Vakula the Smith
Encyclopedia
Vakula the Smith is an opera in 3 acts, 8 scenes, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, his Opus
14. The libretto
was written by Yakov Polonsky
and is based on Nikolai Gogol's
story Christmas Eve
. It was written for composer Alexander Serov
, who died in 1871 leaving only fragments of an opera on the subject.
, conducted by Eduard Nápravník
with stage direction by Gennadiy Kondratyev and set design by Mikhail Bocharov and Matvey Shishkov.
The stage history of the opera was short. The opera was given 18 times over several seasons at the Mariinsky Theatre, but Tchaikovsky did not permit it to be performed at other theatres. Dissatisfied with the opera, Tchaikovsky revised it in 1885 as Cherevichki
(The Slippers).
Place: In the village of Dikanka, Ukraine; St. Petersburg
The widow Solokha agrees to help the Devil steal the moon. The Devil is annoyed with Solokha's son Vakula who painted an icon mocking him. The Devil decides to create a snowstorm to prevent Vakula from seeing his beloved Oxana. While the storm rages, Solokha rides up to the sky and steals the moon, while Oxana's father Chub and the Deacon are unable to find their way. Oxana is alone and lonely at home. She passes through several moods and the music follows her with gradually accelerating tempos. At one point, Vakula enters and watches her admiring herself. She teases him, and he says he loves her. Chub comes back out of the storm, and Vakula, not recognizing him, chases him out by striking him. Seeing what he has done, Oxana sends Vakula away in a miserable state. Young people from the village come around singing Ukrainian Christmas carols. Oxana realizes she still loves Vakula. Three men and the Devil wind up in three sacks at Solokha's hut after successively trying to seduce her, and Vakula winds up hauling the heavy sacks away. Outside three groups of carollers contend. Oxana shames Vakula into getting her the Tsaritsa's boots or else she won't marry him. He runs threatening suicide, leaving two bags which turn out to have the Deacon and Chub.
A forest sprite warns water nymphs that Vakula is coming and wants to commit suicide. The Devil jumps out of Vakula's sack and tries to get his soul in exchange for Oxana but Vakula instead climbs on the Devil's back. Vakula forces the Devil to take him to St. Petersburg. The Devil puts down Vakula in the tsaritsa's court and disappears into the fireplace. Vakula joins a group of cossacks who are going to see the tsaritsa. In the hall of columns, a chorus sings the tsaritsa's praises to a polonaise. Vakula requests the tsaritsa's boots to a minuet, and it is granted because it is an unusual and amusing thing to ask. The Devil takes Vakula away as Russian and Cossack dances commence. The next scene takes place at the town square on a bright Christmas morning. Solokha and Oxana think Vakula has drowned himself and mourn for him. Oxana runs off weeping when villagers invite her to the Christmas feast. Vakula returns with the boots, asks Chub to forgive him for the beating and asks for Oxana's hand in marriage. She enters, tells Vakula that she wants him, not the silly boots. Chub calls for the kobzari (the lutenists), and everyone celebrates.
Opus number
An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...
14. The libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
was written by Yakov Polonsky
Yakov Polonsky
Yakov Petrovich Polonsky was a leading Pushkinist poet who tried to uphold the waning traditions of Russian Romantic poetry during the heyday of realistic prose....
and is based on Nikolai Gogol's
Nikolai Gogol
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
story Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve (Gogol)
Christmas Eve , literally translated The Night Before Christmas, is the first story in the second volume of the collection Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka by Nikolai Gogol.-Plot:...
. It was written for composer Alexander Serov
Alexander Serov
Alexander Nikolayevich Serov – was a Russian composer and music critic. He and his wife Valentina were the parents of painter Valentin Serov...
, who died in 1871 leaving only fragments of an opera on the subject.
Composition history
The opera was composed between June and 21 August 1874; it was begun during a holiday in Nizy (in Kharkov province) and finished in Usovo. The work was dedicated to the memory of the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna. When Tchaikovsky anonymously submitted the score for a competition under the motto "Ars longa vita brevis est" ("Art is eternal, life is short"), it won, and the composer received 1500 rubles. The opera was revised as Cherevichki (Slippers) in 1885.Performance history
The premiere took place in St. Petersburg on 6 December [OS November 24] 1876 at the Mariinsky TheatreMariinsky Theatre
The Mariinsky Theatre is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces of Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov received their premieres. The...
, conducted by Eduard Nápravník
Eduard Nápravník
Eduard Francevič Nápravník was a Czech conductor and composer, who settled in Russia and is best known for his leading role in Russian musical life as the principal conductor of the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg for many decades...
with stage direction by Gennadiy Kondratyev and set design by Mikhail Bocharov and Matvey Shishkov.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast St. Petersburg 6 December 1876 (Conductor: Eduard Nápravník |
|---|---|---|
| Vakula, a smith | tenor 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 Komissarzhevsky Fyodor Petrovich Komissarzhevsky Fyodor Petrovich Komissarzhevsky was a Russian opera singer and teacher of voice and stagecraft. A leading tenor at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, he created many roles in Russian operas, including the Pretender in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov and the title role in Tchaikovsky's Vakula... |
| Solokha, Vakula's mother, a witch | mezzo-soprano 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... |
Anna Bichurina |
| A devil from Hell, a fantastic character | bass | Ivan Melnikov |
| Chub, an elderly Cossack | bass | I. Matchinsky |
| Oksana, Chub's daughter | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Wilhelmina Raab |
| Pan Golova | bass | Osip Petrov Osip Petrov Osip Afanasievich Petrov was a Russian operatic bass-baritone of great range and renown whose career centred on St Petersburg.He started his career by singing in a church chorus... |
| Panas, Chub's crony | tenor | V. Vasiliev |
| Schoolmaster | tenor | N. von Derviz |
| His Highness | bass | Fyodor Stravinsky Fyodor Stravinsky Fyodor Ignatievich Stravinsky ) was a Russian bass opera singer and actor. He was the father of Igor Stravinsky and the grandfather of Soulima Stravinsky.... |
| Master of Ceremonies | bass | |
| Attendant | tenor | Pavel Dyuzhikov |
| Old Cossack | bass | |
| Wood Goblin | bass | |
| Chorus, silent roles: Lads, lasses, elders, gusli-players, rusalki, wood-sprites, echo, spirits, court ladies and gentlemen, Zaporozhtsï | ||
The stage history of the opera was short. The opera was given 18 times over several seasons at the Mariinsky Theatre, but Tchaikovsky did not permit it to be performed at other theatres. Dissatisfied with the opera, Tchaikovsky revised it in 1885 as Cherevichki
Cherevichki
Cherevichki [alternative renderings are The Little Shoes, The Tsarina's Slippers, Les caprices d'Oxane, and Gli stivaletti] is a comic-fantastic opera in 4 acts, 8 scenes, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was composed in 1885 in Maidanovo, Russia...
(The Slippers).
Instrumentation
Source: www.tchaikovsky-research.net- Strings: Violins I, Violins II, Violas, Cellos, Double Basses
- Woodwinds: Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets (B-flat and A), 2 Bassoons
- Brass: 4 Horns (all F), 2 Trumpets (F and E), 3 Trombones, Tuba
- Percussion: Timpani, Triangle, Tambourine, Cymbals, Bass Drum,
- Other: Harp
- On/Offstage: Wind Band (off)
Synopsis
Time: The end of the 18th centuryPlace: In the village of Dikanka, Ukraine; St. Petersburg
A forest sprite warns water nymphs that Vakula is coming and wants to commit suicide. The Devil jumps out of Vakula's sack and tries to get his soul in exchange for Oxana but Vakula instead climbs on the Devil's back. Vakula forces the Devil to take him to St. Petersburg. The Devil puts down Vakula in the tsaritsa's court and disappears into the fireplace. Vakula joins a group of cossacks who are going to see the tsaritsa. In the hall of columns, a chorus sings the tsaritsa's praises to a polonaise. Vakula requests the tsaritsa's boots to a minuet, and it is granted because it is an unusual and amusing thing to ask. The Devil takes Vakula away as Russian and Cossack dances commence. The next scene takes place at the town square on a bright Christmas morning. Solokha and Oxana think Vakula has drowned himself and mourn for him. Oxana runs off weeping when villagers invite her to the Christmas feast. Vakula returns with the boots, asks Chub to forgive him for the beating and asks for Oxana's hand in marriage. She enters, tells Vakula that she wants him, not the silly boots. Chub calls for the kobzari (the lutenists), and everyone celebrates.
Tchaikovsky's thoughts on the opera
- "All my thoughts are now intent upon my beloved child, darling Vakula the Smith. You would not imagine how I love him! It seems to me that I will positively go mad if I don't succeed with him" (Pyotr Tchaikovsky, from the letter to Anatoly Tchaikovsky May 12, 1875)
- "[There are] two fundamental shortcomings: first, the style of Vakula is not operatic, but symphonic; and the second, there is no correspondence between the music and what is taking place on stage... but the music of Vakula is almost without exception noble and beautiful with respect to both theme and harmony." (César CuiCésar CuiCésar Antonovich Cui was a Russian of French and Lithuanian descent. His profession was as an army officer and a teacher of fortifications; his avocational life has particular significance in the history of music, in that he was a composer and music critic; in this sideline he is known as a...
, Sankt-Peterburgskie vedomosti, November 30, 1876)
Related works
Some numbers were also arranged for voices with piano or for piano duet (4 hands) by Tchaikovsky in 1874.- Tchaikovsky: The opera CherevichkiCherevichkiCherevichki [alternative renderings are The Little Shoes, The Tsarina's Slippers, Les caprices d'Oxane, and Gli stivaletti] is a comic-fantastic opera in 4 acts, 8 scenes, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. It was composed in 1885 in Maidanovo, Russia...
(1885) - Rimsky-Korsakov: The opera Christmas EveChristmas Eve (opera)Christmas Eve , is an opera in four acts with music and libretto by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Composed between 1894 and 1895, Rimsky-Korsakov based his opera on a short story, "Christmas Eve", from Nikolay Gogol's Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka...
(1895)