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''Askold's Grave'' (also: ''Askold's Tomb'', Russian: ''Аскольдова могила'' – Askol’dova mogila) is an opera in 4 acts by Alexey Verstovsky (1799–1862) to a libretto by Mikhail Zagoskin (1789–1852). It was the most successful of Verstovsky's six operas, and its popularity even overshadowed Glinka’s two operas. It is a romantic opera with spoken dialogue, influenced by Weber's ''Der Freischütz'', the latter having become popular in Russia after its first Russian performance in 1824. The role of Torop was created specifically for Alexander Bantyshev. ==Performance history== The directors of the Imperial Theatres paid 2,000 rubles to the composer for this opera. The opera was first staged at the Bolshoi in Moscow on September 16, 1835, a year before Glinka's ''A Life for the Tsar''. The main female role, Nadezhda, was portrayed by the wife of the composer, Nadezhda Repina (1809–1897), the daughter of a serf-musician. Among the other performers: Alexander Bantyshev as Torop, Nikolai Lavrov as Neizvestnyi (the Unknown Man), Pavel Schepin as Vseslav, Vasiliy Jivokini as Frelaf, Nicolay Nikiforov as Blum; choreographer of Russian dances: Ivan Lobanov. In St. Petersburg the opera was staged on August 27, 1841 with the famous bass Osip Petrov in the role of Neizvestnyi (the Unknown Man); Leon Leonov as Torop. It has been claimed that the music was polished up by Gioacchino Rossini, based on Verstovsky's ideas, for a fee that covered a gambling debt.〔Yuri Arbatsky, ''Studies in the History of Russian Music'', New York, 1956 (in Russian) pp. 231-2〕 Two piano transcriptions (without voice) were published — one made by K. Vilboa, another by a composer Alexander Gurilyov. A vocal score was produced by O. Dutsh and K. Yevgeniev (published in 1866). By the end of the 1860s the opera had received about 200 performances in St. Petersburg and 400 in Moscow. It was the first Russian opera performed in the United States (in 1869). For this staging some fragments of Glinka's music were added to the opera. After the composer's death another version of the score was made with the orchestration by K. Voyachek, with spoken dialogue replaced by primitive recitatives. The great Russian singer Feodor Chaliapin (1873 - 1938) loved the opera and chose the role of Neizvestnyi (the Unknown Man) for his benefice on March 3, 1891 when he was just 18, in the S. Semenov-Samarsky provincial opera company in the city of Ufa. This role was regarded as very difficult (see the music example and comments below). The benefice was successful. Chaliapin received 80 rubles and a silver watch with a steel chain. "I became rich!" — Chaliapin wrote in his memoirs. In February 1899, commemorating a centenary of Verstovsky's birth, Chaliapin sang this role twice at the Private Opera. His recording of the "Aria of the Unknown Man" is available on CD. *(Chaliapin Edition, Vol. 2 1908–1911 ) *See also: ( Some information about Chaliapin’s performance ) A performance in the Sergei Zimin’s theater (Moscow) in 1914 had a huge success. In the Soviet era the opera was forgotten for several decades, and was only revised near the end of the Second World War in 1944 at the Moscow Theatre of Operetta under the title ''Украденная невеста'' (''Ukradennaya Nevesta'' – ''The Stolen Bride''), however with not much success. It returned to the stage on November 28, 1959 with a revised version of the libretto by N. Biryukov and musical rearrangement by B. Dobrokhotov. It was given at the Kiev State Opera Theatre, staged by V. Sklarenko and conducted by P. Grigorov. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Askold's Grave (opera)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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