The miller who was a wizard, a cheat and a matchmaker
| The miller who was a wizard, a cheat and a matchmaker | |
|---|---|
| Ballad opera by Mikhail Sokolovsky | |
.jpg) Titlepage of the libretto | |
| Native title | Russian: Мельник – колдун, обманщик и сват (Melnik – koldun, obmanshchik i svat) |
| Librettist | Alexander Ablesimov |
| Language | Russian |
| Premiere | |
The miller who was a wizard, a cheat and a matchmaker[a] (Russian: Мельник – колдун, обманщик и сват [Melnik – koldun, obmanshchik i svat]) – is a Russian ballad opera in three acts with a libretto by Alexander Ablesimov that premiered on 31 January [O.S. 20 January] 1779. Its folksong-based music was long attributed to Yevstigney Fomin but is now considered to have been by Mikhail Sokolovsky, and others have contributed music to revivals.
Background[edit]
The music for the opera is nowadays agreed to be by Mikhail Sokolovsky, although for a century it was mistakenly attributed to Yevstigney Fomin.[1] The opera was first produced at Maddox's Theatre, Moscow, on 31 January [O.S. 20 January] 1779. The opera was one of the most popular in eighteenth century Russia.[2] Sokolovsky's wife premiered the role of Aniuta, and his sister was in the chorus. Sokolovsky was a violinist at the theatre and much of the music was taken from Russian folksongs.[1] The librettist Ablesimov himself chose many of the folk melodies used.[3] The greater reputation of Fomin was probably responsible for the misattribution of the opera to him.[4] It is also believed that the overture to the opera may have been written by the Bohemian composer, working in Russia, Arnošt Vančura (d. 1802).[5]
The opera is one of the few of its kind which survived in performance in Russia into the nineteenth century. A 1915 revival in Moscow included folksongs arranged by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and there was a further revival in Paris in 1929, edited by Nikolai Tcherepnin.[6]
Roles[edit]
| Role | Voice type | Premiere 31 January [O.S. 20 January] 1779[7] |
|---|---|---|
| Ankudin, a peasant | bass | Zalyshkin |
| Fetinia, his wife | mezzo-soprano | Mme. Sokolovskaya |
| Anyuta, their daughter | soprano | Yakovleva |
| Filimon, Anyuta's suitor | tenor | Shusherin |
| Fadei, the Miller | bass | Ozhogin |
| Dancers, chorus: Anyuta's friends, etc. | ||
Synopsis[edit]
The opera is set in a Russian village.
Act 1: The miller Fadei prospers by exploiting his reputation amongst the peasants as a wizard. Filimon, who has consulted him to find his lost horse, decides to ask his help in winning Anyuta, whose parents cannot decide to whom to marry her; the mother seeks a nobleman, the father a farmer.
Act 2: Filimon explains to Anyuta that he has enlisted Fadei's support. Fetinia, rating Fadei's skills as a fortune-teller, asks who Anyuta's husband will be. The miller sends her on a stroll and says that it will be a gentleman, the first person she will meet on her path. (Filimon, of course). Meeting Ankudin, Fadei assures him that his daughter's husband will be a working farmer. When Fetinia and Ankudin meet they quarrel over the apparently incompatible promises given to them by the miller.
Act 3: At Ankudin's house, amidst Anyuta's friends, Fadei explains that as Filimon is both a landowner and an active farmer, he meets the requirements of both Ankudin and Fetinia. All are satisfied and everything ends happily.[8]
Notes and references[edit]
Notes
- ^ This is the translation used in both Findeizen and Grove Music Online.
References
Sources[edit]
- Classiclive.org website (Russian only): The Miller (Summary of the plot), Retrieved 7 January 2012
- Findeizen, Nikolai, translated by S. W. Pring, ed. M. Velimirovic and C. R. Jensen, (2008). History of Music in Russia from Antiquity to 1800: Volume II – The Eighteenth Century, Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34826-5
- Gozenpud, A., "Опера Михаила Соколовского «Мельник – колдун, обманщик и сват»" [Opera by Mikhail Sokolovsky "The miller – a wizard, a cheat and a matchmaker], Klassicheskaya Muzika website (Russian only), Retrieved 7 January 2012
- Taruskin, Richard. "Fomin, Yevstigney Ipat'yevich" in Grove Music Online
- Taruskin, Richard. "Sokolovsky, Mikhail Matveyevich" in Grove Music Online
External links[edit]
Russian Wikisource has original text related to this article: Мельник — колдун, обманщик и сват (libretto)- Performance (chamber orchestra, no stage set) 45 minutes on YouTube
