THEORETICAL ASPECTS IN THE FORMATION OF
PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
International scientific-online conference
8
THE IMAGE OF LYUBASHA IN THE OPERA “TSAR’S BRIDE” BY
N.RIMSKIY-KORSAKOV
Jiganova Yuliya
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14604226
Introduction.
Frankly, it is one of the most remarkable Russian operas in the music world.
Folk traditions, historical facts, and superb music content. The “Tsar’s Bride”
was written in 1899, and the first performance was in Moscow in the same year.
It was an awesome execution under the guidance of great conductor and
composer, Ippolitov-Ivanov. Moreover, this opera has become one of the
loveliest performances among the classical enthusiasts. Let’s look in this
marvelous time and try to understand the woman’s struggles from jealousy.
Action occurs in 1572; it is a hursh time. Gryaznoy, is Tsar’s oprichnik,
kidnapped Lyubasha and made her own favorite one. They had love
relationships and she felt in love with him. Once, Gryaznoy by accident, saw
Marfa, a gorgeous woman who was selected by Tsar Ivan Grozniy; before this,
she had a hope to stand bride of her beloved Likov, but fate decreed otherwise….
It is impossible to imagine that time when women had no rights and obeyed
their fathers or husbands. The life of the main character depended on Gregory
Gryaznoy; she could not even imagine how she would live, if he went off her.
Unfortunately, obstacles were too strong, and Lyubasha’s beloved was obsessed
by another woman, and it has become a really disaster for all of them. Here the
composer reveals breathtaking feelings of characters; there are love,
disappointment, disgust, fear, anger, and jealousy in this opera. Indeed,
Lyubasha decided to make an awful step; she has not reconciled with her grief,
and she came to an old man who was doing different potions for people; she
craved to kill steadily Marfa without suspicion. Eventually, this story ended
tragically. The he main actress made a deal with doctor Bomeliy; he created a
drug that steadily killed Marfa, but payback was Lyubasha’s love. So, she got
what she deserved; Marfa died. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good decision; Gregory
has not loved her anymore; moreover, all has been unveiled, and furious
Gryaznoy got his revenge and stubbed Lyubasha. It is crucial to say that this
peace of music is not just a marvelous plot; there are a lot of technical struggles
for singers. First of all, I would like to do an accent on Lyubasha’s part; it is for
mezzo-soprano; the singer has to have a big voice range, replete middle and high
registers, and huge endurance. There are many hard places when tessitura is
really uncomfortable, and the singer should have skills to cope with that. For
THEORETICAL ASPECTS IN THE FORMATION OF
PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
International scientific-online conference
9
example, in the first action, when Lyubasha sings the Russian song a’Capella, it is
necessary to save tonality and feel comfortable and calm without orchestra.
Then, in the famous scene Lyubasha with Grigoriy Gryaznoy, emotions are
gripping, the orchestra is so intense and important not to force the sound and fix
high position at the same time, and do not forget about the character’s condition
at this moment. This is really hard; just brilliant singers can do it. Do not forget
about other characters; their parts are not simple either. For instance, masters
of scene perform the gorgeous part of Marfa, which is for high soprano with
warm and soft timbre. Not less than Marfa, so difficult parts of Likov, Gryaznoy,
and Malyuta.
In conclusion, I would like to say that the world of Rimskiy-Korsakov’s music is
one of the supreme, and it is really happiness to perform his masterpieces.
