Ivan the Terrible contemplates whether he should chop off the head of the Pskov High Priest.
Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Maid of Pskov” – a tale featured the doomed Princess Olga (death by cannon) and Ivan the Terrible at the Mariinsky. More choral than arias, but an impressive set and costumes, plus horses on stage made for an entertaining evening. In Italian operas, everyone falls in love, in Russian ones, they all die. Except Ivan, who lived on, grief struck. Par for the course?
Rimsky wrote this opera, based on the drama of the same name by Lev Mei,in 1872. The story concerns the Tsar Ivan the Terrible and his efforts to subject the cities of Pskov and Novogorod to his will.
Some of the incidental music can be found here.
Pechery Monastery,Pskov
The arrival of Ivan the Terrible at Pechery Monastery
Ivan grieves over the death of Princess Olga, blown up by his own cannons. Ivan did rather a lot of grieving in his career.
L-R: Boyar Matuta (Vasily Gorshkov), Ivan the Terrible (Vladimir Vaneyev), Princess Olga (Tatiana Pavlovskaya), Mikhail Tucha, Olga’s beloved (Maxim Aksenov); Prince Tokamkov (Mikhail Kit) and Prince Vyazemsky (Vasily Gorshkov)