Presentation of "Prince Igor" clavier in author's edition

16.04.2013

Presentation of "Prince Igor" clavier in author's edition

On April, 15 at the Central Museum of Musical Culture named after M. Glinka the first edition of the clavier of Borodin's opera "Prince Igor" in author's edition was presented. This clavier, prepared jointly by the creative team of "Helikon-Opera" and the All-Russian Museum Association of Musical Culture named after M. Glinka, was published in Moscow publishing house "Classic-XXI» with the financial support of the Russian Humanitarian Scientific Foundation.

Exactly two years earlier, in April 2011, in the Svetlanov Hall of the Moscow International House of Music, the world premiere of author's edition of "Prince Igor" by A. P. Borodin took place. Concert version was performed by soloists, chorus and orchestra of "Helikon-Opera". Conductor - Vladimir Ponkin. The performance proved that "Prince Igor" by Borodin and "Prince Igor" by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov were actually two different operas.

So far, it is believed that the author's version of "Prince Igor" does not exist, and, in fact, there is nothing to restore. This view is refuted by reference to the original manuscript of Borodin: there are 93 musical autographs of "Prince Igor" are known today, and they are stored in nine Russian and foreign archives.

Publication of "Prince Igor" fragments, which were not included in the notorious edition by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov, began in the 1950s. In 1977, on the basis of materials from the Museum named after M. Glinka a collection of Borodin’s choirs, which included the so-called "Galitsky’s scene with the girls", was published. It turned out that in Borodin’s edition Galitsky is not involved in this scene, and its music has undergone tremendous changes in the hands of Rimsky-Korsakov. It was a bomb, which did not explode then, in 1970ies, somehow nobody paid attention to it.

"Prince Igor" by more than a hundred years was in the position of a "familiar stranger." It seems to be well-known to everybody, but there were no book, where you would read what parts of the opera were actually composed by Borodin, and for what he was not responsible. Now it is no longer a secret. Clavier includes only those scenes that Borodin did write for "Igor". In addition, the printed version contains author’s variants and indicates which scenes can be moved without violating the author's will. In some cases, Borodin really left freedom of choice for the performers, but he certainly outlined its borders.

The Director General of the All-Russian Museum Association of Musical Culture named after M. Glinka Mikhail Bryzgalov, the Artistic Director of "Helikon-Opera" theatre Dmitry Bertman, Vice President for Science of the Moscow Conservatory Konstantin Zenkin, the Head of competitive projects in Philology and Art History of the Russian State Science Foundation Nikolai Denisov and Chief Curator of All-Russian Museum Association of Musical Culture named after M. Glinka Natalia Tartakovskaya and musicologist Anna Bulycheva told about the fascinating scientific work that preceded the publication of the clavier, the relevance of the study, who prepared the edition.

Soloists of "Helikon-Opera" performed previously unknown fragments of the opera. Elena Mikhaylenko sang arioso "Yaroslavna’s Dream ", and Alexander Kiselev performed Prince Igor’s monologue "Why did not I fall on the field of battle." Concertmaster - Elena Sosulnikova.