The Art-Music, Literature and Linguistics Forum

Assorted items => Commercial recordings (vintage, new and forthcoming) => Topic started by: guest224 on March 25, 2016, 07:30:54 pm



Title: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on March 25, 2016, 07:30:54 pm
I have just read here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck6AhYUHoKA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck6AhYUHoKA) that a recording is being prepared of Servilia, the only one of Rimsky-Korsakov's operas that has not been recorded in full.  To date, only Servilia's aria "My Flowers" has been recorded (quite often), plus a couple of other scenes, recorded by Olga Piotrovskaya (as Servilia), Pavel Lisitsian (as Ignacio) and Georgy Nelepp (as Valeri) with the All-Union Radio Orchestra under Onisim Bron (rec 1949).

The text in the youtube link is in Russian but it says:

The Pokrovsky musical theater is preparing the premiere of "Servilia" opera.
From 9 to 19 February in Moscow Chamber Musical Theatre (17  Nikolsky Street) is holding the first series of staged rehearsals of the opera "Servilia," which will premiere on April 15, 2016 and is timed to the anniversary of the coming of musical director of the theater Gennady Rozhdestvensky. February 19 at 17.00 in the lobby of the theater will take place the presentation of the play to the media. The event will be attended by the director Olga Ivanova, conductor Dmitry Kryukov and artist Victor Gerasimenko.

The idea of staging "Servilia" in the Pokrovsky theater belongs Gennady Rozhdestvensky, who is known as an outstanding educator and discoverer of undeservedly forgotten names and works. Together with him on the production work stage director Olga Ivanov, production designer Victor Gerasimenko, a computer graphic artist Daniel Gerasimenko, conductor Dmitry Kryukov, choirmaster Alexey Vereschagin and the head of the children's group Elena Ozerov.

The  little-known opera occupies a special place in the artistic heritage of the famous Russian composer. Quite atypical for Rimsky-Korsakov's theme, era and genre, as well as the unsuccessful premiere of the opera was originally given an unusual status, and as a result it has always stood apart among the many masterpieces of its author. Since "Servilia" still remains the only unrecorded opera by Rimsky-Korsakov, the theatrical premiere will be preceded by a full recording in a studio under the direction of Gennady Rozhdestvensky.


It would be great if the members of this forum who are based in Moscow could let us know where the CDs could be bought!


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Neil McGowan on March 25, 2016, 07:39:52 pm
No details known, I'm afraid. 


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on March 25, 2016, 08:19:04 pm
No details known, I'm afraid. 

Hi Neil!  Please let us know if you do hear anything!


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Neil McGowan on March 25, 2016, 11:12:00 pm
I will put out some feelers with friends who work there ;)


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Hattoff on March 27, 2016, 07:52:43 am
Melodiya recorded Servilia on vinyl L.P  many years ago which I did have but sold on. I now have a download of it. It's more of an operetta than an opera with a couple of very nice melodies in it.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on March 27, 2016, 06:43:39 pm
Melodiya recorded Servilia on vinyl L.P  many years ago which I did have but sold on. I now have a download of it. It's more of an operetta than an opera with a couple of very nice melodies in it.

That is very interesting to know.  Who are the artists?  Is it a recording you would mind uploading if you have it in electronic format?


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Hattoff on March 28, 2016, 09:32:29 am
The only info is that it is The USSR All-Union Radio & Central Television Grand Symphony Orchestra
Onisim Bron (conductor) the soloists are not named. It lasts just 29 minutes and although there is no speaking it is rather like a musical and very nice. I will upload it later today.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Hattoff on March 28, 2016, 10:24:05 am
Christopher,
I've given a link to Servilia in Russian and Soviet Music. I hope you enjoy the music.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on March 28, 2016, 07:52:44 pm
Christopher,
I've given a link to Servilia in Russian and Soviet Music. I hope you enjoy the music.

Thanks Hattoff - this actually is the version which I mentioned above (which I already have) - its a selection of 4 or 5 pieces from the whole opera, which is much longer.  It seems from the youtube announcement that now the whole opera will be recorded.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Hattoff on March 29, 2016, 07:39:44 am
Christopher
My apologies, I did believe that,that was the complete opera. Thinking about it, the version I had on LP was, if I remember correctly, two records so about eighty minutes of music, I wish I had kept them now. I have a great fondness for Rimsky's operas and look forward to a new recording of Servilia.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: chill319 on March 30, 2016, 06:29:25 am
I hope an opportunity will arise in the near future to hear the full five-act version and incidentally to compare it with The Czar's Bride, another historical (as opposed to folk or fairy tale) Rimsky opera, written just a few before.

Interesting that Stephen Muir's English translation of the libretto to Servilia is available at http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/servilia.htm


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on March 30, 2016, 10:30:31 am
I hope an opportunity will arise in the near future to hear the full five-act version a.....


Well, if you read the first posting in this thread you might learn of just such an opportunity....!


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on June 10, 2016, 11:42:53 pm
I will put out some feelers with friends who work there ;)

Hi Neil - have you heard anything further about this?


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Neil McGowan on June 11, 2016, 09:54:08 am
Unfortunately I've been up to my neck in non-musical matters of late :((  I hope to emerge from all this stuff and find out more about Servilia soon :)


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on July 28, 2016, 12:43:00 pm
Unfortunately I've been up to my neck in non-musical matters of late :((  I hope to emerge from all this stuff and find out more about Servilia soon :)


Hi again Neil - just checking in to see if you've heard anything through your network about the release of this?  I believe it was (scheduled to be) recorded in April.  I have no idea how long it can take from a recording to production, marketing and sale of a CD!


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on August 04, 2016, 11:36:13 am
A friend of mine went into the Pokrovskaya opera this week and asked about the release of the CD. The lady there told him that it's not yet on sale but most probably will be at the premiere performance on 14th-16th September.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on October 05, 2017, 02:39:14 pm
So this recording of Servilia has still not appeared.  I wonder if it ever will....

Meanwhile someone (presumably in Moscow) has put up what must be a bootleg, dated 06.05.2016 - here:

http://muz-color.ru/?s= сервилия (http://muz-color.ru/?s= сервилия)

Links called:
Римский-Корсаков Сервилия, 3ч.
Римский-Корсаков Сервилия, 1ч.
Римский-Корсаков Сервилия, 2ч.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Hattoff on October 06, 2017, 08:02:35 am
Thank you very much for that. There is some audience noise but the sound is not at all bad.

Thanks to you I now have all of Rimsky's operas, and wonderful things they are too.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Hattoff on October 06, 2017, 08:17:39 am
By the way, you may already know that, there is a new DVD of the Maryinsky "Tale of the Tsar Saltan" due out. I have a poor recording of it but this should be much better. 


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on October 13, 2017, 10:52:39 am
Thank you very much for that. There is some audience noise but the sound is not at all bad.

Thanks to you I now have all of Rimsky's operas, and wonderful things they are too.

Hi Hatoff - I'm glad to have completed your R-K opera collection (and mine too)!  Can I encourage you to give a review/impressions of this piece?  What do you make of it, as a piece of music, and in terms of this particular recording?  How does it compare with R-K's other operas?  I have to confess that despite having them all, I rarely listen to them (with the partial exception of May Night), I much prefer his orchestral works.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Hattoff on November 27, 2017, 03:46:41 pm
I am, right now, listening to the new Marinsky DVD of the Tale of the Tsar Saltan.
What, oh what, a disappointment. Is it Gergiev? or whoever rehearsed it for him? the beautiful sprightly melodies have become dirges and the beautiful dirges have become ambient music.
 


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on November 28, 2017, 10:05:17 am
I am, right now, listening to the new Marinsky DVD of the Tale of the Tsar Saltan.
What, oh what, a disappointment. Is it Gergiev? or whoever rehearsed it for him? the beautiful sprightly melodies have become dirges and the beautiful dirges have become ambient music.
 


What about Servilia though? What impressions would you share?@ Is it worth spending the time to listen through it?


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Hattoff on November 29, 2017, 08:28:23 pm
I Have thought a lot about a reply since you first asked for a review. I Have listened to Servilia around eight times and I am getting to know it very well. There are wonderful melodies and brilliant orchestral effects and unusually for Rimsky  some passion. I haven't a clue about the plot or whether it works well as an opera, I like it very much.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on November 30, 2017, 10:44:22 am
I Have thought a lot about a reply since you first asked for a review. I Have listened to Servilia around eight times and I am getting to know it very well. There are wonderful melodies and brilliant orchestral effects and unusually for Rimsky  some passion. I haven't a clue about the plot or whether it works well as an opera, I like it very much.

This is good to know, thanks Hatoff.  I can fill in on the plot.  Somewhat unusually for Russian opera it's set in classical times* - the story is set in Ancient Rome during Nero's reign.

From wikipedia - Servilia, daughter of the senator Soranus, is desired by her father to contract an alliance with Trasea, but the latter, hearing of her preference for his adopted son Valerius, withdraws his suit. Egnatius, the freedman of Soranus, being enamoured of Servilia, conspires against his master and Trasea, and intimates to Servilia that her submission alone will secure their safety. Valerius has mysteriously disappeared, and Servilia, becoming a convert to Christianity, renounces the World. Called before the tribunal, Trasea and Soranus are sentenced to banishment, while Servilia is awarded to Egnatius. Valerius now returns, bearing a proclamation from Nero that the tribunal is dissolved. The sudden reappearance of her lover causes Servilia's death, and Valerius is only prevented from destroying himself by the intervention of his foster-father. Egnatius, in his woe, invokes the Divine Being, and the rest join him in acclaiming the Christian God.

* - I can think of only a few Russian (recorded) operas set in classical/ancient/Biblical times: Mussorgsky's Salammbo; Serov's Judith....the majority of Russian opera is based on more recent European literature, (Russian) history and also of course Russian fairytales and myth. Fair comment?


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Hattoff on December 01, 2017, 08:47:11 am
Thanks for that. Yes, It is quite remarkable how insular the subject matter of Russian opera is. With those exceptions you mention, at the widest it is only pan-slavic. There's only the Egyptian scene in Mlada and and the Chinese, I think, in the Golden Cockerel that come to my mind.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Demetrius on December 01, 2017, 12:08:51 pm
I'm not sure that Russian opera is quite so insular as we might think. Clearly there was a political/cultural element in pre-revolutionary Russian music that was informed by the nationalism so popular across Europe in the nineteenth century but I also think that the success or otherwise of non-Russian/Slavic subjects in opera has been partly affected by what non-Russian audiences/musicologists think Russian music should sound like. In that respect, it has been common in the past for such works to be dismissed as anomalies or not authentic.

Just off the top of my head, I can think of these non-Russian subjects that were set to music by Russian composers, though not all have been recorded:

Dargomyzhsky:

Esmeralda
The Stone Guest

Serov:

Judith

Mussorgsky:

Salammbo

Anton Rubinstein:

Nero

(The latter perhaps most obviously in the context of this discussion, but also several others including his "sacred operas".)

Rimsky-Korsakov:

Mozart and Salieri
Servilia

Tchaikovsky:

The Maid of Orleans
Iolanta

Arensky:

Raphael

S Taneyev:

The Oresteia

Rachmaninov:

Francesca da Rimini
Monna Vanna (incomplete).


Ippolitov-Ivanov:

Ruth

Cui:

William Ratcliffe
Le Flibustier
Angelo
Feast in Time of Plague
Mateo Falcone

plus several others.


----


As a postscript for Hattoff, you can find an English libretto for Servilia here - http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/servilia.htm   :)


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on December 04, 2017, 11:18:41 am
I'm not sure that Russian opera is quite so insular as we might think. Clearly there was a political/cultural element in pre-revolutionary Russian music that was informed by the nationalism so popular across Europe in the nineteenth century but I also think that the success or otherwise of non-Russian/Slavic subjects in opera has been partly affected by what non-Russian audiences/musicologists think Russian music should sound like. In that respect, it has been common in the past for such works to be dismissed as anomalies or not authentic.

Just off the top of my head, I can think of these non-Russian subjects that were set to music by Russian composers, though not all have been recorded:

Dargomyzhsky:

Esmeralda
The Stone Guest

Serov:

Judith

Mussorgsky:

Salammbo

Anton Rubinstein:

Nero

(The latter perhaps most obviously in the context of this discussion, but also several others including his "sacred operas".)

Rimsky-Korsakov:

Mozart and Salieri
Servilia

Tchaikovsky:

The Maid of Orleans
Iolanta

Arensky:

Raphael

S Taneyev:

The Oresteia

Rachmaninov:

Francesca da Rimini
Monna Vanna (incomplete).


Ippolitov-Ivanov:

Ruth

Cui:

William Ratcliffe
Le Filibustier
Angelo
Feast in Time of Plague
Mateo Falcone

plus several others.


----


As a postscript for Hattoff, you can find an English libretto for Servilia here - http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/servilia.htm   :)


Many thanks for this Demetrius.

To your knowledge, have Ruth (Ippolitov-Ivanov), Nero (Rubinstein), or any of the Cui operas (other than Feast) been recorded?

I just found, via wikipedia, a computer (MDI) generated versison of the orchestral introduction to William Ratcliffe here:
http://www.russisches-musikarchiv.de/midi/cui_william-ratcliff-introduktion.mid (http://www.russisches-musikarchiv.de/midi/cui_william-ratcliff-introduktion.mid)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ratcliff_(Cui) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ratcliff_(Cui))


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Demetrius on December 06, 2017, 08:51:12 am
Many thanks for this Demetrius.

To your knowledge, have Ruth (Ippolitov-Ivanov), Nero (Rubinstein), or any of the Cui operas (other than Feast) been recorded?

No, I'm afraid I've never heard of any Ippolitov-Ivanov opera being recorded. The Biblical setting  of Ruth would seem to be an ideal vehicle for him given the composer's interest in "orientalist" musical colouring. I also just found two more Ippolitov-Ivanov operas on non-Russian subjects - Ole from the Northern Land (1915/16 and set, I think, in Scandinavia) and The Last Barricade (1933, set in the Paris Commune).

There is an arrangement for radio of Cui's Puss in Boots. It was recorded and released on CD in the late 90s, IIRC, and is sung in German. Apparently, the opera became quite popular in the post-war DDR. I'm assuming it's the same version that can be heard on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdOxin_Fa2o

There are some other clips on that site that suggest his late childrens' operas are still occasionally revived in eastern Europe.

As for the Rubinstein, I know of no recording of Nero. There was a bootlegged recording of Christus floating around a while back but the excerpts I heard didn't encourage me to investigate further.






Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Demetrius on December 06, 2017, 09:43:51 am
The link to the Cui disc:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gestiefelte-Kater-Cesar-Cui/dp/349188764X/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5TYMZV8NX9W0V1FBE2S8


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on December 06, 2017, 02:43:59 pm


There are some other clips on that site that suggest his late childrens' operas are still occasionally revived in eastern Europe.


On which site do you mean Demetrius?

Thanks for the Puss in Boots link!

I have the Christus "bootleg"! It's not particularly memorable tbh..


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Demetrius on December 06, 2017, 05:41:32 pm
Sorry, should have been more clear. On YouTube there are a couple of short video clips - one from a modern production by Junge Oper Hannover, posted last year.

And there's one that actually turns out to be a crowdfunding promo from 2015. It was to fund Opera for Bulgaria (?) to produce Puss in Boots and Little Red Riding Hood by Cui. I don't know if anything came of it.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on December 07, 2017, 10:40:02 am
Sorry, should have been more clear. On YouTube there are a couple of short video clips - one from a modern production by Junge Oper Hannover, posted last year.

And there's one that actually turns out to be a crowdfunding promo from 2015. It was to fund Opera for Bulgaria (?) to produce Puss in Boots and Little Red Riding Hood by Cui. I don't know if anything came of it.

Thanks - do you have the links for these?


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Hattoff on December 08, 2017, 06:48:24 pm
Thank you all. I'm very interested in Russian opera. I've ordered the Cui " Puss in Boots". Should I getn The Serov "Judith"?


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Demetrius on December 09, 2017, 12:44:29 pm
Thanks - do you have the links for these?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlDNA8OgRUE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMYUVLu5Oa4


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Demetrius on December 09, 2017, 12:51:10 pm
Thank you all. I'm very interested in Russian opera. I've ordered the Cui " Puss in Boots". Should I getn The Serov "Judith"?

I haven't listened to it for several years. It's no rediscovered masterpiece but I did enjoy it, I recall. Now it's been reissued by Brilliant at a low price, it's definitely worth taking a punt if you're curious.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Hattoff on December 10, 2017, 11:39:13 am
Okay, Many thanks. I'll order it.


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on December 11, 2017, 12:23:46 pm
Thank you all. I'm very interested in Russian opera. I've ordered the Cui " Puss in Boots". Should I getn The Serov "Judith"?


Yes it's enjoyable.  Holofernes's War Song is a highlight - it's sung powerfully here by Boris Gmyria - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njLTXTkoKDM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njLTXTkoKDM)


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on April 04, 2018, 04:26:44 pm
Back to Servilia, this was posted recently on another site:

Servilia was recorded by the Pokrovsky Chamber Opera on the Mosfilm Cinema studio in 2016. The theatre did not have any definite obligations with any sound recording company, the talks have been carrying out but without any result. So up to now there is no contract with any sound recording firm and it means that no firm is planning to release the recording.

All rights to the recording belong to Gennady Rozhdestvensky (not to the Chamber Opera) and now he stopped any talks concerning this case. It occurred after the decision by the Ministry of Culture in Russia to join Chamber Opera to the Bolshoi Theatre. Maybe you have heard about this scandalous situation. The Chamber Opera works and exists till the June of this year and after that it becomes a part of the Bolshoi. It's the end of this institution with unique repertory and it's very sad.

Perhaps it sounds ridiculous, but it seems to me that Rozhdestvensky has taken offense at the Ministry and at the Bolshoi Theatre. Still his position concerning accession of one theater to another isn't known. He just is silent and doesn't make any contact. That is the difficult situation in general and about Servilia's recording just nobody already remembers.




If bad news always represents an opportunity for someone else , and in the knowledge that several members here have good and strong relationships with recording companies.... This sorry episode might be unknown outside Moscow.  Might a record label over here be interested enough to make an approach to Mr Rozhdestvensky and see if he could be prevailed upon to sell his rights to the recording?  Would members here with the contacts be ready to raise this with the labels with which they have contacts?

From their point of view, Rimsky-Korsakov should be seen as a composer who "sells".


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on June 17, 2018, 09:40:41 pm
Complete recording of Servilia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdYuHPAz0YE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdYuHPAz0YE)


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest744 on July 07, 2018, 04:15:42 pm
With regard to the libretto of Servilia, I have compiled, if that's the right word, a 2-column (Russian and English) complete table of the texts. Knowing a smattering of Russian, marrying the Russian to the English was not difficult. I'd be quite happy to email the results to anyone; however, I have no idea what copyrights I'd be infringing. Like a few others on here, that completes my "collection" of the 15 R-K operas, but I have to say it does seem self-evident to me why the work has fallen into obscurity. Never mind! On the subject of Snow Maiden, I recently bought the Decca Grand Opera set and was astounded at the quality of the (genuine stereo) recording, considering it was recorded in 1955. Not quite up to the Solti Rheingold (1958), but very natural sounding. It can't really compete with Fedoseyev on HMV SLS but it's still worth having. By the way, the Servilia Russian text is in Cyrillic script. Well worth clueing up on that!


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest377 on July 07, 2018, 05:13:57 pm
just a note  S Taneyev:  The Oresteia  was released on the Olympia label in the 1990s  and I think you can still find it on ebay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sergei-Taneyev-Oresteia-New-Music/232724468896?epid=218475480&hash=item362f7594a0:g:clgAAOSwA3dYiK8g


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Dimana on July 07, 2018, 10:00:30 pm
More recently, Taneyev's Oresteia has been issued in 2015 on Melodiya:
https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/classical/products/8078548--taneyev-s-oresteia


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: guest224 on July 08, 2018, 12:40:31 pm
just a note  S Taneyev:  The Oresteia  was released on the Olympia label in the 1990s  and I think you can still find it on ebay

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sergei-Taneyev-Oresteia-New-Music/232724468896?epid=218475480&hash=item362f7594a0:g:clgAAOSwA3dYiK8g


Why is this in a thread about Rimsky-Korsakov's "Servilia"?  Is there a connection?  If not, shouldn't it be in its own thread so that people with an interest in it stand a greater chance of coming across it?


Title: Re: "Servilia" - opera by Rimsky-Korsakov
Post by: Hattoff on July 09, 2018, 04:23:32 pm
With regard to the libretto of Servilia, I have compiled, if that's the right word, a 2-column (Russian and English) complete table of the texts. Knowing a smattering of Russian, marrying the Russian to the English was not difficult. I'd be quite happy to email the results to anyone; however, I have no idea what copyrights I'd be infringing. Like a few others on here, that completes my "collection" of the 15 R-K operas, but I have to say it does seem self-evident to me why the work has fallen into obscurity. Never mind! On the subject of Snow Maiden, I recently bought the Decca Grand Opera set and was astounded at the quality of the (genuine stereo) recording, considering it was recorded in 1955. Not quite up to the Solti Rheingold (1958), but very natural sounding. It can't really compete with Fedoseyev on HMV SLS but it's still worth having. By the way, the Servilia Russian text is in Cyrillic script. Well worth clueing up on that!

Thank you very much for your offer but I will not take it up. In around 90% of the operas I listen to I have no idea of the the story because, mostly, they are are poor or trivial: I'd hate to be disabused of this theory because then I would not enjoy the music. But, Thank you so much, I really appreciate your effort.

I was unable to reply directly to your email for some strange technical reason.

Hattoff