Summary Nikolai Andreevich Rimsky-Korsakov. Mozart and Salieri
MOZART AND SALERI
The dramatic scenes of Alexander Pushkin (in two scenes)
Characters:
Mozart Salieri Blind violinist | Tenor Baritone Without singing |
In the second scene (the picture) the behind-the-scenes chorus (optional).
The scene of action is Vienna.
Time is the end of the 18th century.
HISTORY OF CREATION
In early 1897, Rimsky-Korsakov put on the music a small scene from the “little tragedy” of Pushkin “Mozart and Salieri.” In the summer, the composer wrote two more scenes, and in August of the same year completed the opera. Many reasons prompted him to turn to this story.
“The best biography of Mozart” called AK Lyadov Pushkin’s tragedy. The content of her thoughts in the laconism
Pushkin’s drama, a masterpiece
Rimsky-Korsakov admired Pushkin. Especially captivating was his wisdom of the poet in glorifying an optimistic, ethically perfect beginning in human activity. The composer himself tried to reflect in his music the bright side of life. It is not surprising, therefore, that he was attracted by the effulgent appearance of Mozart. At the same time, one of the leading themes of Rimsky-Korsakov’s work was the glorification of the mighty creative power of art. So there was the image of the noble Levko in “May Night”, or the shepherd Lelya in “The Snow Maiden”, or guslar Sadko in the opera of the same name. The “small tragedy” of Pushkin is devoted to the development of this topic. Turning to her, the composer also wanted to solve one more, this time specifically musical task.
In these years, Rimsky-Korsakov paid particular attention to melodic expressiveness, which resulted in the creation of about 50 romances. In the same manner, the opera was conceived. “This writing,” the composer pointed out, “was really purely vocal, the melodic fabric that followed the curves of the text was composed in front of everything, the accompaniment, quite complex, was formed after, and the original sketch was quite different from the final form of orchestral accompaniment.” An example of the composer was the “Stone Guest” of Dargomyzhsky, also sustained in an arioso-recitative manner. Like Dargomyzhsky, Rimsky-Korsakov wrote music for the almost unchanged Pushkin text (only introduced small cuts in the monologues of Salieri). Following them to the “small tragedies” of Pushkin turned C. A. Cui (“
In November 1897, Rimsky-Korsakov showed Mozart and Salieri at home. “Everybody liked it.” VV Stasov made a lot of noise, “the composer later noted. The public premiere took place on November 6 (18), 1898, on the stage of the Russian Private Opera (the theater of SI Mamontov). In the role of Salieri, FI Shalyapin, who had a great, ever-increasing success, came out. The genius actor was very fond of this role and, at his will, the opera was often given by Russian musical theaters. (On the stage of the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theater was first staged in 1905).
PLOT
Salieri, who has achieved fame and recognition with hard work, gives himself up to serious meditations. His path to art was difficult and thorny. At first he “believed algebra harmony”, then began to create, achieved a prominent position in the music world. But his peace was broken – Mozart appeared. Everything is easily given to him, for he is a genius. Painfully jealous of Salieri. Mozart comes to him in excellent spirits; with him an old violinist, who played on the street popular tunes from his operas. But Salieri irritates the old man’s inept play-he drives him away. Mozart sits at the piano, plays his new fantasy. Salieri is shocked by her depth, courage, slenderness… The decision has matured: Mozart must perish – “then we all will perish, we all, priests, music attendants” …
Salieri invited Mozart to dine with him in the tavern. But he is pensive, overcast. Unkind forebodings oppress him. Once a man came to him, dressed in all black, and ordered a funeral mass – requiem. And it seems to Mozart that he wrote this requiem for himself that he did not have long to live. At this time, Salieri furtively throws poison into his glass of wine. Mozart drinks it, plays an excerpt from the requiem, then leaves. And once again with excruciating doubts the soul of Salieri is caught: can it really be, as Mozart said casually, “genius and villainy are two things incompatible?”
MUSIC
“Mozart and Salieri” – the most concise opera of Rimsky-Korsakov. It is distinguished by the subtlest psychological development of images, which causes a continuous flow of musical tissue. However, individual episodes of action are clearly outlined. The richness of melodic content marked this opera.
A short orchestral introduction conveys a concentrated and sad mood. There is the first monologue by Salieri “Everyone says: there is no truth on earth, but there is no truth higher”. Still nothing foreshadows the tragic denouement: this is the meditation of a man who has gone through a great journey of life. The central place of the monologue comes from the words “I, finally, have reached a high level in the art of the unlimited” – in this place the sad motive of the introduction sounds. Mozart’s arrival is characterized by lighter music, which is completed by the melody of the aria from Mozart’s “Don Juan” (Zerlina’s aria “Come, nail me, Mazetto”), performed by a street violinist. The next important episode is a pianistic fantasy composed by Rimsky-Korsakov in the spirit of Mozart. Its content is defined by the following words: “I am merry… Suddenly: a vision of death,
In the orchestral introduction to the second scene (the picture), the initial, light pages of the same fantasy are used: the contrast to the subsequent episodes in which the tragic color is increasingly escalated. Sinister, like the sentence of Salieri, who had planned to kill Mozart, the last words sound: “Genius and villainy are two things incompatible.” After the performance of the fragment from the Requiem, the words “Whenever everyone felt the power of harmony, with warmth, with warmth:” But no: then the world could not exist. ” The final concise monologue of Salieri, extremely dramatic, ends with solemnly gloomy chords.
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