The Golden Cockerel is an
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in three acts (with short prologue and even shorter epilogue) by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. The
librettoA libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, musical, and ballet. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata.Libretto ,...
was written by Vladimir Belsky and is based on Alexander Pushkin's 1834 poem
The Tale of the Golden CockerelThe Tale of the Golden Cockerel is the last fairy tale in verse by Alexander Pushkin. Pushkin wrote the tale in 1834 and it was first published in literary magazine Biblioteka dlya chteniya in 1835...
(which is based on two chapters of
Tales of the AlhambraTales of the Alhambra is a collection of essays, verbal sketches, and stories by Washington Irving.-Background:Shortly after completing a biography of Christopher Columbus in 1828, Washington Irving traveled from Madrid, where he had been staying, to Granada, Spain...
by
Washington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
). The opera was completed in 1907, and received its premiere in
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
in 1909, thus after the composer's death. Previously, the opera was commonly performed in French under the still recognized title
Le Coq d'Or.
Rimsky-Korsakov had considered his previous opera,
The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden FevroniyaThe Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya is an opera in four acts by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by Vladimir Belsky, and is based on a combination of two Russian legends: that of St. Fevroniya of Murom, and the city of Kitezh, which became invisible...
(1907) to be his final artistic statement in the medium, and, indeed, this work has been called a "summation of the nationalistic operatic tradition of
GlinkaMikhail Ivanovich Glinka , was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition inside his own country, and is often regarded as the father of Russian classical music...
and
The FiveThe Five, also known as The Mighty Handful , refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856-1870: Mily Balakirev , César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Alexander Borodin...
." However the political situation in Russia at the time inspired him to take up the pen to compose a "razor-sharp satire of the autocracy, of Russian
imperialismImperialism, as defined by the dictionary of human geography, is “the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.” Imperialism, in many ways, is described...
, and of the Russo-Japanese war."
Four factors influenced Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov to write this opera-ballet:
- Pushkin – Rimsky-Korsakov’s other works inspired by Alexander Pushkin's poems, especially Tsar Saltan
The Tale of Tsar Saltan is an opera in four acts with a prologue, seven scenes, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by Vladimir Belsky, and is based on the poem of the same name by Aleksandr Pushkin...
, had been very successful.
The Golden Cockerel is an
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in three acts (with short prologue and even shorter epilogue) by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov. The
librettoA libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, musical, and ballet. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata.Libretto ,...
was written by Vladimir Belsky and is based on Alexander Pushkin's 1834 poem
The Tale of the Golden CockerelThe Tale of the Golden Cockerel is the last fairy tale in verse by Alexander Pushkin. Pushkin wrote the tale in 1834 and it was first published in literary magazine Biblioteka dlya chteniya in 1835...
(which is based on two chapters of
Tales of the AlhambraTales of the Alhambra is a collection of essays, verbal sketches, and stories by Washington Irving.-Background:Shortly after completing a biography of Christopher Columbus in 1828, Washington Irving traveled from Madrid, where he had been staying, to Granada, Spain...
by
Washington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
). The opera was completed in 1907, and received its premiere in
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
in 1909, thus after the composer's death. Previously, the opera was commonly performed in French under the still recognized title
Le Coq d'Or.
Composition history
Rimsky-Korsakov had considered his previous opera,
The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden FevroniyaThe Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya is an opera in four acts by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by Vladimir Belsky, and is based on a combination of two Russian legends: that of St. Fevroniya of Murom, and the city of Kitezh, which became invisible...
(1907) to be his final artistic statement in the medium, and, indeed, this work has been called a "summation of the nationalistic operatic tradition of
GlinkaMikhail Ivanovich Glinka , was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition inside his own country, and is often regarded as the father of Russian classical music...
and
The FiveThe Five, also known as The Mighty Handful , refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856-1870: Mily Balakirev , César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Alexander Borodin...
." However the political situation in Russia at the time inspired him to take up the pen to compose a "razor-sharp satire of the autocracy, of Russian
imperialismImperialism, as defined by the dictionary of human geography, is “the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.” Imperialism, in many ways, is described...
, and of the Russo-Japanese war."
Four factors influenced Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov to write this opera-ballet:
- Pushkin – Rimsky-Korsakov’s other works inspired by Alexander Pushkin's poems, especially Tsar Saltan
The Tale of Tsar Saltan is an opera in four acts with a prologue, seven scenes, by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by Vladimir Belsky, and is based on the poem of the same name by Aleksandr Pushkin...
, had been very successful. The Golden Cockerel had the same magic.
- Bilibin – Ivan Bilibin
Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin was a 20th-century illustrator and stage designer who took part in the Mir iskusstva and contributed to the Ballets Russes. Throughout his career, he was inspired by Slavic folklore....
had already produced artwork for the Golden Cockerel, and this conjured up the same traditional Russian folk flavours as those in Tsar Saltan.
- Tsar Nicholas II – Nicholas II had foolishly started the Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War or the Manchurian Campaign in some English sources, was a conflict that grew out of the rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
by making a pre-emptive strikePreemptive war is waged in an attempt to repel or defeat a perceived inevitable offensive or invasion, or to gain a strategic advantage in an impending war before that threat materializes. Preemptive war is often confused with the term preventive war...
against the Japanese forces in ManchuriaManchuria is a historical name given to a vast geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria either falls entirely within China, or is divided between China and Russia...
and KoreaKorea is a civilization and formerly unified nation currently divided into two states. Located on the Korean Peninsula, it borders China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait....
. This war was highly unpopular amongst the Russian peopleThe Russian people are an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
. It proved to be a military disaster, and Russia was eventually defeated. (Remember that in the Golden Cockerel, King Dodon foolishly decides to make a pre-emptive strike against the neighbouring State, and there is huge chaos and bloodshed on the battlefield. The king himself gives more attention to his personal pleasures, and comes to a sticky end.)
- Russian Revolutionary Activity in 1905 – The Russian people were not only upset by the Russo-Japanese War, but, more importantly, by their feudal living conditions. On January 9, 1905, several thousand people, led by a priest, demonstrated peacefully in the Palace Square
Palace Square , connecting Nevsky Prospekt with Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievsky Island, is the central city square of St Petersburg and of the former Russian Empire...
in St PetersburgSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd and Leningrad...
. They tried to hand in a petition asking for better working conditions, an eight hour day, a minimum wageA minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly wage that employers may legally pay to employees or workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labor. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion...
, and the prohibition of child labourChild labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries...
. However, more than 1,000 persons were shot by the Tsarist troops, and the date has become known as Bloody Sunday (1905)Bloody Sunday was an incident on in St. Petersburg, Russia, where unarmed, peaceful demonstrators marching to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II were gunned down by the Imperial Guard...
. (Shostakovich's Symphony No. 11Works with the title Symphony No. 11 include:*Havergal Brian's Symphony No. 11*Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 11*Alan Hovhaness's Symphony No. 11*Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 11*Allan Pettersson's Symphony No. 11...
is "about" these events.) News of this massacre spread rapidly — there was an uprising in Odessa, where the sailors in the battleship PotemkinThe Battleship Potemkin , sometimes rendered as The Battleship Potyomkin, is a silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm...
took over the ship and fired on the headquarters of the tsarist troops. Again, there was a massacre of people on the Odessa stepsThe Potemkin Stairs , is a giant stairway in Odessa, Ukraine. The stairs are considered a formal entrance into the city from the direction of the sea and are the best known symbol of Odessa....
. The Students in the St Petersburg Conservatoire also demonstrated against the Czar, and Rimsky Korsakov supported their protest. For this he was dismissed from his post as head of the Conservatoire. Alexander GlazunovAlexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor...
and Anatoly Lyadov resigned and left with him. See also Russian Revolution of 1905The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political unrest through vast areas of the Russian Empire. Some of it was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included terrorism, worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies...
.
Rimsky-Korsakov decided to create a work exposing the disastrous tsarist regime, and in 1906 he started work on his Golden Cockerel opera. It was finished in 1907. The opera was immediately banned by the Palace, and was not allowed to be staged — the resemblance between the Czar and the foolish King Dodon was too close. Rimsky-Korsakov’s health was probably affected by this, and he was dead by the time it was performed two years later.
Performance history
The premiere of the opera in Moscow took place on 7 October (O.S. 24 September), 1909 at the Solodovnikov Theatre presented by the
Zimin OperaThe Zimin Opera was founded by the Russian entrepreneur Sergei Zimin in Moscow, Russia in 1903.The company staged the premieres of such operas as Rimsky-Korsakov's Golden Cockerel, Gretchaninoff's Beatris Sister and Ippolitov-Ivanov's Izmena...
. The conductor was
Emil CooperEmil Albertovich Cooper, also known as Emil Kuper was a Russian conductor and violinist, of English ancestry....
and set designs were by
Ivan BilibinIvan Yakovlevich Bilibin was a 20th-century illustrator and stage designer who took part in the Mir iskusstva and contributed to the Ballets Russes. Throughout his career, he was inspired by Slavic folklore....
. Several weeks later, the opera was presented at the
Bolshoy TheatreThe Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by the architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and greatest ballet and opera companies of the world, respectively...
in Moscow on 6 November,
1909-Events:*November 28 - Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 is premiered in New York City-Albums Released:*Tchailkovsky's Nutcracker Suite - Mark Hamburg And The Royal Albert Hall Orchestra-Published popular music:...
conducted by
Vyacheslav SukVyacheslav Suk was a Czech-born Russian violinist, conductor and composer.- Biography :...
and set designs by
Konstantin KorovinKonstantin Alekseyevich Korovin was a leading Russian Impressionist painter.-Biography:...
.
The London and Paris premieres were both given in 1914, but the Paris production was as an
Opera-BalletBallets de cour is the name given to ballets performed in the 16th and 17th centuries at court. Jean-Baptiste Lully is considered the most important composer of music for ballets de cour and was instrumental to the development of the form...
, with
Mikhail FokinMichel Fokine was a groundbreaking Russian choreographer and dancer....
(Michel Fokine).
The
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
premiere took place in the
Metropolitan OperaThe Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager. The music director is James Levine....
on March 6, 1918, and all those performances there before
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
were sung in French, but in 1945 they were sung in English. After 1945 the opera was never (so far) revived by the Met, but received revival at the
New York City OperaThe New York City Opera is an American opera company and the second largest opera company, after the Metropolitan Opera, in New York City. The company was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
in 1967–1971 (all performances in English) when
Beverly SillsBeverly Sills was a Jewish American operatic soprano who enjoyed a successful career during the 1950s through the 1970s....
sang the role of the Queen of Shemakha to
Norman TreigleNorman Treigle was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the fifth and final child of a poor carpenter and his wife. Following his 1946 marriage to the former Loraine Siegel, the bass-baritone began vocal studies with the contralto Elisabeth Wood...
's Dodon,
Julius RudelJulius Rudel is a major American opera and orchestra conductor who emigrated to the US from Austria at the age of 17 and studied conducting at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. He then forged a 35-year career with the New York City Opera, from 1944 to 1979, and was the Music Director...
conducting
Tito CapobiancoTito Capobianco is a noted stage director of opera, and is former Artistic Director of the Cincinnati Opera, San Diego Opera and Pittsburgh Opera. He made his official debut with Aïda, at the Teatro Argentino, La Plata, in 1953...
's production.
Roles
| Roles |
Voice type |
Performance cast
Zimin Opera
24 September 1909
(Conductor: Emil CooperEmil Albertovich Cooper, also known as Emil Kuper was a Russian conductor and violinist, of English ancestry....
) |
Performance cast
Bolshoy Theatre
6 November 1909
(Conductor: Vyacheslav SukVyacheslav Suk was a Czech-born Russian violinist, conductor and composer.- Biography :...
) |
| Tsar Dodon |
bass A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second F below middle C to the E above middle C . Its tessitura, or...
|
Nikolay Speransky |
Vasily Osipov |
| Tsarevich Tsarevich is a Slavic term for the Tsar's son. Under the Pauline house law, the term was discontinued. The tsar's eldest son , came to be called Tsesarevich...
Gvidon |
tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
|
Fyodor Ernst |
Semyon Gardenin |
| Tsarevich Afron |
baritoneBaritone is a type of classical male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek βαρύτονος, meaning 'deep sounding', music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second G below middle C to the F above...
|
Dikov |
Nikolay Chistyakov |
| General Polkan |
bass |
Kapiton Zaporozhets |
|
| Amelfa, a housekeeper |
contralto In music, a contralto is a type of classical female singing voice with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a mezzo-soprano. The term is used to refer to the deepest female singing voice. The typical contralto range lies between the F below middle C to two Fs above middle C...
|
Aleksandra Rostovtseva |
Serafima Sinitsina |
| Astrologer |
tenor altino |
Vladimir Pikok |
Anton Bonachich |
| Shemakhan Tsaritsa |
soprano A soprano is a singing voice with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music...
|
Avreliya-Tsetsiliya Dobrovolskaya |
Antonina Nezhdanova Antonina Vasilievna Nezhdanova was a Russian lyric-coloratura soprano. An outstanding opera singer, she represented the Russian vocal school at its best....
|
| Golden Cockerel |
soprano |
Vera Klopotovskaya |
Yevgeniya Popello-Davydova |
| chorus, silent roles |
Note on names:
- Pushkin spelled Dodon's name as Dadon. The association of the revised spelling Dodon in the libretto with the bird the Dodo
The dodo was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall, weighing about , living on fruit and nesting on the ground....
is likely intentional.
- Shemakha
Şamaxı is a city in and the capital of the Shamakhi Rayon of Azerbaijan.The city is 70 miles west of Baku. It has some 30,000 inhabitants, among them Azerbaijanis , Padar , and Russians...
is a noun, denoting a place. Shemakhan is an adjectival usage.
Synopsis
Time: Unspecified
Place: In the thrice-tenth kingdom, a far off place (beyond thrice-nine lands) in Russian fairy tales.
Act 1
In the short prologue, after quotation in the orchestra of the most important leitmotifs, a mysterious
AstrologerAstrology is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs which hold that the relative positions of celestial bodies and related details can provide information about personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial matters. A practitioner of astrology is called an astrologer...
comes before the curtain announcing to the audience that although they are going to see and hear a fictional tale from long ago, but his story is containing valid and true moral.
The bumbling King Dodon talks himself into believing that his country is in danger from the neighbouring State governed by the beautiful Queen of Shemakha. He asks for the advice of the Astrologer, who gives him a magic Golden Cockerel, which promises to look after his interests. The Golden Cockerel confirms that Queen of Shemakha certainly has some territorial ambitions, so King Dodon foolishly decides to make a pre-emptive strike against the neighbouring State, and sends his army, led by his two sons, to start the battle.
Act 2
However, his sons are both so inept that they manage to kill each other on the battlefield. King Dodon then decides to lead the army himself, but further bloodshed is averted because the Golden Cockerel ensures that the old king becomes besotted when he actually sees the beautiful Queen. The Queen herself encourages this situation by performing a seductive dance — which tempts the King to try and partner her, but he is clumsy and makes a complete mess of it. The Queen realises that she can take over Dodon’s country without further fighting — she engineers a marriage proposal from Dodon, which she coyly accepts.
Act 3
The Final Scene starts with the great Bridal procession in all its splendour — and when this is reaching its conclusion, the Astrologer appears and says to the king “You promised me anything I could ask for if there could be a happy resolution of your troubles.......” “Yes, Yes,” said the king, “Just name it and you shall have it”. “Right,” said the Astrologer, “I want Queen of Shemakha!”. At this, the King flares up in fury, and strikes down the Astrologer with a blow from his mace. The Golden Cockerel, loyal to his Astrologer master, then swoops across and pecks through the King’s jugular. The sky darkens and when light returns, both queen and cockerel disappears.
In the epilogue, the Astrologer comes again before the curtain and announces the end of his story, reminding the public that what they just saw was "only an illusion," that only he and the queen were mortals and real.
Principal arias and numbers
Act 1
- Introduction: "I am a sorceror" «Я колдун» (Orchestra, Astrologer)
- Lullaby (Orchestra, Guards, Amelfa)
Act 2
- Aria: "Hymn to the Sun" «Ответь мне, зоркое светило» (Shemakhan Tsaritsa)
- Dance (Shemakhan Tsaritsa, Orchestra)
- Chorus (Slaves)
Act 3
- Scene: "Wedding Procession" «Свадебное шествие» (Amelfa, People)
Instrumentation
- Strings
The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
: ViolinThe violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
s, ViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.The casual observer may mistake the viola for the violin because of their similarity in size, closeness in pitch range , and nearly identical playing position...
s, CelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument. The word derives from the Italian violoncello. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra...
s, Double BassThe double bass, also called the upright bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra. The name, "double bass," derives from the early use of the instrument to double—an octave lower where possible—the bass part written...
es
- Woodwinds
A woodwind instrument is a musical instrument which produces sound when the player blows air against an edge of, or opening in, the instrument, causing the air to vibrate within a resonator...
: 1 PiccoloThe piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
, 2 FluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s, 2 OboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s, 1 English HornThe cor anglais, or English horn, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family.The cor anglais is a transposing instrument pitched in F, a perfect fifth lower than the oboe , and is consequently approximately one-third longer. The fingering and playing technique used for the cor anglais...
, 2 ClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet...
s (in A-B), 1 Bass ClarinetThe bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet. Bass clarinets in other keys, notably C and A, also exist, but are very rare...
(in A-B), 2 BassoonThe bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 1800s, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band, and chamber music literature...
s, 1 Double Bassoon
- Brass
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
: 4 French Horns (in F), 2 TrumpetThe trumpet is a musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BC...
s (in C), 1 Trumpet contralto (in F), 3 TromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, 1 TubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
- Percussion: Timpani
Timpani are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper, and more recently, constructed of more lightweight fiberglass. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick...
, TriangleThe triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel in modern instruments, bent into a triangle shape. Usually held by a string at the top curve.- Shaping :...
, Snare DrumThe snare drum is a drum with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom...
, TambourinA tambourin is a piece of music that imitates a drum, usually as a repetitive not-very-melodic figure in the bass.A tambourin itself is a small, two-headed drum of Arabic origin, mentioned as early as the 1080s . It was played together with a small flute .The tambourin, as a dance, hails from...
, GlockenspielA glockenspiel [German Glocken + spielen ] is a percussion instrument, composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal, thus making...
, CymbalCymbals are a common percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture. The greater majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a...
s, Bass DrumA bass drum is a relatively large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The bass drums are of variable sizes and are used in several musical genres . Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished: the large orchestral bass drum, the smaller kick' drum, and the...
, XylophoneThe xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family which probably originated in Slovakia. It consists of wooden bars of various lengths that are struck by plastic, wooden, or rubber mallets. Each bar is tuned to a specific pitch of the musical scale...
- Other: Celesta
The celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
, 2 HarpA harp is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the soundboard. As many other non-percussion instruments, it can also be used as a percussion instrument. All harps have a neck, resonator and strings. Some, known as frame harps, also have a forepillar;...
s,
Analysis
Marina Frolova-Walker points to
The Golden Cockerel as the fore-runner of the anti-psychologistic and absurdist ideas which would culminate in such 20th century 'anti-operas' as
ProkofievSergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and came to be admired as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.-Biography:...
's
The Love for Three OrangesThe Love for Three Oranges is an opera composed in 1919 by Sergei Prokofiev to a libretto based on the play L'Amore delle tre melarance by Carlo Gozzi....
(1921) and
ShostakovichDmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Russian composer of the Soviet period and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
's
The NoseThe Nose is a satirical opera composed by Dmitri Shostakovich. The Russian libretto was written by Shostakovich, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Georgy Ionin, and Alexander Preis, and is based on the story The Nose by Nikolai Gogol. The plot concerns a St...
(1930). In this, his last opera, Rimsky-Korsakov had laid "the foundation for modernist opera in Russia and beyond."
Performance practice
Composer's Performance Remarks (1907)
- The composer does not sanction any "cuts."
- Operatic singers are in the habit of introducing interjections, spoken words, etc. into the music, hoping thereby to produce dramatic, comic or realistic effect. Far from adding significance to the music, these additions and emendations merely disfigure it. The composer desires that the singers in all his works keep strictly to the music written for them.
- Metronome marks must be followed accurately. This does not imply that artists should sing like clock-work, they are given full artistic scope, but they must keep within bounds.
- The composer feels it necessary to reiterate the following remark in lyrical passages, those actors who are on the stage, but not singing at the moment, must refrain from drawing the attention of the spectators to themselves by unnecessary by-play. An opera is first and foremost a musical work.
- The part of the Astrologer is written for a voice seldom met with, that of tenor altino. It may however be entrusted to a lyric tenor possessing a strong falsetto, for the part is written in the extremely high register.
- The Golden Cockerel demands a strong soprano or high mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
voice.
- The dances performed by the King and Queen in the second act, must be carried out so as not to interfere with the singers breathing by too sudden or too violent movement.
Staging Practices
Early stagings became influential by stressing the modernist elements inherent in the opera.
DiaghilevSergei Pavlovich Diaghilev , also referred to as Serge, was a Russian art critic, patron, ballet impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes from which many famous dancers and choreographers would later arise.- Early life and career :Sergei Diaghilev was born to a wealthy family in Selischi ,...
's 1914 Paris production had the singers sitting offstage, while dancers provided the stage action. Though some in Russia disapproved of Diaghilev's interpretation, and Rimsky-Korsakov's widow threatened to sue, the production was considered a milestone.
StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, widely acknowledged as one of the most important and influential composers of 20th century music. He was a quintessentially cosmopolitan Russian who was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of...
was to expand on this idea in the staging of his own
RenardRenard, Histoire burlesque chantée et jouée is a one-act chamber opera-ballet by Igor Stravinsky, written in 1916. The Russian text by the composer was based on Russian folk tales from the collection by Alexander Afanasyev.The full Russian name of the piece is: Ба́йка про лису́, петуха́, кота́, да...
(1917) and
Les NocesLes noces by Igor Stravinsky, is a dance cantata, or ballet with vocalists.-History:The ballet was premiered on June 13, 1923, by the Ballets Russes with choreography by Bronislava Nijinska. The orchestra was conducted by Ernest Ansermet.-Orchestration:Stravinsky first conceived of writing the...
(1923), in which the singers are unseen, and mimes or dancers perform on stage.
Derived works
Rimsky-Korsakov made the following concert arrangement:
- Introduction and Wedding Procession from the opera The Golden Cockerel (1907)
- Введение и свадебное шествие из оперы Золотой петушок
After his death,
A. GlazunovAlexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor...
and
M. ShteynbergMaximilian Osseyevich Steinberg was a Russian composer of classical music born in what is now Lithuania.-Life:...
(Steinberg) compiled the following orchestral suite:
- Four Musical Pictures from the Opera The Golden Cockerel
- Четыре музыкальных картины из оперы «Золотой петушок»
- Tsar Dodon at home (Царь Додон у себя дома)
- Tsar Dodon on the march (Царь Додон в походе)
- Tsar Dodon with the Shemakhan Tsaritsa (Царь Додон у Шемаханской царицы)
- The wedding and the lamentable end of Dodon (Свадьба и печальный конец Додона)
Inspiration for other works
In 1978-79 the English composer
Kaikhosru Shapurji SorabjiKaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji was a British composer of Parsi origin. He was a music journalist and pianist....
wrote
“Il gallo d’oro” da Rimsky-Korsakov: variazioni frivole con una fuga anarchica, eretica e perversa.
Selected recordings
Audio Recordings (
Mainly studio recordings, unless otherwise indicated)
Source:
www.operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
- 1962, Aleksey Kovalev & Yevgeny Akulov (conductor), Moscow Radio Orchestra and Chorus, Aleksey Korolev (Tsar Dodon), Yuri Yelnikov (Tsarevich Gvidon), Aleksandr Polyakov (Tsarevich Afron), Leonid Ktitorov (General Polkan), Antonina Klescheva (Amelfa), Gennady Pishchayev (Astrologer), Klara Kadinskaya (Shemakhan Tsaritsa), Nina Polyakova (Golden Cockerel)
- 1971, Julius Rudel
Julius Rudel is a major American opera and orchestra conductor who emigrated to the US from Austria at the age of 17 and studied conducting at the Mannes College of Music in New York City. He then forged a 35-year career with the New York City Opera, from 1944 to 1979, and was the Music Director...
(conductor), Orchestra and Chorus of the New York City Opera, Norman TreigleNorman Treigle was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the fifth and final child of a poor carpenter and his wife. Following his 1946 marriage to the former Loraine Siegel, the bass-baritone began vocal studies with the contralto Elisabeth Wood...
(King Dodon), Beverly SillsBeverly Sills was a Jewish American operatic soprano who enjoyed a successful career during the 1950s through the 1970s....
(Queen Shemakha), Enrico di GiuseppeEnrico Di Giuseppe was a celebrated Italian-American operatic tenor who had an active performance career from the late 1950s through the 1990s. He spent most of his career performing in New York City, juggling concurrent performance contracts with both the New York City Opera and the Metropolitan...
(Astrologer), Muriel Costa-GreensponMuriel Costa-Greenspon was an American mezzo-soprano who had a lengthy career at the New York City Opera between 1963-1993...
(Amelfa), Gary Glaze (Guidon), David Rae Smith (Afron), Edward Pierson (Polkan), Syble Young (Le Coq d’or); Live performance, November 9, 1971, New York (sung in English).
- 1985, Dimiter Manolov (conductor), Sofia National Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Nikolai Stoilov (Tsar Dodon), Ljubomir Bodurov (Prince Gvidon), Emil Ugrinov (Prince Afron), Kosta Videv (General Polkan), Evgenia Babacheva (Amelfa), Lyubomir Diakovski (Astrologer), Elena Stoyanova (Shemakhan Tsaritsa), Yavora Stoilova (Golden Cockerel)
- 1988, Yevgeny Svetlanov
Evgeny Fyodorovich Svetlanov was a Russian conductor, composer, and though less well-known, a pianist.Svetlanov was born in Moscow and studied conducting at the conservatory there. From 1955 he conducted at the Bolshoi Theatre, being appointed principal conductor there in 1962...
(conductor), Bolshoy Theatre Orchestra and Chorus, Artur Eisen (Tsar Dodon), Arkady Mishenkin (Prince Gvidon), Vladimir Redkin (Prince Afron), Nikolay Nizinenko (General Polkan), Nina Gaponova (Amelfa), Oleg Biktimirov (Astrologer), Yelena Brilova (Shemakhan Tsaritsa), Irina Udalova (Golden Cockerel)
The actual Shemakha
There is an actual city of
ShemakhaŞamaxı is a city in and the capital of the Shamakhi Rayon of Azerbaijan.The city is 70 miles west of Baku. It has some 30,000 inhabitants, among them Azerbaijanis , Padar , and Russians...
(also known as "Şamaxı", "Schemacha" and "Shamakhy") which is the capital of the Shamakhi Rayon of
AzerbaijanAzerbaijan , formally the Republic of Azerbaijan , is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south...
. At the time when Pushkin wrote the orinianl poem on which the opera is based, it was an important city and the capital of what was to become later the
Baku GovernorateBaku Governorate was one of the guberniyas of the Russian Empire, with its centre in Baku. Area : 34,4000 sq. verstas, population : 789,659. The only foreign border of the governorate was Persia, in the south.The Governorate was established in 1846 as Shemakha Governorate, in place of several...
. However, the realm of that name, ruled by the queen in the poem and the opera, bears little resemblance to the actual city and area or to any actual ruler there; Pushkin seems to have picked up the name as a convenient name for an exotic fictional kingdom.
External links