Руслан и Людмила
- Opera in 5 acts
- Composer: Mikhail Glinka
- Libretto: Valerian Shirkov, Nestor Kukolnik, and N. A. Markevich, after Alexander Pushkin’s poem
- First performed: Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, St. Petersburg, Russia, 9th December 1842 (27th November 1842 O.S.), conducted by Karl Albrecht
Characters
| SVETOZAR, Great Prince of Kiev | Bass | Sergey Baykov |
| LYUDMILA, his daughter | Soprano | Mariya Stepanova |
| RUSLAN, a Kievan knight, Lyudmila’s betrothed | Bass | Osip Petrov |
| RATMIR, a Khazar prince | Contralto | Anfisa Petrova |
| FARLAF, a Varangian knight | Bass | Dominic Tozi |
| GORISLAVA, a captive of Ratmir | Soprano | Emiliya Lileyeva |
| FINN, a good sorcerer | Tenor | Lev Leonov |
| NAINA, an evil sorceress | Mezzo | Yelizaveta Rïkalova (Marcel) |
| BAYAN, a bard | Tenor | N. Likhansky |
| The evil sorcerer Chernomor, the Head, Sons of Svetozar, knights, boyars and boyarynyas, chamber-maids and nurse-maids, page boys, bodyguards, cupbearers, stolniks, the Prince’s armed force, people, maids of the magic castle, blackamoors, dwarves, slaves of Chernomor, nymphs, water nymphs | Chorus and silent rôles |
Setting: Kiev; various imaginary and fantastic locations.
Time: Kievan Rus’ (9th to 13th centuries).
If A Life for the Tsar points the way to the historical epics of Mussorgsky and Borodin, Ruslan looks forward to Rimsky-Korsakov’s fairytale operas.
Chernomor, a wicked dwarf with a very long beard, kidnaps Lyudmila at her wedding to Ruslan; he and two other knights, the cowardly Viking Farlaf and the armour-bearing cross-dressing contralto Ratmir, set out to rescue her, with the princess’s hand as reward for her rescuer. They are aided and impeded by the sorcerer Finn and the witch Naina. In the end, Ruslan slays Chernomor and rescues Lyudmila; and Ratmir marries another rescued maiden, Gorislava.
Ruslan is an eclectic work – an amalgamation of Italianate bel canto and French grand opéra, with the colourful orchestration that would be a hallmark of the Russian style. But it lacks dramatic impetus, and the story is episodic. It is a concert in costume, with a disproportionate preponderance of solo pieces (as many as opera seria, which, frankly, have generally stronger plots). Tchaikovsky, however, thought Ruslan was “music of genius”.
After the triumph of A Life for the Tsar, the imperial theatre suggested that Glinka set Pushkin’s mock-heroic poem to music. the two men knew each other, but Pushkin was killed in a duel at the age of 37. The libretto was written piecemeal by six people (including Glinka himself), and it took five years to compose (interrupted by Glinka’s divorce and his work as master of the Imperial Chapel Choir).
The public was indifferent, and the critics hostile. The opera was thought much too long; many in the audience left before the end of the performance – including the imperial family. It was also considered too learned and unnatural. Count Wielhorski called it an “opera manqué”. It was performed 32 times that season, 12 the next, six in 1844–45, then two, then one, before disappearing from the repertoire until 1864.
Glinka, disappointed by the reception of his Russian nationalist opera, moved abroad, and died in Berlin.
Ruslan was reprised at St Petersburg, and entered the Bolshoi repertory in 1868. In that decade, there was much debate over whether Ruslan or A Life for the Tsar was Glinka’s best opera. Russianists (led by Stassov) maintained that Ruslan was (in Tchaikovsky’s words) “generally speaking the best of all operas, the king of operas”.
Serov (a Russian Wagnerite) thought Ruslan was musically richer than Tsar, but it was not a music-drama; “this work must nevertheless be regarded as the failed creation of a misguided, albeit great artist”.
Tchaikovsky sided with Serov: Ruslan admittedly contained “a greater amount of musical material … and of better quality”. “Ruslan, which consists of a series of unconnected fantastic little scenes whose text was drawn up by a number of different persons at various points in time, cannot be classed amongst the greatest operas because of its lack of organic unity and complete absence of dramatic motifs. It is merely a fairytale spectacle accompanied by the most splendid music.”
Ruslan is best known in the west for the exhilarating overture in D, made up of themes from Ruslan’s aria and the prestissimo Act V finale; Tchaikovsky called it “fiery, brilliant, triumphant, and joyful”.
Act I is a static tableau. In a lengthy Introduction (No. 1), a bard sings a prophetic song, outlining the plot; there is some lovely colour from harp and piano imitating the gusli, a Russian string instrument, and a jolly wedding chorus. Lyudmila sings a very Italianate two-part cavatina in G (No. 2). The finale begins with the E flat ensemble of Lyudmila’s parting. Tchaikovsky called the adagio canon in A flat “a scene of compelling veracity” expressing horror and bewilderment; he praised Glinka’s use of an E-flat pedal tone for horn extending 150 bars. Ratmir launches the allegro agitato section that brings Act I to an exciting close.
Act II takes place outside the sorcerer Finn’s cave; Finn’s Ballad is of Wagnerian length, and takes a long time to Finnish; Tchaikovsky, however, praised the Ballad, based on a short Finnish song, “which Glinka spun out through a long sequence of manifold variations that are of great contrapuntal interest and are brilliantly scored”. There is also a duet (No. 6). Neither are musical highlights. Farlaf’s Rondo in B flat, with its snickering oboes, a buffo bass showpiece, is good fun, however. The next scene takes place on a battlefield, depicted by a brooding, sombre prelude. Ruslan’s heroic aria (No. 8) is notable for the allegro con spirito “Day, Perun” (when searching for sword), the source of one of the overture’s themes; it sounds better there. Ruslan encounters a giant’s severed head, whose voice is sung by a double chorus; it is extremely Russian.
Act III is set in Naina’s magic castle. It opens with a beguiling chorus of Persian maidens (No. 12) and Gorislava’s allegro agitate cavatina (No. 13). Ratmir’s 12-minute aria (No. 14) is based on a Tartar melody, comprising an adagio and second section in waltz tempo, in French style, accompanied by cor anglais (or cor blimey), “adorned with purely oriental lassitude and passion” (Tchaikovsky). It would be a showstopper (if the show could be said to have begun). Then 15 minutes of ballet – Tchaikovsky thought it lovely but conventional.
Act IV transports the audience to Chernomor’s magic garden. According to Tchaikovsky, “The music of this act presents us with a whole series of musical miracles that completely overwhelm the listener.” Lyudmila’s 15-minute aria (No. 18) comprises an allegro agitato in D, a soulful adagio in F, and an effective vivace section in B is effective. Chernomor’s march (No. 19) introduces the whole tone scale (henceforward gamma Chernomora) to Russian music; it features bells, pizzicato strings, and a main melody that sounds almost like Shostakovich. Then more ballet: Oriental dances (No. 20) – rather sedate, then barnstorming. The Caucasian dance possibly serves as a model for Borodin.
Act V features Ratmir’s romance (No. 24), a larghetto in G flat, followed by an exciting prestissimo finale in D, described by Tchaikovsky as “grandiose and joyfully triumphant”.
Ruslan’s detractors were right; the few but genuine musical highpoints don’t make good musical theatre; without a story, much of this is very dull indeed.
Recordings
Listen to / watch: Vladimir Ognovenko (Ruslan), Anna Netrebko (Lyudmila), Larissa Diadkova (Ratmir), Gennady Bezzubenkov (Farlaf), and Galina Gorchakova (Gorislava), with the Kirov Orchestra, Opera Chorus and Ballet, St. Petersburg, conducted by Valery Gergiev, 1995.
Works consulted
- “The Revival of ‘Ruslan and Lyudmila’”, 17th September 1872, Tchaikovsky Research
- Rosa Newmarch, The Russian Opera, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1914
The Opera Scribe 
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