The Historical Discourse of Rimsky-Korsakovs Operas

MARTÍN BAÑA

Leeds

Simposio; International Symposium Non-Nationalist Russian Opera; 2010

School of Music, University of Leeds

Since political debate in 19th century Russia was very limited, social and political thought had to be expressed through alternative and disguised channels. Criticism of the established order was indeed one of the main concerns of Russian art. In this context, opera composers could be seen not as mere artist, but also and principally as intellectuals or, to use the Russian word, intelligenty, who aspired to participate in their countrys intellectual life. Many scholars and commentators tended to consider that the 19th-century Russian Opera was usually a mere vector of nationalism, both political and musical. However, many composers, in searching of an intellectual intervention, avoided that perspective and tried out different ones like, for instance, the construction of an historical discourse through their operas. The aim of this paper is to examine the historiographical value of Rimsky-Korsakovs operas, since it is possible to find in them a significant interpretation of Russian past that challenged both official and professional versions of it. It is necessary to deem not only his genuine historical drama The Maid of Pskov- but also to reconsider the operas in which the historical aspects were supposedly sacrificed to the personal drama  -like The Tsars Bride or Boyarinya Vera Sheloga-. By analysing both the libretto and the music, this paper follows an interdisciplinary approach that combines the methodology of musicological research with those of historiography.