The Voyevoda (opera)

Instrumentation#

• Strings: Violins I, Violins II, Violas, Cellos, and Double Basses
• Woodwinds: Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, Cor Anglais, 2 Clarinets (B-flat & A), 2 Bassoons
• Brass: 4 Horns (all in F), 2 Trumpets (B-flat), 3 Trombones, Tuba
• Percussion: Timpani, Triangle, Cymbals, Bass Drum
• Other: Harp Source: Voyevoda (opera) Tchaikovsky Research

Synopsis#

Time: The middle of the 17th century Place: A large city on the Volga River :Overture

Act 1#

:No.1 Chorus of Maidens & Scena :No.2 Mariya’s Ballad & Duet :No.3 Scena :No.4 Bastryukov’s Aria :No.5 Scena & Duet :No.6 Scena :No.7 Scena :No.8 Quartet & Scena :No.9 Finale

Act 2#

:No.10 Introduction :No.11 Chorus of Servants :No.12 Bastryukov’s Aria :No.13 Scena & Dubrovin’s Aria :No.14 Entr’acte & Dances of the Chambermaids :No.15 Scena & Mariya’s Song :No.16 Scena :No.17 Duet :No.18 Scena :No.19 Scena & Khorovod

Act 3#

:No.20 Entr’acte :No.21 Scena & Dubrovin’s Aria :No.22 Scena :No.23 Quartet :No.24 Scena :No.25 Duet :No.26 Scena & Quartet :No.27 Scena :No.28 Quintet :No.29 Scena & Chorus :No.30 Scena :No.31 Closing Scena Source: Tchaikovsky Research

Derived works#

• The Entr’acte and Dances of the Chambermaids from Act 2 were based on the Characteristic Dances for orchestra (1865), and were also arranged for piano duet by Tchaikovsky.
• Under the pseudonym “Cramer”, Tchaikovsky composed a Potpourri on themes from the opera The Voyevoda, for solo piano (1868).

Similarly named works#

• In 1886, Tchaikovsky wrote incidental music for the Domovoi scene from Alexander Ostrovsky’s A Dream on the Volga. This is the same play that formed the basis of the opera, but the incidental music is otherwise unconnected to the opera.
• Tchaikovsky’s symphonic ballad in A minor, entitled The Voyevoda, Op. 78 (1891), is based on Alexander Pushkin’s translation of Adam Mickiewicz’s poem and thus is not related to the like-named opera in either the music or the underlying story.
• Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Pan Voyevoda, set in Poland, likewise is not related to Ostrovsky’s play.

Recordings#

• A complete recording of the opera has been issued on the Aquarius CD label, with Vladimir Kozhukhar conducting soloists with the Academic Grand Chorus of Central Television and All-Union Radio and the State Symphonic Orchestra of the USSR Ministry of culture.
• The lively, sometimes dramatic, overture has occasionally been performed and recorded. It is one of the few works of Tchaikovsky to be performed by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra in a broadcast performance that was preserved on transcription discs. The overture, as well as the entr’acte and dances, was also included in Vox Records’ complete recordings of Tchaikovsky’s orchestral music, released on both LP and CD (with Dolby surround sound); János Fürst conducted the Bamberg Symphony.

External links#

• *Tchaikovsky Research