folk-song in russian opera of the 18th century

Folk-Song in Russian Opera of the 18th CenturyAuthor(s): Gerald SeamanSource: The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 41, No. 96 (Dec., 1962), pp. 144-157Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4205422 .

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Folk-song in Russian

Opera

of the 18th Century

GERALD SEAMAN

Russian opera first arose as comic opera in the last third of the 18 th

century and from its very first appearance in 1779 showed strong links with Russian folk lore and folk musical creation.1 This factor

instantly differentiates it from all other genres of the same period, which were very much under the influence of pseudo-classicism, whether in the field of painting, literature, architecture or

sculpture. About 100 operas were created in the course of the last

years of the 18th century, but of these the music of only thirty (mostly

surviving in the form of manuscript scores or orchestral parts)2 has

come down to us, of which fifteen make use of Russian or Ukrainian

folk music. Although several of the composers of Russian operas of the

18th century were foreigners, nevertheless, they too made use of folk

material in order to give their music national colouring. The last decades of the 18th century were a momentous period in

Russian history in that they marked an ever-increasing awareness of

the horrors of serfdom and the fate of the peasantry. Commencing in

1773, the year of the Pugachov rebellion, one finds an unbroken

series of literary productions having as their theme the fate of the

Russian peasantry, the exposure of brutal treatment by cruel or

avaricious landowners and the exploitation of the serfs. These

themes appear in the works of such writers as Fonvizin and Novikov, the satirist Krylov, the revolutionary Radishchev, and the aristocratic

liberal writers Nikolev and Knyazhnin. The principal themes of the

libretti may be divided into five categories: (i) 'drama s golosami'

(i.e. a play with music to be sung to stipulated folk tunes, e.g. Rozana i

Lyubim); (ii) grotesque buffonade (e.g. Neschast'ye ot karety); (iii) folk

vaudeville (e.g. Mel'nik-kolduri); (iv) satirical comedy (e.g. Skupoy);

(v) fantastic opera (e.g. Ivan Tsarevich).

Very often such operas (all of which consisted of musical items

interpolated with spoken dialogue) were concerned with some sort of

satire, a typical example being that of Gallomania in 'The Misfor-

1 It is a striking fact that the great interest shown in folk lore at this period in Russia was mirrored by similar tendencies in the west: e.g. Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (i 765), John Brandt's Observations on the popular antiquities of the British Isles (1777) and Herder's Stimmen der Volker in Liedern (1778). 2 Only 4 vocal scores were published in the 18th century?Derevenskaya vorozheya, Fevey, Gore-bogatyr Kosometovich and the ballet Didona. Of these, only one?Fevey?was by a Russian composer. One opera?NachaVncye upravleniye Olega?was published in score. During the 19th century, three more vocal scores were issued by Jurgenson?Mel'nik- koldun, Fedul s detfmi and Amerikantsy.



FOLK-SONG IN RUSSIAN OPERA I45

tunes of Having a Carriage' or the exposure of the rapacity of

merchants in 'The St Petersburg Bazaar'. In such operas it was not

uncommon for composers to introduce genuine street cries from every?

day life in order to give greater realism to the music. Folk-songs were

often employed in order to give a character folk colouring. In the case

of Catherine H's libretti?for Catherine herself was a prolific writer

?this, however, often degenerated into mere caricature, but in the

hands of skilled librettists and musicians such as Matinsky, peasant

figures were sometimes raised to tragic heights. Characterisation of

peasant figures is especially prominent in the first Russian opera of

importance to come down to us?'The Miller-Magician' of 1779, where each of the main characters?the Miller, Filimon, Anyuta, is

given appropriate folk melodies.

In the course of only twenty years, from its beginnings until the

turn of the century, Russian opera underwent a very great change.

Although it came into being as a fully-fledged genre, in the first folk

operas there is an uncertainty in the choice of songs, the majority of

which were taken from town folk lore.3 This is particularly true of the

work of foreign composers living in Russia who, in some cases, did

not even know the Russian language, and employed (sometimes quite

inappropriately) folk melodies simply as thematic material, being

utterly indifferent to their aesthetic, rhythmic, melodic or modal

properties. However, in the works of the best composers?Pashkevich,

Matinsky, Fomin?not only is the selection of folk-songs more

skilful, in many cases not being drawn from folk-song collections but

consisting of melodies written down by the composer from real folk

performers, but the arrangements are made with care and under?

standing. In the works of at least two composers, attempts are made to

suggest folk 'podgolosnaya' polyphony, while many composers

attempted with success to write music in the folk idiom. Noticeable in

the first Russian operas is the fact that folk-songs rarely undergo

development in the course of a work. Rather, having been introduced

once, folk themes are often played time and time again with varied orchestration or against 'changing harmonic backgrounds'?a device

that was brought to perfection by Glinka. Use of folk-songs in en?

sembles is extremely rare. Folk colouring, likewise, is sometimes

detectable only in the overture to an opera, the rest of the work

making no use of folk material. However, this is more characteristic

of those operas written by foreign composers resident in Russia than

in the work of purely Russian composers. Especially characteristic of

the musical creation of the best Russian composers is the employment of folk ritual scenes?particularly that of the wedding ritual, out-

3 There was considerable difference between authentic peasant melodies and the way in which they underwent transformation when sung or performed in the town.



I46 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW

standing examples of which occur in 'The Miller-Magician' and 'The

St Petersburg Bazaar'. The greatest Russian composer at the end of

the 18th century is Fomin, whose understanding of folk music was

unequalled till the time of Glinka.

The first two Russian operas by native composers appeared in the

year 1772. These were Anyuta by M. Popov4 and Lyubovnik koldun (The Lover Magician) of which we know neither the composer nor the

librettist.5 The music of both productions is lost. From a study of the

libretto,6 it becomes apparent that the author of Anyuta was opposed to serfdom, while the fact that the characters are taken from peasant life suggests that it probably employed folk music. This is further

confirmed by the fact that several of the vocal numbers begin with

actual quotations from folk-song, such as:

'Belolitsa, krugolitsa,

Krasnaya devitsa!

Issushila, sokrushila, Sertso nadsadila . . .'

One can form a clearer impression of the music of Lyubovnik koldun

than of Anyuta because the greater part of the songs (14 out of 24) are specifically marked 'golosa'?in other words, are set to established

folk tunes or popular melodies. The other vocal numbers, which are

not allotted definite folk tunes, could easily be fitted to similar folk

melodies according to their structure.7

The first Russian opera to be preserved in its entirety is Zorin's

Pererozhdeniye (The Rebirth), which was given its first performance on

4 Mikhail Vasil'evich Popov (1742-c. 1790), a native of Yaroslavl, was originally an actor in the troupe of F. G. Volkov, the founder of the Russian theatre, but having abandoned the stage, he became a celebrated litterateur, composing plays and verse. He was also a contributor to the Drevneye slavenskoye yazycheskoye basnosloviye, a collection of games and dances by Chulkov and Popov, taken from folklore (see T. Livanova, Russkaya muzykaVnaya kultura XVIII veka, 2 vols., Moscow, 1952, 1953, vol. I, p. 300). 5 The libretto of Anyuta, a comic opera in one act in verse, is printed in Popov's Dosugi (1772), while the libretto of Lyubovnik koldun was printed in 1779 in Moscow. Both were reprinted in Rossiyskiy teatr, St Petersburg, 40 vols., 1786-93, vols. 18 and 22 (1788-89). 6 There has been much discussion as to the composer of Anyuta. Rabinovich, the Soviet musicologist, suggests Pashkevich on the grounds (i) that he was the only Russian (and, more especially, St Petersburg) composer capable of handling a score of this nature; (ii) the subject of Anyuta was specially suited to Pashkevich's gifts; (iii) the smoothness of his first known stage work?Neschast'ye ot karety (The Misfortunes of Having a Carriage) (1779), forces one to the opinion that he must have had previous operatic experience; (iv) foreign composers resident in Russia at the beginning of the 1770s would have undertaken the composition of a Russian opera only if it were of a sentimental or pastoral nature (see A. S. Rabinovich, Russkaya opera do Glinki, Moscow, 1948, p. 41). 7 As in the case of Anyuta, there is disagreement as to the composer of Lyubovnik koldun, Anton Bullandt?a bassoon player and composer of Czech origin?being offered as a possible candidate (see R. Aloys Mooser, Annales de la Musique et des Musiciens en Russie au XVIII steele, 3 vols., Geneva, 1948, 1951, vol. II, pp. 368-370). However, although Bullandt's name is put forward by both V. V. Stasov and Findeisen, this will not stand up to close criticism, since Bullandt had not at that time arrived in Russia. (Both Findeisen and Rabinovich confuse Anton Bullandt with Jean Bullandt.)




8 January 1777 in Moscow.8 The libretto appeared in 1779 and was

later published in Vol. XVIII ofRossiyskiy teatr9 and has been attribu?

ted by some authorities to M. Matinsky, possibly with insufficient

justification.10 The 1778 version of Pererozhdeniye is of special interest in that it is the first example of a Russian opera with surviving music to be based partly on folk melodies; all of these are in the town tradition. However, Zorin is not a good composer and, like most of the

early arrangers of folk-song, had difficulty in fitting new words to

existing tunes. This perhaps explains the fact that although a folk

tune is sometimes stipulated in the libretto, he uses an entirely different melody.11

The most important year in early Russian opera is 1779 which saw

the appearance of three operas of high quality?Melfnik-kolduny obmanshchik i svat (The Miller-Magician, Deceiver and Matchmaker),

Sanktpeterburgskiy gostinyy dvor (The St Petersburg Bazaar) of Mikhail

Matinsky, and Neschast'ye ot karety (The Misfortunes of Having a

Carriage) by B. A. Pashkevich, all of which make use of folk music.

Mel'nik-koldun12 enjoys the distinction of being the first Russian

opera to achieve really prolonged success13 and was performed for

the first time on the stage of the Moscow Theatre on 20 January

8 Of the composer D. Zorin we know practically nothing. Most probably he was an orchestral player at the Maddox or Locatelli Theatres in Moscow, like Sokolovsky. The title page of the score reads: lPererozhdeniye, comic opera in two acts. Music composed by Mr D. Zorin in St Petersburg 1779'. The date 1779, as is the case with the majority of dates on old non-autograph manuscripts, refers to the year in which the copy was made. There is also a possibility that Pererozheniye at its Moscow performance in 1777 was not based on Zorin's score but on music more primitive (see A. S. Rabinovich, op. cit., p. 43). 9 The author of the Dramaticheskiy slovar' (The Dramatic Dictionary) says that 'this opera was one of the first productions to be given on the Moscow stage with original Russian songs . . .' (see Dramaticheskiy slovar' iii Pokazaniya po alfavitu vsekh rossiiskikh teatral'nikh sochinenii iperevodov, Moscow, 1787). 10 See V. Prokofiev's article on Matinsky 'Mikhail Matinsky i yego opera Sankt- peterburgskiy gostiniy dvor' in Muzyka i muzykal'niy byt staroy Rossii, Leningrad, 1927, pp. 59 and 65. 11 See S. L. Ginzburg, Istoriya russkoy muzyki v notnikh obraztsakh, 2 vols., Moscow- Leningrad, 1940, 1949, vol. I, pp. 434-435. All references to MSS. are from the Gosudarstvennaya Biblioteka Opery i Baleta imeni Kirova, Leningrad (quoted in future as GBOBK), MS. I IZ 3862 (Pererozhdeniye). 12 All references are to the modern reprint: Yevstigney Fomin. Mel'nik-koldun, obmanshchik i svat. Perelozheniye diva peniya s fortep'yano. Moscow, 1956. 13 The Dramaticheskiy slovar' informs us, for example, that 'this piece so captivated the popular interest that it was played time after time to packed houses. Later it was given on many occasions at the St Petersburg Court, and at Knipper's free theatre where it ran for twenty-seven consecutive performances. Not only was it loved throughout Russia but it also won the affection of foreigners. In short, no other Russian opera had ever gained so much admiration or applause*. Derzhavin likewise expressed his approval of 'The Miller' in his Rassuzhdeniye 0 liricheskoy poezii (Polnoye sobraniye sochinenii, ed. Ya. Grot, 7 vols., St Petersburg, 1868-78, vol. VII, p. 611) where, recalling some of the first Russian operas, he says: '. . . but most of all, I prefer Ablesimov's 'The Miller' which is so natural in its design and development and its use of simple language'. Merzlyakov's Vestnik Evropy (The European Herald) dedicated a whole article to 'The Miller' in its March edition, 1817. In this article, the opera is referred to as 'a piece loved by people of every denomination, despite the fact that it outwardly seems to be written mostly about simple folk and their way of life; but whether it is played at the Hermitage or in the public and private theatres, whether the players are good or indifferent, it never loses its charm.



148 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW

1779.14 The text of the opera was written by Aleksandr Ablesimov,15 a

gifted playwright whose work in the Russian theatre might be com?

pared with that of Favart.16 Ablesimov himself determined to a large extent the musical form of'The Miller' by stipulating the employment of a number of well-known folk-songs which were sung to his words.

The subject of the opera is very simple and obviously owes much to

Rousseau's Le Devin du Village. 'The Miller-Magician' consists of three

short acts and, like all Russian operas up to the time of Glinka,

employs spoken dialogue written in verse. Quantitatively, this

predominates over the musical items. The music was arranged in the

first instance (in accordance with Ablesimov's directions) by Soko-

lovsky, a violinist of the Moscow Russian Theatre, but has come down

to us only in the popular version of Fomin. The precise part played

by Fomin in the writing or re-writing of 'The Miller-Magician' is far

from clear.17 However, it seems fairly certain that his principal con?

tribution lies in improvements to the orchestration and in the

composition of the ensembles.18 'The Miller-Magician' is of prime interest in that the greater part of the music is based on authentic

folk-song material,19 the remaining items being written either in

Everyone seems to know and sing it by heart; not that its secret lies in its particular value but rather in its intrinsic merit'. One must bear in mind, however, that (as Rabinovich observes), 'the libretto, as such, was only an embellishment'. That the success of 'The Miller' was lasting is attested by the 19th-century critic Belinsky when he wrote: ' "The Miller", a production which was just as popular with our grandfathers as it is today, has still not lost any of its merit. Its success lies in the unchanging virtues of its subject matter' (see A. S. Rabinovich, op. cit., p. 51). 14 Its success was so assured that in the Khronik Aleksandrinskogo teatra (Chronicle of the Aleksandrinskiy Theatre) for the second half of the year 1839, one reads of 'The Miller' as 'an opera which has lived on our stage for half a century and which still appears at each Shrovetide festival'.

15 Aleksandr Ablesimov (1742-83), contributor ro many Russian journals and author of Skazki v stikhakh (Tales in Verse), editor of the satirical magazine Raskashchik zabavnikh basen. Commencing his life as a copyist, he rose to the rank of army officer, and later became a minor official. 'The Miller-Magician' decisively established his reputation (see B. N. Aseyev, Russkiy dramaticheskiy teatr XVII-XVIII vekov, Moscow, 1958, p. 307 et. seq.; T. Livanova, op. cit., vol. II, pp. 126-149). 16 Charles Simon Favart (1710-92), author of many libretti to French operas comiques, who is considered the creator of this genre in the French theatre.

17 The confusion has arisen from the fact that 'The Miller-Magician' was renovated in the middle of the 19th century, the music being completely re-written and 'modernised' by one of the St Petersburg conductors. In 1894, Jurgenson published a vocal score of this version with the name of Fomin on the cover. However there are a number of differences between the printed editions and the first version?the manuscript of 1806 (which probably is itself far removed from the original); in some cases the form and arrangement of the vocal numbers has been changed, while the orchestral accompaniment has been altered throughout. A number of the orchestral parts of the original are missing so that it is impossible to compile a complete score (see A. V. Finagin's article 'Yevstigney Fomin, zhizn' i tvorchestvo' in Muzyka i muzykaVniy byt staroy Rossii, Leningrad, 1927, pp. 70-116). 18 There is no record of Sokolovsky ever having received instruction in musical compo? sition, which seems to confirm Fomin's part in composing the music.

19 As Rabinovich points out: 'He harmonised about ten folk-songs and artlessly interspersed them with chastushki and Singspiel two-bar cadences of his own composition. Such a mixture of the peasant folklore with the bytovyye songs of the town-noble and




imitation of town folk-song or in the general light-hearted musical

style typical of the 18th century. A folk tune rarely appears in a

developed form. Usually, the folk melody is borrowed from a folk?

song collection (sometimes without even a change of key) and is used

literally in the first part of the song; it is then followed by a second

section, sometimes in a quicker tempo, which is related to the first

half by the use of identical musical figures. In other words, the

composer continues the folk melody in a similar style. 'The Miller-

Magician', like many other Russian operas of the 18th century, also

includes a 'devichnik'* scene20 at the beginning of Act III,21 which

consists of three wedding songs arranged for two-part female chorus.

Whether the melodies are genuine folk-songs it is impossible to tell, but it is certain that they are fully representative of peasant wedding

songs as they were sung at the time. The overture stands apart from

the rest of the opera, and for a long period it was attributed to

Fomin. However thanks to the recent discovery by B. Volman of a

Russian symphony on Ukrainian songs by the composer Baron

Vancura,22 which is identical with the overture, it seems probable that

he was the real composer. Baron Vancura published a Journal de

musique dedie aux dames in 1790-94, and the Russian symphony on

Ukrainian songs appeared in it in October 1790. The overture is

unique among Russian music of the period in that it is based upon two folk-songs. Use is made of pizzicato strings to suggest the sound of

balalaykas. If the musical language of 'The Miller-Magician5 is still in a fluid

state, 'The St Petersburg Bazaar' shows, in some respects, a consider?

able advance. The first version of the opera received its premiere in

the capital on 26 December 1779 at Knipper's Free Theatre.23 Twelve

years later the opera re-appeared in a second version under the title

Kakpozhivyosh, tak iproslyvyosh (As you Live, so are you Judged), and

bourgeois-mercantile sphere was fully in accordance with the tastes of the time; the same phenomenon is observed in the song collections of Chulkov, Trutovsky, etc', (see A. S. Rabinovich, op. cit., p. 54). 20 Devichnik?a party given by the bride-to-be to her girl friends on the night preceding the wedding. There are a whole series of songs in Russian folk music celebrating this important event in the wedding ritual.

21 The stage direction reads: 'The scene is that of the same peasant house with girls sitting on benches. One is weaving, another sewing?each having some form of employ? ment. They are singing wedding songs' (MeVnik-koldun, p. 51). 22 See B. Volman, Russkiye pechatnyye noty XVIII veka, Leningrad, 1957, pp. 89-93. Vancura's symphony is printed complete, ibid., pp. 245 ff. Baron Vancura was born about 1750 and died in 1801. He arrived in Russia about 1783 and from 1786-96 was employed in the service of the management of the court theatres in St Petersburg and as court 'pianist of the Hermitage company'. He enjoyed influence at court. Apart from opera, he composed at least 6 symphonies, quartets for piano, and other works. From 1790-94 he published the above-mentioned music journal. (See Dr Jan Lowenbach, Geskoruski vztahy hudebni, Prague, 1947, p. 13.) 23 In the words of the Dramatichesky slovar': 'It was given fifteen consecutive perform? ances. No other play proved so lucrative in his [i.e. Knipper's] whole career'.



I5O THE SLAVONIC REVIEW

was performed at court on 2 February 1792.24 The music and libretto

were probably written in both cases by the serf composer Mikhail

Matinsky.25 Of the two versions, only the music of the second has

come down to us. The principal difference between the two editions

is that some of the scenes and songs have been interchanged in the

first and third acts. The texts of the songs and ensembles are identical.

'The St Petersburg Bazaar' is brilliant both from the literary and

musical points of view,26 since it presents a vivid picture of contem?

porary bourgeois life, in which not only the everyday language of the

merchants and street-sellers is used but also their musical cries.27 The

weakest aspect of the opera is the plot, which is far too slender to

support a musical entertainment in three acts.28 Considerable doubt

exists as to the nature of the music pf the 1779 version of the opera, and this also applies to some extent to the score of 1792. According to

the Dramaticheskiy slovar', Matinsky wrote the music to his own

libretto, but as there is no reference to his work as a composer, one is

compelled to suspect that he was possibly not the composer in the

generally accepted sense of the word but (like Sokolovsky in 'The

Miller-Magician') the arranger of folk-songs to fresh texts.29 The use

of folk-songs in the 1779 version is corroborated by their presence in

the later version. However not all the numbers in the opera are based

on folk material. This is particularly noticeable in the ensemble

numbers where the texts are of a complicated nature and would be

unsuitable for folk melodies. There is evidence to suggest that the

music to the ensembles was composed not by Matinsky but by Pashkevich, who, in the course of thirty years as a court musician,

24 See B. N. Aseyev, op. cit., p. 312. 25 Mikhail Matinsky, a serf of Count Yaguzhinsky, was born in 1750 in the village of

Pokrovsk, Zvenigorod district, in the province of Moscow. He received a general education in the 'gymnasium' for raznochintsy at Moscow University, after which he travelled to Italy at the count's expense. Between the years 1779-1802 he was a teacher of geometry, history and geography at the Smolny Monastery of the Imperial Educational Society for Daughters of the Nobility. Like Borodin he was widely gifted and in the course of his life was dramatist, translator of scientific books and fiction, pedagogue and amateur composer. Of his work as a composer we know very little and of his occupation as a teacher even less. He was the first Russian musician (as far as we are aware) to write his own libretto. He was an excellent linguist. He died in the 1820s (see T. Livanova, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 19-23). 26 All references are to GBOBK MS I 1 M 343 (Gostiniy dvor). 27 One may still hear such cries in Leningrad today, especially near the Gostiniy dvor in Sadovaya ulitsa. From the linguistic point of view, the opera is an outstanding phen? omenon of the literature of the period and leads directly to Griboyedov, Gogol' and Ostrovsky. Some of Matinsky's phrases might easily be proverbs. 28 The plot is as follows: A merchant, Skvalygin, is about to marry his daughter, Khavronya (lit. 'sow' or 'pig') to a cold-blooded usurer, Kryuchkodey (lit. 'caviller'). Together with his prospective son-in-law, he endeavours to be as unpleasant as possible. They forge bills of exchange, cleverly cheat their creditors, persecute the poor. Eventually justice prevails and the final chorus concludes with the words: 'Reign, holy truth, reign in our times'.

29 See V. A. Prokof'yev. 'Mikhail Matinsky i yego opera Sanktpeterburgskiy Gostiniy Dvor' in Muzyka i muzykaVnyy byt staroy Rossii, 'Academia', Leningrad, 1927, pp. 58-69.



FOLK-SONG IN RUSSIAN OPERA I5I

often wrote music for different occasions.30 Of particular interest in

'The St Petersburg Bazaar' are the seven wedding choruses, which

are heard at the opening of Act II. The choruses, all of which appear to be based on original folk melodies, are remarkable in that not one

of the tunes appears in any of the contemporary collections of folk

music. The folk-songs, which are arranged for female voices, are for

the most part in two-part harmony, though occasionally Matinsky has added a third part.31 In addition to the wedding songs, folk

music is used in other parts of the opera?in choruses, solo items and

the overture. Generally speaking, however, Matinsky does not fully understand the nature of folk-song, though he shows greater percep? tion than the majority of his contemporaries.

The third opera to appear in the year 1779 was Neschast'ye ot

karety (The Misfortunes of Having a Carriage), which was performed for the first time in the Hermitage Theatre on 7 November 1779.32 The libretto33 was written by Knyazhnin, and the music was by Pashkevich.34 Folk music plays a very little part in this opera, its one

and only appearance being in the overture.

Yet another opera to appear in the same year was Dobryye soldaty

(The Good Soldiers) with libretto by Kheraskov35 and music by

30 In the 'Foreword' to the second version of 'The St Petersburg Bazaar', Matinsky himself speaks of the changes brought about in the music: 'Some of the songs of this opera were transferred to a completely different section, and a much better harmony was provided by Mr Pashkevich, a Court musician'. It appears, therefore, that Pashkevich was definitely involved in the performance of the revised opera in St Petersburg in 1792 and that, in addition to composing some of the musical numbers and editing the remainder, he probably corrected the harmony and completed the orchestration.

31 Although these podgolosy ('underparts') will hardly bear inspection from the point of view of authentic podgolosnaya polyphony, as Pekelis suggests, it is quite possible that the devichnik music was sung in the town in this manner and that Matinsky's transcriptions are authentic by the standards of the time (see Ginzburg, Istoriya russkoy muzyki, I, p. 149). 32 All references are to GBOBK MS I 1, P 222 (Neschast'ye ot karety). 33 The plot is as follows: Firulin, a land-owner, is a confirmed Gallo-maniac and is anxious to buy an expensive Parisian carriage. In order to raise the money, he orders his serf Lukyan to be sold as a recruit. Lukyan is in despair. Together with his beloved, Anyuta, he approaches the heartless nobleman, but in vain. However, an insignificant circumstance saves them. Lukyan has somewhere learnt a few words of French and addresses his master in that language. The landowner sheds tears of emotion: peasants can speak French! He liberates Lukyan and permits him to marry Anyuta. 34 Of Pashkevich himself we do not know a great deal. He was born c. 1742. From 1763 he was a violinist in the court orchestra and later 'a composer of music'. In 1783 he became a chamber musician in Catherine's court and on 1 March was appointed 'Court Kapell? meister of ball music'. 'For different musical compositions and labours outside his normal duties' he received in 1790 the sum of 1600 roubles. He died in 1800. He is known to be the composer of the operas 'The Misfortunes of Having a Carriage' (1779), 'The Miser' (1782), 'Fevey' (1786); to have partly composed 'The Early Reign of Oleg' (1790) and 'Fedul and the Children' (1791); and to have edited the opera 'As You Live, So Are You Judged' (1792). 35 Mikhail Kheraskov (1733-1807), author of the Rossiad, an epic poem describing the conquest of Kazan' by Ivan the Terrible. A follower of Kantemir and pupil of Sumarokov, he was one of the great exponents of court classicism, though gradually turning towards sentimentalism. In his last years he showed romantic features and his Bakharyan, in the opinion of Professor Blagoy, had considerable influence on Pushkin's 'Ruslan and Lyudmila' (see B. N. Aseyev, op. cit., pp. 217-224).




Herman Raupach. The date of its composition is usually given as

1780, but this should probably be 1779 since Raupach died in this

year and in his obituary it is stated that the text of the opera was

already in print.36 The folk idiom plays a minor role in the opera, and

appears only in a solitary aria in the form of a fragment from

'Kamarinskaya' and in the soldiers' choruses. A peculiarity of the last is

that, despite the fact that the performers are all soldiers, the music is

written for mixed voices.37

Of greater interest from the point of view of folk music is the opera

Fevey, performed in 1786, with a libretto by Catherine II,38 and music

by Pashkevich. The plot of Fevey was taken from a fairy story of the

same name.39 Outstanding in the opera is the folk-song of Ledmer in

Act II. The melody is repeated incessantly against an ever changing

background and is an interesting precursor of the technique that

Glinka was to develop more fully in the future.

The year 1781 saw the appearance of the opera Novoye semeystvo

(The New Household), with libretto by Vyazmitinov and music by Frelikh.40 Despite the fact that Rabinovich refers to the opera as 'a

particularly insignificant score',41 it is not entirely without interest,

36 Hermann Friedrich Raupach (i 728-1779). German composer and conductor, who first visited Russia in 1754 to replace Araja as court conductor at St Petersburg. His second visit was in 1768 where he remained till his death (see A. S. Rabinovich, Izbrannye stat'i i materialy, Moscow, 1959, P- 44)*

37 The plot is as follows: The regiment to which Prolet belongs is to go on active service and he is anxious about his sweetheart Plenira; this does not, however, prevent his intimacy with another woman, Svarlida, who is wealthy and not only entertains the soldier and his regiment at her own expense, but also interests herself in his career. To obtain his promotion to sergeant she presents his commanding officer, Zamir, with a snuff-box. The matter is hung up and Svarlida steals the snuff-box from Zamir! The soldiers have noticed her and in escaping from their pursuit she meets Plenira, who is looking for Prolet. To save herself, she declares that she is a fortune-teller, hands the snuff-box and her hooded cloak over to Plenira and makes for the camp. Plenira is apprehended for the theft; Prolet in despair resolves to marry Svarlida. But the affair is explained. Svarlida admits her trickery and the lovers are united.

38 Catherine II was responsible for a number of libretti to Russian operas (e.g. Fevey, 'Fedul and the Children', 'The Last Reign of Oleg', etc.). However, it now seems fairly certain that the true author of the libretti was her private secretary Khrapovitsky, who developed and embellished the Empress's ideas. Catherine herself, being of German origin, had a poor knowledge of the Russian language. Her role in the creation of opera libretti is discussed in T. Livanova, op. cit., vol. II, pp. 154 ft0. A*1 edition of Fevey?'a comic opera for piano and voices'?made by Prach, was published in 1789 and re? printed by Jurgenson in 1895. However, this is extraordinarily inaccurate and gives a completely distorted picture of the opera. Not only was the orchestration altered at random, but even pieces from other operas were included. Johann Gotfried Prach (iyy?-c. 1816) was a Czech by origin, but spent his whole life in St Petersburg, where he served in the manifold capacity of pianist, composer and teacher. A friend of Derzhavin and other leading figures of the time, he is best known as the author of the famous col? lection of folk-songs, which were compiled at the initiative of the poet Nikolay Aleksandro- vich LVov (1751-1803). Melodies taken from Prach were employed by several non- Russian musicians, including Beethoven and Rossini.

39 See Sochineniya Imperatritsy Ekateriny II, ed. by A. I. Vvedensky, St Petersburg, 1893; all references to the libretto are to GBOBK MS. I 1 P (Fevey). 40 This should probably be Frohlich; all references are to GBOBK MS. I 1 F 868 (Novoye semeystvo).

41 A. S. Rabinovich, op. cit., p. 75.




partly on account of the presence of an unusually high soprano part? coloratura is almost entirely absent from Russian opera of the 18th

century, since the singers were in most cases amateurs or actors?

partly for the single instance of folk music, in which a melody is

written in imitation of town dance songs. The opera Baba-Yaga, with libretto by D. Gorchakov and music by

Matthias Stabhinger, a Moscow Kapellmeister, appeared five years later in 1786. According to Rabinovich,42 this also is 'a colourless and

drawn out' production, but this is an unfair criticism. The music is

faultlessly written and is notable from the point of view of folk

music.43 Baba Yaga herself (a character from folklore) does not

appear till late in the opera. However, her part has no national

colouring and is remarkable only in that it is entrusted to a baritone.44

On a much higher level than the two preceding operas stands

Sbitenshchik (The S^to-seller),45 an opera by Bullandt in four acts

with a libretto by Knyazhnin.46 Several sources attest to the popular?

ity of this production, which enables it to be compared with 'The

Miller-Magician'.47 Though the folk element as a whole plays only a

slender role in the opera,48 an interesting factor is that one comic aria

is based entirely on the traditional cries of the sbiten-stMzv, which offers

a striking parallel with Deering's London Cries (1599).49 This is yet another illustration of the manner in which Russian composers (or

foreign composers living in Russia) drew inspiration from their

environment and sought to give realistic touches to their work by the

employment of authentic melodies.

The year 1787 saw the appearance of the opera Khrabryy i smelyy

vityaz Akhrideich, or, as it is also called, Ivan Tsarevich. The libretto was

by Catherine II, the music by Baron Vancura.50 In contrast to the

majority of Catherine's libretti, Ivan Tsarevich is successful from both

42 Ibid. 43 All references are to GBOBK MS. I i S 760 (Baba Yaga). 44 One involuntarily recalls Prokofiev's 'The Love for Three Oranges', where the part

of the Cook is given to a bass. 45 A seller of sbiten?a Russian drink of hot water, spices and honey. 46 All references are to GBOBK MS. I 1 B 907 (Sbitenshchik). 47 In 1790, P. PlaviTshchikov (see B. N. Aseyev, op. cit., pp. 322-367) composed 'a

comedy with music' under the title Mel'nik i sbitenshchik?soperniki ('The Miller and Sbitenshchik?Rivals'). In his preface he wrote: 'Although Sbitenshchik was well received in the theatre, it made no difference to the popularity of 'The Miller', which always achieved success by reason of the charm and simplicity of its characters, but despite all the skill with which Sbitenshchik was cloaked, one could observe glimmers of foreign influences in its composition'. The success of Bullandt's opera was unusually durable and even as late as 1853 O. A. Petrov, the great Russian bass, took the leading role.

48 When Bullandt wrote the opera he was still unacquainted with Russian grammar, but had succeeded in grasping the rudiments of conversational speech. Knyazhnin's libretto owes much to Moliere's comedy Les Fourberies de Scapin, the hero (Stepan) partly resembling Moliere's Scapin and Figaro in Beaumarchais's 'The Barber of Seville'.

49 See J. F. Bridge. 'The Musical Cries of London in Shakespeare's Time.' (Proc. Mus. Ass., Vol. XLVI, London, 1919.) 50 All references are to GBOBK I 1 V 171?5 (Ivan Tsarevich).




the literary and dramatic points of view and incorporates a number

of folk characters.51 The opera is also of interest in that apart from

music written in the spirit of 'Russian song', it also contains at least

two genuine folk-songs, one of them being the well-known 'Na pole bereza stoyala'.52

The opera Gore-bogatyr Kosometovich (Kosometovich, the Woeful

Knight) was also based on a libretto by Catherine II, the music of

which was written by a Spanish composer, Martin y Soler, immed?

iately on his arrival in Russia.53 Since Martin did not know a single word of the Russian language, the task of setting appropriate music to

incomprehensible hieroglyphics was one to intimidate even the most

courageous composer. Martin found an admirable solution, however,

namely to write music which had not the slightest connection with the

sense of the text. For one so unfamiliar with Russian life, it is not

surprising that folk music does not feature prominently in the opera.

Nevertheless, use is made in the overture of three folk tunes which

later appeared in the famous collection of Prach. The choice of

melodies employed in Gore-bogatyr gives a good insight into the

manner of approach of foreign composers employing folk melodies in

their music. The folk tunes themselves are very much of the same

genre and may be regarded as rather pallid specimens of Russian

town dance songs. In selecting the melodies, the composer made no

attempt to gain contrast, and his principal desire was to find themes

which were well-proportioned, perfectly straightforward, or without

unusual times or rhythms. When a melody failed to answer his

requirements, he amended it accordingly. No attempt is made to

develop the music and the folk element is employed only in the

overture.

The year 1791 saw the appearance of another imperial libretto.

This was Fedul s det'mi (Fedul and the Children), which purported to

be representative of peasant life.54 Catherine tried to give realism to

her work by basing it on peasant characters and by employing rustic

51 The plot is as follows: A whirlwind has carried off the Tsarevnas Luna and Zvezda, daughters of Tsar Akhridey and the Tsaritsa Darya. The Tsarevich Ivan Akhrideich offers to seek his sisters. On the way he takes from the werewolves a cap of invisibility, automatic boots, and a hospitable table-cloth, which they had found. Baba-Yaga tells Ivan Tsarevich that the magicians Medved'-Molodets and Morskoye Ghudo-Molodets have carried off his sisters and directs the tsarevich to them. He finds them, is welcomed by both magicians and afterwards, on the advice of one of the girls, acquires Tsar-Devitsa for his wife, having first killed the twelve-headed serpent on the Kalinov Bridge. The tale ends with the return of the tsarevnas and the presence of his parents at the tsarevich's wedding with Tsar-Devitsa.

52 The same tune as that used in the finale of Ghaykovsky's Fourth Symphony. 53 Martin y Soler (i 754-1810) is best known as the composer of Una Cosa Rara which had been produced at Vienna with great success in 1785; all references are to GBOBK I 1 M (Gore-bogatyr). 54 For example, out of ten numbers in Fedul, five begin with the twice repeated inter? jection 'Ekh, ekh!' However, to be quite fair to Catherine, many folk-songs do commence with this ejaculation. All references are to GBOBK MS. I 1 P 222 (Fedul s det'mi).




expressions. Though doubtless conceived in sincerity, some of these

phrases have an amusing ring and the opera is more of a caricature

than a true picture of peasant life. The task of composing the music to

Fedul was allotted to Martin and Pashkevich, both of whom employed folk music.55

Yet another opera written by Catherine enjoyed the elaborate title

Nachal'noye upravleniye Olega, podrazheniye Shakspiri bez sokhraneniya

featral'nikh pravil (The First Government of Oleg, in Imitation of

Shakespeare, Without Adherence to the Usual Theatrical Laws). This was a large scale work in five acts and was devised not so much

as an opera but as a play with musical episodes, or, to be more

precise, not as a drama but as a political chronicle?an Hstoricheskoye

predstavleniye' or 'historical representation' as it is called in the

preface.56 The music was composed by Sarti, Canobbio and Pash?

kevich in 1791.57 Of interest are the overture, which makes use of folk

melodies, and the employment of wedding songs, which, though in

the town variant, appear to have been written down directly from

folk singers. The most important and most gifted Russian operatic composer at

the end of the 18th century is Yevstigney Ipatevich Fomin,58 whose

compositions may be regarded as a summing up of the leading ten?

dencies of the period. Of great significance in his work is the fact that

he was able to create music freely and convincingly in the folk idiom.

55 Findeisen says of Fedul: (Fedul enjoyed a measure of success on the public stage at Petersburg and Moscow. Its subject is most uninteresting. Fedul, a widowed peasant, with fifteen sons, wishes to marry a widow. His children, learning his intentions, are displeased. One of his daughters starts singing a song popular at the period (it was written by Elizabeth before she succeeded to the throne), whose words constitute a warning to her father. Then appears the widow, and gay dancing begins. Here, as in Fevey, Pashkevich's music is a mixture of Russian colour and reminiscences of Italian comic opera'. (See 'The Earliest Russian Operas', The Musical Quarterly, London, July, I933-) 56 See B. N. Aseyev, op. cit., pp. 381 et. seq. and p. 384. The orchestral score was pub? lished in 1791 and was the only full score of a Russian opera to be printed in the 18th century. All references are to the vocal score published by Jurgenson in 1896. 57 Carlo Canobbio (1741-1822) was an Italian chamber musician who later became leader of the court orchestra. Apart from his work on Oleg, he composed two ballets and two symphonies, as well as several sonatas for guitar, violin, etc. Most of his compositions are conventional and show little originality (see S. L. Ginzburg, op. cit., vol. I, p. 446). 58 Yevstigney Ipatevich Fomin was born in St Petersburg on 5 August 1761. His father was a gunner in the Tobolsk Infantry Regiment. At the age of six he was sent to the Petersburg Academy of Arts where he studied clavichord playing under Buini and composition under Sartori and Raupach (who died in 1779). Finishing brilliantly at the Academy (it is learnt from surviving documents that on completing his studies, he received a financial reward 'for his outstanding achievements'), he was sent in 1782 to Bologna where he studied under the famous composer and theoretician Padre Martini. On 29 November 1783 he had the distinction of being elected a member of the Bologna Academia Filarmonica. The following year he returned to St Petersburg where he worked till his death in 1800, having been appointed 'repetiteur of opera parts' in 1796. There is also evidence that at one time he worked in the chancery under the supervision of Derzhavin, and was well acquainted with LVov and Prach (see A. V. Finagin's article: 'Yevstigney Fomin. Zhizn'i tvorchestvo' in Muzyka i muzykal'niy byt staroy Rossii, 'Acad? emia', Leningrad, 1927).




Like many Russian musicians of the time, he was sent to Italy to

consolidate his studies and immediately on his return to St Petersburg

began work on a small ballet-opera, Novgorodskiy bogatyr Boyeslavovich, which was composed to a text of Catherine's in 1786. The libretto, which describes the adventures of the knight Vasily Boyeslavovich, was

based on authentic bylina material and was sub-titled 'an opera

compiled from fairy tales, Russian songs and other sources'. The

bylina speech is convincing in those places where Catherine has not

made her own interpolations and tried to improve on the original. There are ballets in Acts I, II, IV and V, each consisting of five or

six short pieces, based in a few cases on folk melodies.69

The only other opera by Fomin to make use of folk music is his

Tamshchiki na podstave (The Post-drivers) which, in some respects, is

worthy of comparison with Glinka.60 The libretto was written by N. A. L'vov, the collaborator and patron of Prach. The opera does

not pretend to be a dramatic piece and is more in the nature of a

divertissement or intermezzo. The plot61 is weak and the opera's merit

lies in the portrayal of the coachmen and their environment, their

customs, dialect, speech and, most of all, their songs.62 In his handling of folk music Fomin takes highest place among Russian composers of

the 18th century. Although, unlike Matinsky and Pashkevich, he did

not write down songs from actual folk-singers but drew his inspiration from town songs popular at the time, his treatment of them was

imaginative and far-sighted. He also enjoys the distinction of being one of the few Russian composers in the 18th century to observe folk

polyphony and although his efforts will hardly bear comparison with

authentic transcriptions, they are not devoid of skill. One of the

strongest features of Fomin's style is his ability to create freely in the

folk idiom and although, like the other Russian musicians of his time, he was unaware of the true properties of peasant song, it is true to say

59 All references are to GBOBK MS. I i F 762 (Vasiliy Boyeslavovich). 60 Cf, for example, the chorus 'Vysoko sokol letayet' in 'The Post-drivers' with the opening chorus of 'A Life for the Tsar*.

61 The plot is as follows: The post-drivers are congregating at the coach station. Among them are a lively young driver, Timothy, and his wife, Fadeyevna. Their enemy, Filka Prolaza, a thief and sneak, tries by underhand means to sell Timothy as a recruit and thus separate him from his wife, whom Filka had unsuccessfully courted. The situation seems desperate until, with the help of a passing officer and the other coachmen, the matter is solved. Timothy is released, as two of his brothers already serve as soldiers, and instead of Timothy, Filka Prolaza is conscripted, having avoided military service the previous year. All thank the officer for his assistance and the opera concludes with a lively chorus.

62 The striking qualities of the post-drivers' songs have been noted by several writers and critics. One of the earliest European writers to comment on their music was Madame de Stael, who visited Russia in 1808. In her 'Ten Years of Exile', she writes: 'There are the coachmen, driving with lightning speed while singing songs whose words, I was told, are compliments and encouragements addressed to their horses'. Lineva, however, mentions that coachmen's songs were used to frighten away wolves (see E. Lineva, Velikorusskiyepesni v narodnoy garmonizatsii, vol. I, Moscow, 1911, p. xii). All references are to GBOBK MS. I 1 F 762 (Tamshchiki na podstave).




that he succeeded in thinking and feeling spontaneously in the folk

idiom.

The difference between the first clumsy efforts of Zorin and the

smooth-flowing melodic lines of Fomin is great, and it is difficult to

imagine that they are separated by only twenty years. Nevertheless,

they are united in their efforts to give folk colouring to their composi? tion, and in turning to native folk-song for their inspiration they look

forward to the mighty achievements of the second half of the 19th

century, embodied in the works of Musorgsky, Borodin, Chaykovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.



folk-song in russian opera of the 18th century

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