatically loyal to Prince Ivan Khovansky) named Kuzka enters the Red Square and begins to sing. Instrumentation: 2.2.2.2: 4.0.0.0: Timp.Perc(1): Hp: Str (9.8.7.6.5 in set). Reprint edition.
