The Golden Cockerel ( ) is an opera in three acts, with a short prologue and an even shorter epilogue, composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, his last complete opera, before his death in 1908. Its libretto written by Vladimir Belsky, is derived from Alexander Pushkin's 1834 poem, The Tale of the Golden Cockerel. The opera was completed in 1907 and premiered in 1909, in Moscow, after the composer's death. Apart from Russia, it has often been performed in French, as Le Coq d'or.
Composition history Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov had considered his previous opera, The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya (1907) to be his final artistic statement in the medium, and, indeed, this work has been called a "summation of the nationalistic operatic tradition of Glinka and The Five". However, the political situation in Russia at the time inspired him to take up the pen to compose a "razor-sharp satire of the autocracy, of Russian imperialism, and of the Russo-Japanese war." Also, Rimsky-Korsakov's previous works inspired by Alexander Pushkin's poems, especially Tsar Saltan (1899-1900), had proven to be very successful.
The work on The Golden Cockerel began in 1906 and finished by September 1907. By the end of February 1908, the director of Imperial Theatres, Vladimir Telyakovskiy passed the score to the censorship agency in order to get approval for the Bolshoi Theatre. It was returned unedited, yet was suddenly taken back the next day. This time many changes were requested to be made to the libretto as well as the original Pushkin's text. Rimsky-Korsakov suspected someone's denunciation and resisted any changes. He continued the work on orchestration while fighting with progressive illness. In June 1908, Telyakovskiy informed him that the Moscow Governor-General Sergei Gershelman was highly against the opera. In his last letter Rimsky-Korsakov asked his friend and music publisher Boris Jurgenson to contact Michel-Dimitri Calvocoressi and suggest to him to stage The Golden Cockerel in Paris. He died two days later and thus never witnessed the premiere of his last opera.Tatiana Rimskaya-Korsakova (2008). N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov. From the Family Letters. – Saint Petersburg: Compositor, p. 226-236 .
Performance history The premiere took place on 7 October (O.S. 24 September) 1909, at Moscow's Solodovnikov Theatre in a performance by the Zimin Opera. Emil Cooper conducted; set designs were by Ivan Bilibin. The opera was given at the city's Bolshoi Theatre a month later, on 6 November, conducted by Vyacheslav Suk and with set designs by Konstantin Korovin. London and Paris premieres occurred in 1914; in Paris it was staged at the Palais Garnier, in London at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane by the Ballets Russes as an opera-ballet, choreographed and directed by Michel Fokine with set and costume designs by Natalia Goncharova."News in brief: Visitors to Drury Lane." The Times (London), 23 July 1914, p. 12. The Times Digital Archive. Web, accessed 13 April 2016 (subscription necessary).Garafola, Lynn (1989). Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. New York, Oxford University Press, p. 390. The United States premiere took place at the Metropolitan Opera House on 6 March 1918, with Marie Sundelius in the title role, Adamo Didur and Maria Barrientos in the actual leads, and Pierre Monteux conducting.Kobbé's Complete Opera Book, ed Harewood "Le Coq d'Or". Putnam, London and New York, 1958, p. 876.
The Met performed the work regularly through 1945. All Met performances before World War II were sung in French; during the work's final season in the Met repertory, the Golden Cockerel was sung in English. The English translators were Antal Doráti and James Gibson.New York City State Theater Magazine, Vol II, Issue IX, 1967; © Playbill Inc., 1967 The work has not been performed at the Met since the war, but it was staged at neighboring New York City Opera from 1967 to 1971, always in English, with Beverly Sills singing the Tsaritsa of Shemakha opposite Norman Treigle's Dodon, and Julius Rudel conducting Tito Capobianco's production.
At Covent Garden in London the opera was seen in January 1954, in a production by Robert Helpmann conducted by Igor Markevitch (making his Covent Garden debut); the cast included Hugues Cuénod as the astrologer, Howell Glynne as Dodon, and Mattiwilda Dobbs as the Queen of Shemakhan.Andrew Porter. Opera Diary. Opera, March 1954, Vol. 5 No. 3, p. 177-178 (the magazine cover was of Glynne and Dobbs in part). In 1998, the Royal Opera company presented a new production at Sadler's Wells Theatre produced by Tim Hopkins and conducted by Vladimir Jurowski with Jean-Paul Fouchécourt as the astrologer, Paata Burchuladze as Dodon and Elena Kelessidi as the Queen.John Allison. Report of The Golden Cockerel. Opera, March 1999, Vol. 50 No. 3, p. 350-352.
On 13 December 1975, the BBC broadcast a live performance in English from the Theatre Royal Glasgow of a production by David Pountney with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Alexander Gibson, and with Don Garrard as Tsar Dodon, John Angelo Messana as the Astrologer and Catherine Gayer as the Tsaritsa.Fingleton, David. Review: The Golden Cockerel - Scottish Opera at Theatre Royal, Glasgow. Opera, February 1976, Vol. 27, No. 2, p. 179-181.
The Mariinsky Theatre staged a new production of The Golden Cockerel on 25 December 2014, with Valery Gergiev as conductor. The stage director and costume designer was Anna Matison. The opera was presented in Russian during the 2015 winter season by the Sarasota Opera conducted by Ekhart Wycik, with set designs by David P. Gordon, and featuring Grigory Soloviov as Tsar Dodon, Alexandra Batsios as the Tsaritsa of Shemakha, Timur Bekbosunov as the Astrologer, and Riley Svatos as the Golden Cockerel.
De Munt/La Monnaie staged a new production in Brussels in December 2016. This was a co-production with the Teatro Real of Madrid and Opera National de Lorraine (Nancy). The stage director and costume designer was Laurent Pelly; the conductor, Alain Altinoglu. The role of Tsar Dodon was shared between Pavol Hunka and Alexey Tikhomirov; the Tsarina was shared between Venera Gimadieva and Nina Minasyan. Alexander Kravets took the role of Astrologer and the singing role of the Cockerel was played by Sheva Tehoval with Sarah Demarthe as the on-stage Cockerel.
Instrumentation Woodwinds: 1 Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 1 Cor anglais, 2 Clarinets (in A-B), 1 Bass clarinet (in A-B), 2 Bassoons, 1 Contrabassoon ; Brass: 4 French horns (in F), 2 Trumpets (in C), 1 Trumpet contralto (in F), 3 Trombones, 1 Tuba ; Percussion: Timpani, Triangle, Snare drum, Tambourine, Glockenspiel, Cymbals, Bass drum, Xylophone, Tam-tam ; Other: Celesta, 2 Harps ; Strings: Violins, Violas, Cellos, Double basses.
Roles RolesVoice typePerformance castZimin Opera24 September 1909(Conductor: Emil Cooper)Performance castBolshoi Theatre6 November 1909(Conductor: Vyacheslav Suk)Tsar Dodon (Царь Додон)bassNikolay SperanskyVasily OsipovTsarevich Gvidon (Царевич Гвидон)tenorFyodor ErnstSemyon GardeninTsarevich Afron (Царевич Афрон)baritoneAndrey DikovNikolay ChistyakovGeneral PolkanbassKapiton ZaporozhetsKhristofor TolkachyovAmelfa, a housekeepercontraltoAleksandra RostovtsevaSerafima SinitsinaAstrologertenor altinoVladimir PikokAnton BonachichTsaritsa of Shemakha (Шемаханская царица)coloratura sopranoAvreliya-Tsetsiliya DobrovolskayaAntonina NezhdanovaGolden Cockerel (Золотой петушок)sopranoVera KlopotovskayaYevgeniya Popello-Davydovachorus, silent roles
Note on names: Pushkin spelled Dodon's name as Dadon. The association of the revised spelling Dodon in the libretto with the dodo bird is likely intentional. Shemakha is a noun, denoting a place. Shemakhan is an adjectival usage.
Synopsis Time: Unspecified Place: In the thrice-tenth tsardom, a far off place (beyond thrice-nine lands) in Russian folklore
Note: There is an actual city of Shemakha (also spelled "Şamaxı", "Schemacha" and "Shamakhy"), which is the capital of the Shamakhi Rayon of Azerbaijan. In Pushkin's day it was an important city and the capital of what was to become the Baku Governorate. But the realm of that name, ruled by its tsaritsa, bears little resemblance to today's Shemakha and region.
Prologue After a quotation by the orchestra of the most important leitmotifs, a mysterious Astrologer comes before the curtain and announces to the audience that, although they are going to see and hear a fictional tale from long ago, his story will have a valid and true moral.
Act 1 The bumbling Tsar Dodon talks himself into believing that his country is in danger from a neighbouring state, Shemakha, ruled by a beautiful Tsaritsa. He requests advice from the Astrologer, who supplies a magic Golden Cockerel to safeguard the Tsar's interests. When the little cockerel confirms that the Tsaritsa of Shemakha does harbor territorial ambitions, Dodon decides to preemptively strike Shemakha, sending his army to battle under the command of his two sons.
Act 2
However, his sons are both so inept that they manage to kill each other on the battlefield. Tsar Dodon then decides to lead the army himself, but further bloodshed is averted because the Golden Cockerel ensures that the old Tsar becomes besotted when he actually sees the beautiful Tsaritsa. The Tsaritsa herself encourages this situation by performing a seductive dance – which tempts the Tsar to try and partner with her, but he is clumsy and makes a complete mess of it. The Tsaritsa realises that she can take over Dodon's country without further fighting – she engineers a marriage proposal from Dodon, which she coyly accepts.
Act 3 The Final Scene starts with the wedding procession in all its splendour. As this reaches its conclusion, the Astrologer appears and says to Dodon, "You promised me anything I could ask for if there could be a happy resolution of your troubles ..." "Yes, yes", replies the Tsar, "just name it and you shall have it". "Right", says the Astrologer, "I want the Tsaritsa of Shemakha!" At this, the Tsar flares up in fury and strikes down the Astrologer with a blow from his mace. The Golden Cockerel, loyal to his Astrologer master, then swoops across and pecks through the Tsar's jugular. The sky darkens. When light returns, the Tsaritsa and the little cockerel are gone.
Epilogue The Astrologer comes again before the curtain and announces the end of his story, reminding the public that what they just saw was "merely illusion", that only he and the Tsaritsa were mortals and real.
Principal arias and numbers Act 1 Introduction: "I Am a Sorcerer" «Я колдун» (orchestra, Astrologer) Lullaby (orchestra, guards, Amelfa)
Act 2 Aria: "Hymn to the Sun" «Ответь мне, зоркое светило» (Tsaritsa of Shemakha) Dance (Tsaritsa of Shemakha, orchestra) Chorus (slaves)
Act 3 Scene: "Wedding Procession" «Свадебное шествие» (Amelfa, people)
Analysis
Preface to The Golden Cockerel by librettist V. Belsky (1907)