New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-12-31
Borodin Work Receives
Its First American
Performance.
FINE PRESENTATION
OF RUSSIAN OPERA
Chorus Again Plays Large
Part In Action of an Inter
esting Novelty.
Nv GRANVILLE VERNON.

for the FIRST time IN America iosI
night. al the Metropolitan Opera
House. This work, the second OF the
national Russian school to be pro-
duced al the Metropolitan by Signor
Gatti- Casazza, had been promised Tor
last season, but unforeseen difficulties
caused its postponement. In present
ing it Signor Gatti has tsid that what
ever its chance of popular success ne
wished to give it as another example
Of the work Of the Russian lyric stage
his production Of Noussorgsky's Dor
is Godounow" having proved the most
important operate event in New YORK
since the production Of "ParsifaL
That "Prince Igor" would prove a sec
ond "Bori," Signor GATH did not assert,
nor has there been any such general
expectation. Boris" with all its dra-
matte weaknesses. is work OF su-
preme genius, a truly democratic epic
prince Igor" the unfinished work OF
man Of great talent. Yet last
nights production, whatever Its popu-
lar success, whatever the failure OF the
work. and. indeed, often its trivial
ties, was an event of unusual interest.
prince Igor" when truest TO itself
is like Boris" the spontaneous out
burst of the Russian people. There
is in il much that is extraneous 10 this
spirit. many pretty Italian tunes
vet when we discuss these let us re-
member that Borodin left his opera
unfinished. and that in all probability
Rimsky- who with Glazou-
nof completed the opera, was response
bic for much that Borodin himself
might have written otherwise.
Borodin died in 1887, leaving Prince
Igor" unfinished though it is believed
that he had begun it twenty years
before. Rimsky- KorsakoG, writing OF
the circumstances Of its completion
says:
an the early morning Of February
Is. 1887. | was visited by Mr.. Stassow'
who entered with a strange expression
on his face. DO you know he said,
that Borodin is dead" The thought
of the unfinished Prince Igor at once
flashed through my mind. After the
burial in the graveyard OF NewsRy
Monastery, ! took hold Of the manu-,
script with Glazounof and we decided
to complete it, Several parts, such as
the first chorus, the dance OF foloV-
etsv. the final chorus, the par; OF
Vladmira. the airs of konchak'
Konchakowna, etc, we're already nm
isheG and orchestratcd. Other num-
beers were merely in the form OF
piano score, and many parts dld nov
exist. For the second and third acts
there was not even a libretto-merely
come unfinished songs and sketches.
But | knew well the designs OF these
acts. having discussed II so often with
the composer Least finished, Of all
was the third act. We decided that
Glazounoff should finish the third act
and the overture, which the composer
had played 80 often, while | did the
rest" -,
As both the overture and the third
act are omitted in the metropolitan
production. as they were omitted IN
also in the performances at Covent
Garden. the work as last nights audi
cnce heard il is really the joint pro-
duction of Borodin and Rimsky- korsa-
kof. No doubt. the ideas Of Borodin
we're the animating spirit, even IN the
portions written by Rimsky, yet tne
belief will not down that had Borodln
been able TO complete the work the
music would have possessed unity
lacking in its present version. AS this,
however, can be only mere hypothesis,
we must take the opera as IL is, ana
as it is it must stand or fall.
The Story.
The story Of prince Igor was
based by Borodin, with the aid OF his
friend Vladimir Stassow, on the Epic
of the Army Of Prince Igor" consid-
cred BY some twelfth century Kns-
sian poem and by others monHish
invention of the eighteenth.
The prologue opens in the market
Mace Of Poultivle, the City OF Igor,
Prince of Seversk. Igor, with his son.
Vladimir. is about to set out against
the Polovetsy, a Tartar tribe, but the
people, frightened by an eclipse of the
sun, implore him TO postpone his eK-
pedition. He refuses, and departs
commenting his wife, Yaroslovns, to
the caro- of his brother-in-law, Prince
Galitskv. In Tgor's absence Galitsky
ATTEMPTS 10 overthrow the authority
of the Prince. He has nearly sue
ceeded. when the news arrives that
Igor and Vladimir have been beaten
and taken prisoners. and that the Pol
ovetsy are marching on Poultivle. The
news of this disaster causes reac-
ton Of popular sentiment, and as the
curtain falls the Boyars draw their
swords and swear 70 defend YarosloVna
10 the death.
The second act is in the Tartar
camp. Khan Konchak is a noble type
Of Eastern warrior. He treats Igor
kindly, and his daughter, Konchakow-
ma. falls in love with Vladimir. The
Khan gives a banquet In honor CT his
captives. which serves 10 introduce a
series Of Tartar dances. The third
act. in which Igor escapes and Vladl-
mir is united to aKonchakowna,
omitted in the present production
the action passing to lgors castle.
Yaroslovna, standing on the steps o,
the castle, sings a lament, which is
turned into duet Cf JOY upon the
return Of her husband, and the opera
closes upon scene of general re-
joicing. -,
hare the essential dramatic weakness
of the work, weakness which is com
mon to practically all the productions
Of the Russian lyric stage. In fact, the
idea Of music-drsma as Wagner con-
ceiyed it is largely foreign TO the Rus
siam composers. In Boris Godounow"
there 4. precisely the same weakness,
a string OF separate and separated in
ridents bound together only by sim
ilarity of spirit and possessing neither
elimination Of detail nor cumulative in