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TH 1 The VoevodaВоеводаOpera in 3 acts and 4 scenes, Op. 3 (1867-68).
ContentsThe numbering, titles and tempo are taken from the reconstruction in vol. 1 of Polnoe sobranie sochineniï (1953). Act I is divided into five "episodes" (явления). The titles of numbers in Russian (Cyrillic) are taken from the published score, with English translations added in bold type. Vocal incipits are given in the right-hand column, with transliterations below in italics.
HistoryThe first reference to the idea of the opera The Voevoda appears in Tchaikovsky’s letter to Anatolii Tchaikovsky of 8 November 1868: "Now I’m busy revising my Symphony [No. 1] and then perhaps I shall gradually start on an opera. There is hope that Ostrovskii himself will write a libretto for me on The Voevoda" [1]. The libretto for the opera’s first act was received from Aleksandr Ostrovskii in March 1867. In the copybook containing sketches for the opera, Tchaikovsky made the following note: "Received from A. N. Ostrovskii 1st Act libretto. 5 March 1867. Started to write on the 8th" [2]. The music for Act I was composed during March and April; the composer did not write in any of the words. At the end of April, Tchaikovsky lost the libretto, as he wrote to Anatolii Tchaikovsky on 22 May [3], and he was forced to ask Ostrovskii to provide another copy of the text. It is not clear exactly how much Tchaikovsky had lost, but in the composer's archive there is a manuscript by Ostrovskii containing the reconstructed libretto for the whole of the first act, and for the first scene of Act II. Before leaving Moscow for his summer holidays, Tchaikovsky went to visit Aleksandr Ostrovskii, but could not find him, as he informed the writer from Hapsal on 10 June 1867: "You were still in the country. I was very upset leaving for the summer without having had a single line of the libretto, but now I am even rather glad that this happened, because I suppose that you have not even begun the second act, and this might allow me to suggest that you might consider the following new plan for the second act. After the duet for Dubrovin and Bastriukov, I would very much like to introduce Olena into this act, and furthermore for her motive to appear to be heard as follows:
If you are agreeable to this change, then perhaps you could leave out the first scene of the second act could be omitted". At the end of his letter, Tchaikovsky cautioned Aleksandr Ostrovskii: "I ask you not to hurry; I will spend the summer finishing off the orchestration of the first act; then during the winter and coming year I hope to write the remaining three" [4]. It follows from this letter that the opera was planned in four acts, and that the composer already had the libretto of Act I Aleksandr Ostrovskii’s diary refers to his work on copying out the libretto [5]. He began this task on 4 June 1867, and on 8 June Act I was finished. Work was continually interrupted, since at the same time Ostrovskii was writing a libretto for Aleksandr Serov's opera The Power of Evil. From his diary it would appear that he was much more enthusiastic about his work on the latter project than on The Voevoda, and he concentrated on this other plan. On 17 June, Ostrovskii sent Tchaikovsky the portion of the libretto that he had prepared, with a covering letter: "I am sorry for delaying your libretto, I have had a lot of work to do. I am sending all that I have managed to do, and the remainder will follow shortly... Have no fear, kind sir, I shall certainly keep my promise" [6]. Nevertheless, to judge from his diary entries, by the end of August, Ostrovskii had done no significant work on the libretto of The Voevoda In May, Tchaikovsky reworked his Characteristic Dances, written in 1865, which were used in the opera’s second act as Dances of the Chambermaids, and then between June and August he orchestrated them along with Act I of the opera [7]. On his return to Moscow on 31 August, Tchaikovsky once again called on Aleksandr Ostrovskii, and that same day he wrote to Anatolii Tchaikovsky: "Ostrovskii continues to deceive me; in Saint Petersburg I read in the newspapers that he had finished my libretto, but this is completely untrue, and I had great difficulty prising half of one old act from him" [8]. Evidently, this was the libretto of the first scene of Act II. In an undated latter, probably written in September 1867, Tchaikovsky again asked Ostrovskii for the libretto: "For the sake of all that’s holy - find a spare moment and finish off what you promised me. I can do nothing without the scene from the second act" [9]. But by 28 September work on the opera had resumed: "The opera is gradually taking shape; Ostrovskii has gone to Saint Petersburg for a while; when he comes back from there I shall pounce on him" [10]. But Tchaikovsky's collaboration with Aleksandr Ostrovskii on The Voevoda was over. In 1882, the composer wrote to Sergei Taneev about this: "This good gentleman [Ostrovskii]... wrote the first act and the first scene of the second act for me himself. I began to compose, but having written the first act, I became disillusioned with the subject and the music I had written and decided to abandon composition, so that I would not further trouble the great Ostrovskii But it so happened that the singer Men'shikova wanted a new opera for her benefit, and she prevailed upon me to finish the opera, so I somehow cobbled together the remainder (that is, the libretto and the music)" [11]. On 25 November 1867, Tchaikovsky told his brother Modest: "The opera is now going quite successfully; the whole of the third act is written, and the dances from it, which I orchestrated in Hapsal, will be performed at the next concert" [12]. It is impossible to establish how much work had been done during the winter of 1868, but in the middle of February 1868, Tchaikovsky was engaged in orchestrating Act III, as he wrote to Anatolii Tchaikovsky: "Over the last few days I have made a start on orchestrating the third act. I really want to finish the opera by the summer" [13]. In the middle of June, Tchaikovsky left for Paris. Here he orchestrated the overture, as is indicated by the date on the manuscript: "Paris, 28 July 1868". The first production of the opera was set for 11 October 1868, and the rehearsals began at the beginning of September [14]. Tchaikovsky, who was obliged to attend these, did not consider it possible to learn the opera so quickly. On 25 September, he told Anatolii Tchaikovsky that the premiere had been postponed: "You already know that my opera was due to be put on in October; the parts had been copied out and rehearsals had started, which I am supposed to attend Of course, this was merely going through the motions. Seeing that it was not possible to produce the opera in such a short time, I pointed out to the local director that at the current presence of the Italian Opera was distracting the chorus and orchestra, and so I would not give them the full score... In the circumstances rehearsals have been suspended, and the opera postponed until the Italians have left" [15]. A new date for the premiere was set for December 1868 [16], but the opera was further postponed. The first performance took place on 30 January 1868 at the Bol'shoi Theatre, at the benefit for the artist Aleksandra Men'shikova, conducted by Eduard Merten [17]. Vladimir Odoevskii noted in his diary: "This opera guarantees a great future for Tchaikovsky" [18]. In the 1870s, Tchaikovsky, displeased with his work, destroyed the full score of the opera. Subsequently he re-used parts of the music in the opera The Oprichnik, the ballet Swan Lakeand the overture The Year 1812. Tchaikovsky also wrote a piano Potpourri on themes from the opera. The Voevoda was not printed in full. In 1873, Petr Jurgenson published the full score of the Entr'acte & Dances of the Chambermaids, and in 1891 he issued the orchestral parts for this number; in 1892 and 1893 he brought out the full score and orchestral parts respectively of the Overture. After destroying the opera, Tchaikovsky concurred with the critics’ verdict - mainly that its structure was inadequate, and unsuitable for a stage performance. Thus, in a letter to Nadezhda von Meck of 27 November/9 December 1879, the composer wrote "The Voevoda is without any doubt a bad opera. At the time I considered the music to be more than just adequate, but by common consent it was considered to be a mediocre opera. In the first place, the subject was not suitable, i.e. it was devoid of dramatic interest and plot development; secondly, the opera was written too quickly and without much thought; because of this it did not translate into opera, and was not suited to the literary stage; I had simply tried to write music to a given text; somehow I had in mind something between opera and symphonic styles. In composing an opera, the author should keep the stage in mind, that is to remember that the theatre presents difficulties not only of melody and harmony, but also in action; this should not bore the opera audience, who have not only to listen, but also to watch; and, lastly, that the style of theatrical music should match the style of the scenery, and therefore be simple, clear and colourful... In The Voevoda I concerned myself too much with fine details, and completely forgot the scene and all its words. It might be said that the concerns of the author paralysed the musical inspiration to some degree, and that is why symphonic and chamber music styles are so different to opera. In a symphony or a sonata I have freedom, with no constraints whatsoever. But for opera one has in the main address the musical language of the masses. And one more thing - opera has to be played a number of times during the course of a season, which is a basic difference from a symphony, which might be performed once in ten years!!!... But I took issue with the critics of The Voevoda with regard to its third failing - the predominance of the orchestral textures over the voices. All these failings arose as a result of inexperience. It is necessary to go through a number of attempts in order to achieve a degree of success, and I am not in the least ashamed of my operatic failures. They have been very useful lessons and pointers for me" [19]. In a letter to Sergei Taneev of 29 October 1882, in response to the news that Anton Arenskii was working on an opera on the same subject, Tchaikovsky wrote: "I am so glad that henceforth I shall cease to be the definitive author of The Voevoda! Remembering this opera, and also The Oprichnik, is like recalling some criminal offences I committed long ago" [20]. In Act I of The Voevoda, Tchaikovsky used the folk songs "A duckling was swimming on the sea" [На море утушка купалася] in the women's chorus, and "Beyond my yard" [За двором лужок] in the maidens' khovorod. In Act II, Mar’ia Vasil’evna's song "The Nightingale" (Act I, No. 2) is based on the melody of the tune "I wear my hair in a plaid" [Кося ль моя косинка], which Tchaikovsky heard in Kuntsev in September 1867, and noted down himself [21]. The text of this song in the opera was probably written by Aleksandr Ostrovskii [22]. The introduction to Act II of The Voevoda borrows from the Overture in C minor (24 bars, which in turn, were taken from the overture to The Storm). In Act 1, No. 7 (bars 134-197) the orchestra; part is completely taken over from the same Overture in C minor. The duet in Act I uses music from the third movement of the cantata Ode to Joy. The opera The Voevoda was reconstructed from surviving sketches, orchestral parts and solo parts by Pavel Lamm [23]. The remaining pages were filled in by Vissarion Shebalin. The opera was published for the first time in 1953 in this version (full score and vocal score) in Tchaikovsky's collected works [24]. In 1949 the opera was produced on the stage of the Malyi Opera Theatre in Leningrad. For this production the missing pages from the full score were completed by Iurii Kochurov. In this version, the opera became established in the theatre's repertoire. From: Музыкальное наследие Чайковского
(1958), pp. 11-17 Notes:
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