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''Taras Bulba'' is an opera in four acts by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko. The libretto was written by Mykhailo Starytsky (the composer's cousin) after the novel ''Taras Bulba'' by Nikolai Gogol. The opera, which was unrevised at the time of the composer's death in 1912, was first performed in 1924. Present-day performances are however based on thorough revisions, affecting the text, the music and the orchestration, carried out in the 1930s and 1950s. ==Performance history== Lysenko worked on ''Taras Bulba'' during 1880-1891〔Oxford Music Online,''Ukraine''〕 but it was probably his insistence on the use of Ukrainian for performance that prevented any productions during his lifetime. Lysenko was reputedly a descendant of the 17th century Cossack leader Vovgura Lys, so the story may have had a special significance to him.〔(Website of the pianist Iryna Riabchun )〕 Shortly after completing it he played the score to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who reportedly "listened to the whole opera with rapt attention, from time to time voicing approval and admiration. He particularly liked the passages in which national, Ukrainian, touches were most vivid... Tchaikovsky embraced Lysenko and congratulated him on his talented composition." The history of the present form of the opera is complex. A piano score was published in 1913, but much of the composer's original orchestration was lost. The prelude to the fourth act was first given at a concert in Kiev under the baton of Reinhold Glière in 1914.〔(Website of Kiev Philharmonia )〕 The first performance of the full opera took place in 1924 in Kharkiv. Although this was unsuccessful, other better received productions were carried out in Kiev (1927) and Tbilisi, (1930), which generated the idea of a revision of the work. This was carried out in 1937 by Maksym Rylsky (text), Lysenko's pupil Levko Revutsky (music), and Borys Lyatoshynsky (orchestration), and performed in Moscow. This version in turn met with the criticism that it had departed too far from Lysenko's intentions. It was not until after World War II that the same trio produced the present-day performing version, which was premiered in Kiev in 1955. The opera remains in the repertory of the Kiev Opera House, which has also performed the opera abroad in Wiesbaden (1982), Dresden (1987) and Zagreb (1988).〔(Web site of National Opera House of Ukraine, Kiev )〕 The opera house traditionally performs the opera at the end of each operatic season in Kiev. The work's structural defects may to a large extent be a consequence of its history, and to the fact that the composer was never able to adjust the work after hearing it in performance. The opera marks a great advance on the composer's earlier works such as ''Natalka Poltavka'' and ''Utoplena'' with its folklore and nationalistic elements being much more closely integrated in a continuous musical framework which also clearly shows a debt to Tchaikovsky. But the episodic nature of the libretto (which may be due to some extent to political considerations during its revision in the Soviet era) is a serious problem. There are extensive non-narrative excursions for dances and patriotic marches and choruses; Kudryiaha is chosen to lead the Cossacks in a long scene in Act III and then vanishes from the rest of the opera; there is no attempt to balance the historical events with the story of Andriy and Maryltsya (which is effectively entirely squeezed into the antipenultimate scene); the absence of emotional or musical transition from the death of Andriy to the triumphalist conquest of Dubno (the final scene, which involves no singing) is evident and uncomfortable. Amongst those who have sung the role of Taras is the Ukrainian singer Boris Gmyrya, who also featured in a recording of the opera. 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「Taras Bulba (opera)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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