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Zhenitba
Zhenitba (Russian: Женитьба, Zhenit'ba, Marriage) is an unfinished opera begun in 1868 by Modest Mussorgsky to his own libretto based on Nikolai Gogol's comedy Marriage. This 1842 play is a satire of courtship and cowardice, which centres on a young woman, Agafya, who is wooed by four bachelors, each with his own idiosyncrasies.
The idea to set Gogol's Marriage to music came from the advice and influence of Alexander Dargomyzhsky, who began to compose his own experimental opera, The Stone Guest, to Alexander Pushkin's tragedy just two years earlier (in 1866). Dargomyzhsky declared that the text would be set "just as it stands, so that the inner truth of the text should not be distorted",[citation needed] and in a manner that abolished the 'unrealistic' division between aria and recitative in favour of a continuous mode of syllabic but lyrically heightened declamation somewhere between the two.
In 1868, Mussorgsky rapidly set the first eleven scenes of Zhenitba, with his priority being to render into music the natural accents and patterns of the play's naturalistic and deliberately humdrum dialogue. Mussorgsky's aim was to create individual musical signatures for each character using the natural rhythms of the text. The composer noted:
The first act was completed in 1868 in a vocal score and the composer noted, that summer:
The score is inscribed with the following details: "The work began on Tuesday, June 11, 1868 in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), and was finished on Tuesday, July 8, 1868 in the village Shilovo, Tula Oblast."[citation needed]
The Marriage was one of Mussorgsky's first musical masterpieces. According to one critic, it was an experiment in Russian opera that used "satirical, grotesque musical language, with all its jolting contrasts and exaggerations, when the composer, in the best Russian-Petersburg tradition, mocks his characters but at the same time 'weeps' over them."
An early performance with Mussorgsky's participation took place in 1868 in the home of César Cui. Nadezhda Purgold accompanied on the piano. The cast included Modest Mussorgsky (Podkolyosin), Alexander Dargomyzhsky (Kochkaryov), Aleksandra Purgold (Fyokla Ivanovna), and Konstantin Velyaminov (Stepan). Aleksandra Purgold (later Molas) was the sister of Nadezhda Purgold (later Rimskaya-Korsakova).
A later private performance took place in the home of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Nadezhda Purgold was now Nadezhda Rimskaya-Korsakova, through marriage to the composer; she again accompanied on the piano. The cast included Sigizmund Blumenfeld (Podkolyosin), A. P. Sandulenko (Kochkaryov), Sonya Rimskaya-Korsakova (Fyokla Ivanovna), and Gury Stravinsky (Stepan). Sigizmund Blumenfeld was the brother of conductor Felix Blumenfeld, Sonya Rimskaya-Korsakova was the daughter of Nikolai and Nadezhda Rimsky-Korsakov, and Gury Stravinsky was the brother of composer Igor Stravinsky.
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Zhenitba
Zhenitba (Russian: Женитьба, Zhenit'ba, Marriage) is an unfinished opera begun in 1868 by Modest Mussorgsky to his own libretto based on Nikolai Gogol's comedy Marriage. This 1842 play is a satire of courtship and cowardice, which centres on a young woman, Agafya, who is wooed by four bachelors, each with his own idiosyncrasies.
The idea to set Gogol's Marriage to music came from the advice and influence of Alexander Dargomyzhsky, who began to compose his own experimental opera, The Stone Guest, to Alexander Pushkin's tragedy just two years earlier (in 1866). Dargomyzhsky declared that the text would be set "just as it stands, so that the inner truth of the text should not be distorted",[citation needed] and in a manner that abolished the 'unrealistic' division between aria and recitative in favour of a continuous mode of syllabic but lyrically heightened declamation somewhere between the two.
In 1868, Mussorgsky rapidly set the first eleven scenes of Zhenitba, with his priority being to render into music the natural accents and patterns of the play's naturalistic and deliberately humdrum dialogue. Mussorgsky's aim was to create individual musical signatures for each character using the natural rhythms of the text. The composer noted:
The first act was completed in 1868 in a vocal score and the composer noted, that summer:
The score is inscribed with the following details: "The work began on Tuesday, June 11, 1868 in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), and was finished on Tuesday, July 8, 1868 in the village Shilovo, Tula Oblast."[citation needed]
The Marriage was one of Mussorgsky's first musical masterpieces. According to one critic, it was an experiment in Russian opera that used "satirical, grotesque musical language, with all its jolting contrasts and exaggerations, when the composer, in the best Russian-Petersburg tradition, mocks his characters but at the same time 'weeps' over them."
An early performance with Mussorgsky's participation took place in 1868 in the home of César Cui. Nadezhda Purgold accompanied on the piano. The cast included Modest Mussorgsky (Podkolyosin), Alexander Dargomyzhsky (Kochkaryov), Aleksandra Purgold (Fyokla Ivanovna), and Konstantin Velyaminov (Stepan). Aleksandra Purgold (later Molas) was the sister of Nadezhda Purgold (later Rimskaya-Korsakova).
A later private performance took place in the home of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Nadezhda Purgold was now Nadezhda Rimskaya-Korsakova, through marriage to the composer; she again accompanied on the piano. The cast included Sigizmund Blumenfeld (Podkolyosin), A. P. Sandulenko (Kochkaryov), Sonya Rimskaya-Korsakova (Fyokla Ivanovna), and Gury Stravinsky (Stepan). Sigizmund Blumenfeld was the brother of conductor Felix Blumenfeld, Sonya Rimskaya-Korsakova was the daughter of Nikolai and Nadezhda Rimsky-Korsakov, and Gury Stravinsky was the brother of composer Igor Stravinsky.
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