Opera "Sadko": content, video, interesting facts

ON. Rimsky-Korsakov opera "Sadko"

Opera tale N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov "Sadko“- this is a sample of a genuine folk style. It fascinates with its unusual plot and attracts with fabulously fantastic images, as well as with the sea element that is so beloved by the composer. In addition, all the colorful action unfolds against the background of folk themes.

Summary of the opera Rimsky-Korsakov "Sadko" and many interesting facts about this work, read on our page.

Summary of "Sadko"

In the plot of the play Sadko - Novgorod guslyar, who dreams of traveling and adventures. Songs in which the musician condemns the merchants for empty boasting and refuses to glorify wealth, did not like the highest nobility, and he is banished from the city feast. Guslar is sent to the shore of Ilmen-lake to sing his wonderful songs there. The soul of the young man had to work for the daughters of the Tsar of the Sea, and one of them, Volkhov, Sadko predicted well-being and promised to give three gold fish a feather. Then the guslar decided on the trade square to challenge the merchants. Sadko promised to provide evidence that there is an amazing golden-necked fish in Ilmen-lake. Throwing a net, he immediately took out three little fish, which instantly became precious ingots. Fabulously grown rich Sadko, immediately assembled the squad and equipped the ship to go to overseas countries. At home, his beautiful wife waited.

For twelve years the guslar traveled with his retinue, all this time the Sea King did not let him go home. Sadko guessed that he demanded a fee, however, he did not immediately understand which one. The fact is that Volkhov herself, the daughter of the Sovereign of the Sea, wanted to get a guslar who was so beloved by her. Sadko had nothing left to do, to go to her, to the sea abyss. Once at the bottom, he meets the Sea King and his family. With his wonderful singing, the guslar charmed not only the Queen, but also the Master of the Sea, and it was decided to celebrate the wedding of Sadko and the Volkhovs. During the festive fun, a Vision Starcher suddenly arises and advises the guslar to return to Novgorod.

The musician is already going to the beach with his new wife. Once on land, Sadko falls asleep, and his wife, Tsarina Volkhova, remains to protect the peace of her beloved. At dawn, the daughter of the King of the Sea disappears, as if a ghostly vision, and Sadko meets with his legitimate wife Lubava, who has been faithfully waiting for him all this time. Without a trace, the Queen of the Sea evaporates with the morning mist, leaving behind only the Volkhov River, which connected with Ilmen-lake, and along its bed, Sadko’s ships finally return home with the whole squad. All residents of the city came out to look at the wonder-wonderful - the river, which suddenly appeared out of nowhere and meet dear guests.

A photo:

Interesting Facts

• The premiere of Sadko was a great success, despite the fact that the Directorate of the Mariinsky Theater initially did not approve the performance. Moreover, Nicholas II himself struck out this work from the repertoire.
• The opera includes several excerpts from the symphonic poem Sadko, which was written by Rimsky-Korsakov 30 years earlier on the same plot.
• Instrumental arrangement Tommy Dorsey "Songs of the Indian Guest" in 1938, immediately became a classic jazz.

• As many as 3 centuries (12-15 centuries) through Novgorod passed all freight traffic from the West to Russia. Due to such a monopoly over the entire Russian market, Novgorod earned an advantage over other cities of Russia in political might and wealth. No overseas merchant had the opportunity to pass by the city of market affairs. According to some sources, Sadko is believed to be a historical person. In the Novgorod Chronicle (1167), a record of Sadko Sytinich, who laid the church out of stone, was preserved. This church structure made it possible to preserve the name of the “fabulous” hero Sadko in the memory of the people, and this also confirms the information that he was rich and engaged in the construction business.
• Skilled historians and folklorists tend to believe that the story of Sadko is fiction. One of the proofs of the mystification, according to experts, is that in the writings of "Djagfar Tarihi" (Fake, historical chronicle. Historians attribute this Bulgarian arch of the late 20th century to modern fakes) there is a story about Sadyk, who was a Novgorod merchant. According to the texts, Sadyk moved to serve the Turks, after being imprisoned in captivity.
• Scenic details, many monologues and dialogues, as well as details on the scenery that were mentioned in the musical text, Rimsky-Korsakov borrowed completely from various epic and song sources, and also did not deprive people of conspiracies and lamentations. So, two numbers from the opera, a frank folk epic, Nikolai Andreevich shortened them only a little, we are talking about the epic of the Magician and the song of the Nightingale.
• Moscow Private Opera S.I. Mamontov became the first theater where this musical drama was staged. But after a successful setting in the room almost immediately ignited. Zagorodny Prospect 28 is the address where Nikolai Andreevich spent as much as 15 years. Today his apartment is a museum. Such great opera works as "Sadko", "Tsar's Bride", "The Tale of Tsar Saltan", were composed in this very apartment. To the present day, everything has been preserved as well as during the living Nikolai Andreevich.

• There are various versions of the legends of Sadko the rich guest. The composer took much of these variations into the content of the work, and also combined them with fairy tales from Afanasyev’s collection.
• In the epic of the guslar, the time of the incident is indicated on the 11th-12th centuries, but Nikolai Andreevich changed the time frame, creating a musical drama semi-fantastic and semi-historical. Rimsky-Korsakov wrote the work, referring to the centuries, when only an understanding of Christianity began to appear in Novgorod, and the old-pagan faiths still had a very strong influence on the people.
• People's Artist of the USSR F.F. Fedorovsky in his time was the creator of the decoration of the opera "Sadko" (Bolshoi Theater). Being fascinated by Old Russian all sorts of epic tales, as well as everyday life, Fedorovskii was creatively inspired by such sources. It is thanks to this interest, the artist created the magnificent scenery and costumes for the musical drama "Sadko". His artistic work was so well appreciated that in the middle of the 20th century he was awarded the Stalin Prize of the first degree.

Popular arias and numbers from the opera "Sadko"

Sadko's song "Play, my guselki" - listen

The lullaby of the Volkhovs "Sleep on the bank went" - to listen

Entry "Ocean-Blue Sea" - listen

Indian Guest Song - Listen

Music "Sadko"

Opera "Sadko" epic. So, Rimsky-Korsakov, a follower Glinka, preserved the traditions that Mikhail Ivanovich laid in the musical drama "Ruslan and Ludmila". One of the features that the epic dramaturgy contains is the lack of divisions into actions in the opera. The work of Sadko fits in seven scenes. The composer still gave the opportunity to do the divisions during the performances. The first option he proposed was to divide by two actions, the second - by five. To create a support for the entire score, the composer had very well thought out the construction and placement of scenes with a large number of participants. The author made the structure of the parties uniform: mass works in the first, fourth and the seventh picture. The unfolding of fantastic images took place in the second and sixth scenes, and the third and fifth were filled with lyrical and dramatic images.

All the main characters have interesting musical portraits. This is shown by the extensive and developing vocal arias and songs depicted in the scenery of the life and life of the people. In the musical content of the opera, saturation, brilliance and contrast are strongly distinguished. The fairy-tale underwater world is embodied with the help of flexible means, special harmony and wayward melody, and these underwater images are contrasted with the real: Russian people, life.

It is interesting that the whole opera has an uneven development: there are moments when the action on the stage “stops” as it were, and thus the audience focuses its attention on the beauty of the music and the staged mass numbers. Nikolai Andreevich often and actively touches upon the Russian folk theme and the "maritime" leitmotif in the music of the work.

The history of the creation of "Sadko"

Rimsky-Korsakov began working on Sadko in the summer season of 1894, although he was thinking about a story about a foreign visitor 15 years before the creation. About his idea, a music artist, wrote a criticism V.V. Stasov. They were good friends who were closely united by joint work. Stasov responded with an extensive letter where he gave references to various variations of epic, and recommended that the composer pay more attention to the real pictures of the national life and the Novgorod life of that time.

In the original essay, the primacy was at the fantastic scenes. The work itself was completed in 1895 (autumn). But later the composer heeded the advice of a friend, and already in the summer of the new year he thoroughly reworked his brainchild. Now he has an assistant - V.I. Belsky - with this librettist Nikolai Andreevich worked in the future on several more operas.

After the converted score, new characters were formed. Guslyar Sadko, a folk singer, got his wife Lubava, who loved her husband, was faithful and loyal to him. Also the scenes with the people were enlarged, became more developed, and enriched with new elements. This musical drama has received a full-blooded, truthful character. And this narration about the powerful, inimitable national life took a significant place among the other great opera classical works.

Productions

The premiere was planned to be staged at the Mariinsky Theater in 1896, but this was not done. Personally, Nicholas II did not miss "Sadko" to show the viewer, deleting the work from the proposed program of the theater. The premiere occurred only on December 26 of the following year (according to the old calendar) at the SI private theater in Moscow. Mammoth. The opera was very successful, including thanks to the magnificent scenery of K. Korovin.

In this musical drama revealed the unique talent of Nadezhda Zabela-Vrubel, the singer of the Volkhovs. Fyodor Shalyapin brilliantly made the Varangian guest!

It was thanks to the “epic recitative,” as Rimsky-Korsakov himself believed, that the Sadko opera stood out from the composer’s other written works.

Opera "Sadko" - one of the most popular and sought after among other works of Nikolai Anreevich. Until today, it is popular abroad and put in the best theaters in the world. On the Russian scenes, the musical drama "Sadko" is very popular.

"Sadko“- it’s not just an opera, it’s an epic piece, which is characterized by a smooth and slow action, like a calm river’s flow. It reveals images of old tales and epics to the listener. kingdom and, of course, unusually beautiful music ON. Rimsky-Korsakov.