Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra & Esa-Pekka Salonen: Khovanshchina

Helsinki Music Centre, Concert Hall
Tue 20.8.2024 18:00
Wed 21.8.2024 18:00
Duration: 3h 30min, interval

The history of Modest Mussorgsky’s opera Khovanshchina is fascinating and complex. Mussorgsky started the project already in 1872 while still working on the opera Boris Godunov. The composer began a compulsive investigation into a dark part of Russian history, the 17th century rebellion of the streltsy, soldiers armed with muskets. The events, full of conspiracies and ruthless violence, did not leave the composer alone, but Mussorgsky only managed to complete the piano score before his death in 1881. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov finalised the work, and the opera premiered in 1886. 

The opera will be performed at Helsinki Festival as a previously-unheard concert version compiled by Esa-Pekka Salonen. The grand production conducted by Salonen will bring a group of nearly two hundred musicians onto the stage: the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, singers from Tapiola Chamber Choir, Dominante and The Helsinki Chamber Choir and dozens of soloists. The orchestration devised by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1959 and the finale arranged by Igor Stravinsky are woven together by composer  Gerard McBurney who also directs the creation of this unique interpretation with a sound world created by the renowned sound artist Tuomas Norvio. Salonen and the FRSO’s Khovanshchina will continue to the Salzburg Easter Festival 2025.

Khovanshchina’s story of greed, power and madness resonates in our time stronger than ever before.

Artist discussion before the performances at 17:00 at the Music Hall, main foyer. Discussion with director Gerard McBurney and Marko Ahtisaari, Artistic Director of the Festival.

We provide subtitles in Finnish, Swedish and English for all Khovanshchina performances. The subtitling is done on your smartphone with the Subtitle Mobile app. Below you will find more detailed instructions on how to set up and use the mobile app.

Before the performance:
1. Download the free Subtitle Mobile app (from Loitsut Ltd) from the App Store or Google Play on your phone before the performance: m.subtitles.cloud.
2. Be sure to charge your phone battery, as the subtitle app uses battery power.

This is what to do at the concert:
1. Put your phone on silent or Do Not Disturb mode.
2. Open the Subtitle Mobile app.
3. follow the instructions in the app and enter the 4-digit code: L4FX
4. select your preferred subtitle language (Finnish, Swedish or English) and wait for the concert to start.
5. Turn your phone to horizontal position. You can adjust the brightness of the screen by touching the screen and moving the control at the top.
7. You can also change the language from the menu at the top right.
8. You can exit the subtitle view by pressing the X symbol in the top left corner.
9. Turn off the app when the concert is over.

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Tapiola Chamber Choir
Dominante
The Helsinki Chamber Choir

Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor
Gerard McBurney, director

Mika Kares, bass – Prince Ivan Khovansky
Tuomas Katajala, tenor – Andrey Khovansky
Kristofer Lundin, tenor – Prince Vasily Golitsin
Tomi Punkeri, baritone – Boyar Fyodor Shaklovity
Nadezhda Karyazina, alto – Marfa
Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, tenor – Scrivener
Olga Heikkilä, soprano – Susanna
Ain Anger, bass – Dosifey
Natalia Tanasii, soprano – Emma
Johan Krogius, tenor – Kuzka
Juhana Kotilainen, baritone – Streshnev
Greggory Haueter, baritone – Varsonof’yev
Aarne Mansikka, tenor – Golitsin’s servant

Tuomas Norvio, sound design
Elias Brown, assistant conductor
Charlotte McBurney, assistant director

Jari Valo, concert master
Hannu Norjanen, choir master
Tatu Erkkilä and Seppo Murto, choir coaching
Elenora Pertz & Harri Karri, rehearsal pianist
Olga Heikkilä, Russian language phonetic trainer
Helmi Salin, stage manager
Merja Thil, costume coordinator

Jasu Aalto, subtitler
Lotta Mäki-Luopa, subtitles
Jertta Ratia and Annastina Aff, Finnish translations
Elin Nauri Skymbäck, Swedish translations
Gerard McBurney, English translations

Unlike previously announced, the Latvian Radio Choir and tenor Giorgi Sturua will not perform at the concerts.

“Khovanshchina is a unique opera in that, with only a few changes to the names and details, it could be a tale from our own time. The coup plans of a private army implode and go up in smoke. There is an attempt to exploit religion to promote political aspirations. Ruthless operators produce fake news, the people don’t know who to believe and ultimately end up distrusting pretty much everyone. The rebels face heavy punishments, but suddenly, without explanation, all are pardoned. Sound familiar?

Amidst all the violence and chaos, there is breathtaking beauty. In the beginning of the opera, the rising sun glimmers on the Moskva and Mussorgsky composes one of his finest melodies ever in the prelude’s clarinet solo, even though the Red Square is covered in blood after the atrocities of the night.

From amidst a host of political schemers, religious fanatics, decadent nobles and drunk soldiers, the leading role falls to Marfa, a mystical and complex character: both a devout Old Believer and a strongly (bi)sexual mature woman with what appear to be magical, witch-like abilities. Men desire her and fear her. Marfa, though, fears no one and nothing, not even death. Mussorgsky has created one of the most fascinating and powerful female figures in all of opera literature in the character of Marfa.”

– Esa-Pekka Salonen

Khovanshchina – The Khovansky Affair – was Modest Mussorgsky’s last opera, left unfinished at the time of the composer’s death in March 1881. Only the piano score was completed. Two of the six scenes of the “national music drama” were still in the draft stage.

Khovanshchina is named after the two Khovansky Princes, Ivan and Andrey, who led streltsy soldiers into rebellion against the young Tsar Peter the Great in 1682. The work deals with the turmoil caused by Peter’s ascension to the throne without him or other royals appearing on stage. The censorship of the time of composition in the 1870s forbade the depiction of members of the ruling dynasty on stage. Without this restriction, Khovanshchina would have come out in a very different form and probably with a different title.

Art historian Vladimir Stasov helped Mussorgsky put together the story of Khovanshchina from several historical sources, but the composer wrote the actual libretto himself. As a result, the text follows real events quite loosely; the historical developments of several years are condensed into a few days. The most visible example of the liberties taken by Mussorgsky is Marfa, a member of the Old Believers. She is the lover of Prince Andrey Khovansky and a fortune teller, with influence over Prince Golitsyn, the main supporter of Peter’s co-monarch, Tsar Ivan V. Marfa is an entirely fictional character and also the only one with ties to all three opposition groups, the Khovanskys, the Old Believers and the family of Peter’s half-brother Ivan. Marfa’s role is crucial to the drama.

For the 1886 posthumous premiere, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov removed over 800 bars, roughly an entire act, from Mussorgsky’s original version. He orchestrated the piano score and revised it to five acts. This version was also used in the 1913 edition arranged by Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky. Like most modern performances, FRSO uses the 1959 orchestration by Dmitri Shostakovich, which includes the parts cut and removed by Rimsky-Korsakov and, as such, may better reflect Mussorgsky’s original dramatic intent. The finale is arranged by Igor Stravinsky.

First act. Russia is shocked by Peter the Great’s attempt to westernize the nation. One of the consequences is the blight of the Old Believers, since religious reforms are part of Peter’s agenda. Prince Ivan Khovansky supports the Old Believers, whose ranks include their leader Dosifey and mystic Marfa. The streltsy serve as bodyguards of Ivan Khovansky. Ivan’s main political adversary is the boyar Shaklovity.

Red Square in the morning. Shaklovity dictates a letter to the court against the Khovanskys. Ivan delivers a speech opposing the Tsar’s policies to his followers. German girl Emma tries to escape the advances of Ivan’s son Andrey. The situation is interrupted by Marfa, whom Andrey had previously seduced. Marfa predicts a dark fate for him. Ivan returns and Emma is arrested. Father and son have a bitter quarrel about her.

Second act. The superstitious Prince Golitsyn has invited Marfa to tell his fortune. Enraged by Marfa’s gloomy prediction, Golitsyn orders her drowned.

Third act. Having escaped, Marfa remembers her love for Andrey. The streltsy, engaged in drinking, hear news of the return to Moscow of Tsar Peter with his guard and a group of foreign mercenaries.

Fourth act. Ivan holds a feast for his followers. Shaklovity invites him to the council, and Ivan is stabbed to death. Golitsyn is exiled, as Marfa predicted. The mercenaries have been ordered to hound the Old Believers to their church and execute them. Dosifey decides that they must protest by committing suicide by self-immolation. When Andrey discovers that Emma has married her lover, he curses Marfa and orders the streltsy to kill her. However, the streltsy have already been arrested. Facing execution, they are pardoned by the Tsar at the last moment.  

Fifth act. The Old Believers commit mass suicide at a funeral pyre. Moved by their faith and Marfa’s dedication, Prince Andrey also steps into the pyre, which is lit to the horror of the approaching troops. The Old Believers continue singing until the flames engulf them. An era comes to an end, and a new day dawns on Russia as trumpets blow.

Text: Pekka Miettinen