The Collective Opera-Ballet “Mlada” (1872): the First Performance
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Abstract
The collective opera-ballet “Mlada” (1872), written by five composers to the libretto of Stepan Gideonov and Viktor
Krylov, has been reconstructed by German musicologist Albrecht Gaub and was published in 2016 by the American
publishing house “A-R Editions.” The reconstruction was carried out on the basis of 27 manuscript source materials
preserved in St. Petersburg and Moscow. A section of the music has been published for the first time, part of which
– for the first time in its original form without the significant alterations brought into the previous publications.
In Acts 2 and 3 completed by Modest Mussorgsky and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov there exist significant lacunae.
Nonetheless, the published piano-vocal score in combination with the research and commentaries makes it possible
to create a perspective of this experimental musical composition written by the participants of “The Mighty Handful”
group, as well as the depth of stylistic contrast between the scenes written by Cesar Cui, Modest Mussorgsky,
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin and the ballet numbers written by Ludwig Minkus. Partially
reconstructed is the libretto of the opera-ballet, the positions of the creator of the idea of the opera-ballet “Mlada,”
Gedeonov, are presented on the paths of development of the musical theater, its “anti-Wagnerian” aesthetics. The
choice of the plot from the history of the Polabian Slavs was given an explanation. The edition fills in a “blank
spot” in the history of Russian music and presents musicologists with significant material for further research, in
particular, for the study of the phenomenon of collectively written music al compositions.
Keywords: collective opera-ballet “Mlada,” piano-vocal score, opera-ballet, reconstruction of musical manuscripts,
“Mighty Handful”
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References
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3. Stasov V. V. Alexander Porfir’evich Borodin. Ego zhizn’, perepiska i musykal’nye stat’i [Alexander Borodin. His Life, Correspondance, and Musical Articles]. St. Petersburg: A. S. Suvorin Printers, 1889. 180 p.
4. Gaub A. Critical Report. Mlada (1872). Scenes from a Collaborative Opera-Ballet by César Cui, Modest Musorgskii, Nikolai Rimskii-Korsakov, and Aleksandr Borodin. Edited by Albrecht Gaub. Middleton, USA: A-R Editions, 2016, pp. 275–316.
5. Gaub A. Introduction. Mlada (1872). Scenes from a Collaborative Opera-Ballet by César Cui, Modest Musorgskii, Nikolai Rimskii-Korsakov, and Aleksandr Borodin. Edited by Albrecht Gaub. Middleton, USA: A-R Editions, 2016, pp. xv–xxx.
6. Gaub A. Die kollektive Ballett-Oper “Mlada”. Ein Werk von Kjui, Musorgskij, Rimskij-Korsakov, Borodin und Minkus [The Collective Ballet Opera “Mlada”. A Work of Kjui, Musorgskij, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin and Minkus]. Berlin: Ernst Kuhn, 1998. 624 S.
7. Gaub A. Preface. Mlada (1872). Scenes from a Collaborative Opera-Ballet by César Cui, Modest Musorgskii, Nikolai Rimskii-Korsakov, and Aleksandr Borodin. Edited by Albrecht Gaub. Middleton, USA: A-R Editions, 2016, pp. ix–xiii.