Tchaikovsky is best known in operatic circles mostly for three of his eleven operas: “Eugene Onegin,” “Mazeppa,” and “The Queen of Spades.” You’ve heard “Cherevichki,” “Vakula the Smith,” and “The Enchantress” on the Sunday Opera, but on this week’s program (3/24 3:00 p.m.), we’re turning to his second existing opera, “The Oprichnik” from 1874, and it’s hopefully another work with which you aren’t that familiar.
“The Oprichnik” actually contains music from Tchaikovsky’s first opera, “The Voyevoda” which he incorporated into the first act when he abandoned the work.
“The Oprichnik” refers to Ivan the Terrible’s personal guard, and it specifically deals with Andrey (Vsevolod Grivnov) who becomes an Oprichnik as he works to revenge his family against the machinations of Prince Zhemchuzhniy (Vassily Savenko). A complication to this is that Andrey is in love with Zhemchuzhniy’s daughter, Natalya (Elena Lassoskaya), but she, in turn, has been promised to a much older man, Molchan Mitkov (Dmitri Ulanov), by her father.
The tragedy is set into motion with Andrey joining the Oprichnik for which his mother, the Boyarinaya Morozova (Irina Doljenko), curses him.
Other members from this live recording made in January of 2003 include Alexandra Durseneva, Vladimir Ognovenko, and Cinzia De Mola. Gennadi Rozhdestvensky leads the Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Lirico Di Cagliari.
Stay tuned after the opera for one of Michael’s favorite Tchaikovsky works, a performance of the complete Serenade in C Major, Op. 48 (better known as the Serenade for Strings) featuring the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra conducted by Marco Boni.
