Opera "Prince Igor": content, video, interesting facts

A.P. Borodin opera "Prince Igor"

The old Russian work "The Word of Igor's Regiment" became the basis of the storyline in the opera by Alexander Borodin "Prince Igor". Like the old Russian epic, the composer’s composition is permeated with the patriotic idea of ​​the Russian people. This work praises Russian music - Alexander Porfirievich filled his creation with the heroics of the Slavic people, epic and epic tunes and traits. The main characters of the work embody the essence of the Russian soul, its noble beginning, masculinity, loyalty and morality. It’s not for nothing that this opera is so popular in Russia: native land and its advocates are praised, disasters and difficulties are perceived with pain, and good events Ia - encouraging the whole Russian people, including a modern audience.

Summary of the opera Borodin "Prince Igor" and a lot of interesting facts about this work, read on our page.

Summary of Prince Igor

The army, assembled on Putilev Square, is waiting for Prince Igor to go on a campaign to confront the Polovtsy. Suddenly, it begins to darken and a solar eclipse occurs. The people are frightened by this "God's sign" and suggests that Igor wait a little while off the march. The prince thinks otherwise, since his business is good and he plans to protect Russia! Yaroslavna is worried about the feeling that everything will turn out badly and that she is begging her husband not to go into battle. Igor turns to her brother, Prince Galitsky, asking him to take care of his sister during his absence.

Princely court Galician. Servants praise their prince, and Skula and Eroshka make people laugh. Vladimir loves noisy gatherings, but now he is not very happy about it. He wants to be richer and have more power. In his dreams - the place of Prince Igor. Brazhniki, headed by Skula with Eroshka, are planning a riot.

Yaroslavna is worried, the news from the prince and the squad has long been gone. Her forebodings are confirmed. The girls approach her and complain to Galitsky and his people that they allow themselves a lot. When a brother appears, the princess expresses his displeasure with him about his behavior. To this Galitsky arrogantly replies that he wants to dislodge Igor. Yaroslavna becomes enraged and expels him.

The sad news was brought by the boyars to the princess, her husband and her son in captivity, and the Polovtsi broke the army. The bells are broadcasting danger - the Khan's fighters hold the way to Putivl. Boyars decisive, and believe that the city is separated!

In enemy captivity, Prince Igor. Khan's daughter Konchakovna is all in her thoughts about the captive Vladimir, and even the dances of the Polovtsian girls cannot entertain her. Konchakovna is waiting for a meeting with the son of the prince. With the onset of night in love date.

Prince Igor is also not sleeping, it is too hard for him to admit that his army has been crushed, he is in captivity, and his homeland will be enslaved by enemies. Freedom is his dream, because then he will recreate the army, break the Polovtsy and liberate Russia. The baptized polovchanin Ovlur comes with a proposal for help to Igor to run away, but he does not agree. Konchak Khan appears, who respectfully addresses and treats the prisoner, and agrees to forgive him, and give freedom if he vows not to raise weapons against his people. The prince truthfully reports that if released, he will create a new army in the first place and continue the war with the army of the khan.

Khan Gzak returned with a large number of Russian captives. Captured Russians report that Putivl was burned, mothers and wives in grief. Igor decides to run. Right before the escape, Konchakovna comes and asks Vladimir not to leave her here alone. Vladimir hesitates, and the desperate daughter of Khan begins to sound the alarm. Ovlur with prince quickly disappear. Khan's army demands the death of Vladimir, but Konchak does otherwise. He tells the prince’s son that now Konchakovna is his wife.

Yaroslavna is grieving and crying for her husband. Suddenly, two horsemen appear on the horizon, in one of which Yaroslavna recognizes her husband. There is a national magnificence of Prince Igor.

A photo:

Interesting Facts

• Amazing but A.P. Borodin in spite of the fact that he composed this famous opera and clearly had composer talent, he was a chemist and a doctor by education! In his scientific works over 40 works in chemistry, and even one chemical reaction is named after him!
• The composer worked on the opera "Prince Igor" for 18 years, but did not manage to finish it. The official cause of death is a heart failure.
• Known fact that Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov added and finished this work after the death of Borodin. But there is a perception that this did not have to be done, since in fact almost all the music was written by Borodin, and only a few numbers were not orchestrated. Overture and some arias were recorded from memory by Glazunov, they closely communicated with Alexander Porfirievich.
• On the example of two images from Prince Igor: Galitsky and Khan Konchak, one could judge by the magnificent performance interpretation of Fyodor Chaliapin, the great Russian opera singer. Both of them were performed by him, and in each of them he individually and uniquely approached the performance. And when Chaliapin was on the scene, there was no doubt that now Khan or Prince Galitsky himself was in front of the audience.

• Composing the poems for his opera Prince Igor, Borodin wrote a popular Russian drawling folk song, the name of which was practically the same name with the famous Sparrow Hills in Moscow - Vorobevskie Mountains.
• The folk Polovtsian songs are laid into the musical basis of the Polovtsian act of writing Borodin. The composer received them from the Hungarian P. Hunvaldi, who at that time was a famous traveler. Unfortunately, to date, these records are considered lost.
• Prince Igor was conceived by Borodin as an epic hero, therefore his image is as close as possible to this idea of ​​the composer.
• It is interesting that in the book "The Word of Igor's Regiment" there are no folk scenes, but the main idea, laid down by an unknown chronicler, has a thought about the people. Alexander Porfirievich, on the contrary, depicted this idea in the work, using numerous and varied choral scenes.
• A bronze statue of Yaroslavna was installed in the city of Putivl (1983). Interestingly, the creators of the monument, by chance, made it implausible. Yaroslavna barefoot and bareheaded. The princess could not be without shoes, like a simple peasant woman, and also without a head covering, since she was a married woman.
• The Olympic Games of 2014 in Sochi, as always, did not do without opera music during the opening ceremony, including the choir number of slave girls "Fly on the wings of the wind".

• Rapper Voren Ji from America and opera diva Sissel from Norway recorded in 1997 a joint project Prince Igor. Hit parades of radio stations quite often announced this song in the winners. The variation of the choral number of girls in captivity was performed like a chorus.
• The group Aria released the song "The Battlefield" (2009). In the single there is a choral episode "On the wings of the wind." Instrumental processing in the second composition was made by Vladimir Holstinin.
• In the advertisement of kvass "Russian gift" (2014) - at the end of the video there is a solo, male performance "Fly Away on the Wings of the Wind" in rock processing.
• The famous American animated series "The Simpsons" used in the 12 episodes of the 18th season (as of 15:43) a musical, instrumental fragment "On the wings of the wind".

Popular arias and numbers from the opera "Prince Igor"

The boyar choir "Take heart, princess" is from the first act (the second picture), Yaroslavna is sung when it is already known that the Russian army has been destroyed, and a khan with an army goes to the city. (listen)

Kavatina Konchakovna "The light of day is dimmed" - from the second act, the daughter of Khan sings about her love for Vladimir, the son of Prince Igor. (listen)

Igor's aria "No sleep, no rest for the tormented soul" - from the second act, the famous aria, where the prince himself feels about feelings and mental state. (listen)

Konchak's aria "Are you well, prince?" - from the second action. Khan sings her when the prisoner greets. (listen)

The slave choir - "Fly away on the wings of the wind" - from the second act (Polovtsian dancing scene). The number starts with a dance, and then the girls start singing. - listen)

Crying Yaroslavna "Oh, I cry" - the beginning of the fourth action, the spouse is crying bitterly, fearing never to see her husband again. (listen)

Music

Prince Igor is called the folk-epic opera. Alexander Porfirievich himself spoke about the closeness of his work to the Glinka opera "Ruslan and Ludmila". The epic in "Igor" is that it uses the heroic musical images, the scale of the forms, as well as the unhurried course of the action, as if it were epic.

The opera "Prince Igor" from the first production was perceived by the public more than positively. Russian musical variations with great emotional overtones immediately formed Russian souls, and thanks to a plot with a patriotic popular principle and a love story, the work became world-famous.

The history of the creation of "Prince Igor"

Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov, Russian music critic, during a musical evening with L.I. Shestakova (04/18/1869), gave the idea to take as a basis the plot of "The Word of Igor's Regiment". Alexandra Porfirevich enthusiastically began writing. He visited Putivl and its surroundings, thoroughly engaged in the study of historical and musical sources that were associated with the description of the necessary times.

For 18 years the composer worked on the opera, but the sudden death did not allow him to finish his many years of work. But records remained Borodin, and A.K. Glazunov, together with N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov finished this work. It was believed that Alexander Konstantinovich, hearing the author's playing on the piano, recreated some numbers from memory, but later in the newspaper about Russian music he did not confirm this myth. He also orchestrated and composed all the third act. Nikolai Andreevich orchestrated the prologue, the first, second and fourth acts, as well as the Polovtsian march.

Despite such a number of interventions, the opera turned out artistic and holistic. All composers closely communicated and were friends, and also worked together. Considering the fact that most of the work was orchestrated by Glazunov and Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolai Andreevich insisted that Prince Igor was the complete work of A.P. Borodin Whether such a statement is fair, it can be said, when comparing the wording of the two final opera creators and the author’s wording, which was recently published.

Productions

In 2015, it was 125 years since the first production of the musical drama "Prince Igor". This performance was first shown at the Mariinsky Theater (St. Petersburg). The event took place, given the changes with the new style, November 4, 1890. "Prince Igor" was immediately liked by the public and received a great success. According to one of those present at the production of a contemporary, this opera is new, Russian and at the same time classical. Thus began the great journey of Prince Igor in the opera houses of the world. The first foreign premiere took place in Prague (1899). Then in Paris (1909) was given a shortened version of the opera. In 1914, during the great season of Russian opera and ballet at the London Royal Theater, Prince Igor was shown. In 1915, New York saw a colorful production on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. The show in Milano took place in 1916 at the Teatro alla Scala.

Great Russian singers of the Bolshoi Theater took part in the tour, such as: Fyodor Shalyapin (high bass), Leonid Sobinov (lyric tenor), Elizaveta Azerskaya (mezzo-soprano), Stepan Trezvinsky (bass), etc.

In the post-Soviet and Soviet times, Prince Igor was very popular on Russian and Soviet scenes. And nowadays this opera is also in demand, both in Russia and in Europe. It is worth noting that modern productions have been modernized for the public of the 21st century, so costumes and decorations can be applied not from those historical times, but modified by the current century.

In conclusion, I would like to say that this work Alexandra Borodina more than one century will be staged in all musical theaters of the world. Historical events, intertwined with love stories - will always be relevant, and therefore in great demand. Patriotism and love are two themes that cannot be forgotten. A composer musical accompaniment, perfectly developed together with the old Russian poem.