Mikhail Glinka’s fantasy romantic opera Ruslan and Lyudmila is very special for me. Pushkin’s poem was the first serious book that I read on my own at an early age, and Glinka’s masterpiece was one of the first operas I saw at the Mariinsky Theatre (then the Kirov Theatre). I listened to its enchanting melodies hundreds of times at home, on records, and literally learned the music by heart.
The dream to create a special performance based on Ruslan is one of long standing.
The matter is that while Glinka’s score is undoubtedly recognized as one of the main achievements of Russian classical music of the 19th century, the libretto of the opera leaves many questions. To understand why, let’s take a look at the time when the work was composed.
Although Glinka’s intention to create an opera based on Ruslan and Lyudmila was approved by Pushkin himself, and although Pushkin was going to adapt the plot accordingly, the poet’s sudden death in the duel prevented him from writing the libretto himself as planned. It is obvious that the composer had begun to work on the music even before the appearance of a completed literary text. As he put it himself, he “had not been caring at all about the dramatic path and course of the play, believing that could be settled later”.
Besides, having in mind the success of the future opera with the public, Glinka made a number of illogical changes to the plot from the middle of Act 3, in order to give more performances to the star of the opera stage, contralto Anna Petrova-Vorobyova, for whom the part of Ratmir had been written. Because of this, for example, the entire Tableau 1 of Act 5 is sung by Ratmir, and not by the main character, Ruslan.
For the Primorsky Stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, I have created an original literary and musical composition, which, based on Glinka’s amazing music, returns Ruslan and Lyudmila to the original Pushkin’s plot. At the same time, several numbers have been removed, and some of the music has been “handed back” to Ruslan. Also, several important plot lines have been brought back, such as the murder and miraculous revival of the main character. The music is interspersed with the declamation of the chosen fragments from the poem. The performance is accompanied by sand animation, allowing the audience to plunge into the fabulous world of images of the magnificent “Russian fantasy”, which has emerged from the pens of two geniuses of Russian culture!
Pavel Smelkov
