[Score] Rimsky-Korsakov - Incidental music to the drama "Maid of Pskov" ("Ivan the Terrible"; 1877)

[@AndewMole]

0:00 Overture 5:31 Entr'acte I: Olga 9:20 Entr'acte II: Veche (The Assembly). Waiting for the arrival of Ivan the Terrible 14:45 Entr'acte III: Street Scene. Boys playing 16:25 Entr'acte IV: Pyechorsky Monastery. Image of Saint Nicholas

[@marcsmith7789]

This is absolutely lovely, and I'm wondering why I haven't heard it before now. I can definitely hear the influence of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov on this. I love Rimsky, and this is a quality work of his.

[@Donello]

Rimsky and Musorgsky were flatmates when Musorgsky was composing "Boris Godunov", while Rimsky was composing "The Maid of Pskov" at the same time, though, for all I know, it was already the opera rather than the incidental music to the play on which the opera is based. Thus, they were influencing each other. The opera itself had its première on January 1st (13th) 1873, thus, a little over a year before the first performance of the revised (expanded) version of "Boris Godunov" on January 27th (February 8th) 1874. I don't know why, several years later, Rimsky composed the incidental music when he had already composed his own opera based on the play, and even had had the opera performed. The overture seems to be the same, but I'm not sure about the entr'actes. Perhaps he extracted and reworked some of the music he had already composed. It has been a long time since I last listened to "The Maid of Pskov".