The gold Cock (opera)

the Cock of gold (in) is a opera in three acts of Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov. Vladimir I. Bielski composed the integral booklet of it, according to the tale in worms of Pouchkine the gold Cock. The creation of the last opera of Rimski-Korsakov took place on October 24th, 1909 with Moscow with the Solodovnikov theater.

The satirical intentions of the type-setter towards the Tsarisme are indisputable: this opera, made up ten year before the revolution of February 1917, shows that Rimski felt to come the storm.

Characters

the Dodon tsar (low)
the tsarévitch Aphron (baritone)
the tsarévitch Gvidon (tenor)
the Astrologer (tenor)
Polkan (low)
the queen of Chemakha (soprano)
Amelfa (viola)
the voice of the gold Cock (soprano)

The symphonic continuation

This opera, symphoniquement very rich, sees creation into 1913 of a continuation in four movements:

the Dodon tsar in his palate (gathers the introduction of the work and scenes of the 1st act like the appearance of the astrologer)
the Dodon tsar on the battle field (beginning of the 2nd act)
the Dodon tsar and the queen Chemakha (mainly dance of the queen)
the wedding and end pitiful of Dodon (beginning of the 3rd act, wedding march and died of the tsar killed by the Cock)

Summary

August 1st

Particularly outstanding extracts of the opera

the prolog and the entry of the Astrologer (Ia koldoun. Naoukoi tainoi)
the monolog of king Dodon (Ia go zdiès zatièm sozval)
the project of Afron (Ty zavralsia)
the sleep of Dodon (Tsarstvoui lioja Na bokou!)
the dream of king Dodon (Kirikikoukou!)
dance of the queen Chemakha (Vyplyvaiou ia snatchala)
chorus of the slaves (Siostry, kto khromaièt riadom)
chorus of the people of Dodon (Strachno, bratiki!)

the Cock of gold is one of the only operas of Rimski-Korsakov which is played in Occident, but of a relatively limited frequency.

Ballet

In 1914, Michel Fokine choreography a Ballet on the music of Rimski-Korsakov for the Russian Ballets of Serge de Diaghilev.

Recordings

On the level of the recordings, one notes six versions including three realized in studio.

It should be specified that the operas of Rimski-Korsakov are recorded little and export themselves badly in Occident. As soon as they are it, they remain for the majority untraceable…

Orchestre of the SPOKE (Freccia) (live of 1960): this version, sung in Italian (purists to abstain from!) is passable: the orchestra and the singers are of an acceptable level, without more; the sound is rather precarious.
Orchestra of the radio of Moscow (Akoulov & Kovaliov) (studio of 1962): this version remains the reference: excellence of the orchestra, the choruses and the singers (in particular Pitchaïev); the sound is more than satisfactory for the time.
Orchestra of the Opera of New York (Rudel) (live of 1971): this version, sung in English (purists, go your way) is especially interesting to hear the queen of Chemakha (Beverly Sills); unfortunately, the technical requirements are relatively poor.
Orchestra of the Opera of Sofia (Manolov) (studio of 1985): this version is one of only on the market currently. Interpretation does not mark the spirits (orchestration a little punt and quality of the too variable singers); on the other hand, the amateurs of DDD (digital) will be filled by sound quality.
Philharmonic orchestra of Moscow (Kitaenko) (studio of 1987)
Orchestra of the Theater Bolchoï of Moscow (Evgueni Svetlanov) (live of 1988)

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