Modeste Mussorgsky (1839 - 1881)
Khovanshina Prelude
arr. Rimsky-Korsakov

Both Mussorgsky's operas delve deep into the soul of the Russian people – and a dark and sombre place he finds it. He began work on Khovanshina in 1872, shortly after completing Boris Godunov but before its first performance. This was only ten years after the emancipation of the Russian serfs, until which time most of Russia was a largely mediaeval country. The resulting tension between the mediaeval and modern in attitudes, beliefs and behaviour, and its often devastating effect on the ordinary person, drew Mussorgsky's deepest compassion.

The opera was left on his death a mass of sketches, mostly not fully orchestrated, and with several large sections completely missing. Various sections have been completed since, first by Rimsky Korsakov, and more recently by Shostakovich. The introduction was described by the composer as depicting “dawn over the Moscow River, matins at cock crow, the patrol, and the taking down of the chains [on the city gates]”. It is short but very effective – it begins delicately, and soon a beautiful tune emerges. This grows until, when the oboe has the tune against rising scales in the violins, the curtain rises and we see not the Moscow River but Red Square. As the music becomes more animated we see “the church domes lit by the rising sun. The bells sound for early mass.” The bells die away, and the music dissolves like the mist from the river.