Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg 27 January 1874 Conductor: Eduard Nápravník |
|---|---|---|
| Boris Godunov | bass or baritone | Ivan Melnikov |
| Fyodor (or Feodor), his son | mezzo-soprano | Aleksandra Krutikova |
| Kseniya (or Xenia), Boris's daughter | soprano | Wilhelmina Raab |
| Kseniya's nurse | contralto | Olga Shryoder (Schröder) |
| Prince Vasiliy Ivanovich Shuysky | tenor | Vasiliy Vasilyev, 'Vasilyev II' |
| Andrey Shchelkalov, Clerk of the Duma | baritone | Vladimir Sobolev |
| Pimen, chronicler-hermit | bass | Vladimir Vasilyev, 'Vasilyev I' |
| The Pretender under the name Grigoriy (in training with Pimen) | tenor | Fyodor Komissarzhevsky |
| Marina Mniszech, the daughter of the Sandomierz Voyevoda* | mezzo-soprano or dramatic soprano | Yuliya Platonova |
| Rangoni, a covert Jesuit* | bass | Josef Paleček |
| Varlaam, a vagabond | bass | Osip Petrov |
| Misail, a vagabond | tenor | Pavel Dyuzhikov |
| The Innkeeper | mezzo-soprano | Antonina Abarinova |
| The yuródivïy | tenor | Pavel Bulakhov |
| Nikitich, a police officer | bass | Mikhail Sariotti |
| Mityukha, a peasant | bass | Lyadov |
| The Boyar-in-Attendance | tenor | Sobolev |
| The Boyar Khrushchov* | tenor | Matveyev |
| Lawicki (or Lavitsky), Jesuit* | bass | Vladimir Vasilyev, 'Vasilyev I' |
| Czernikowski (or Chernikovsky), Jesuit* | bass | Sobolev |
| Chorus, silent roles: Boyars, the Boyars' children, streltsï, bodyguards, policemen, Polish nobles, Sandomierz maidens, wandering minstrels, people of Moscow | ||
Note: Roles designated with an asterisk do not appear in the 1869 Original Version. 'Yuródivïy' is often translated as 'Simpleton' or 'Idiot'. However, 'Holy Fool' is a more accurate English equivalent. In other roles lists created by Mussorgsky, Pimen is designated a monk (инок), Grigoriy a novice (послушник), Rangoni a Cardinal (кардинал), Varlaam and Misail vagrant-monks (бродяги-чернецы), the Innkeeper a hostess (хозяйка), and Khrushchov a Voyevoda (воевода). Pimen, Grigoriy, Varlaam, and Misail were likely given non-clerical designations to satisfy the censor.
Read more about this topic: Boris Godunov (opera)
Famous quotes containing the word roles:
“A concern with parenting...must direct attention beyond behavior. This is because parenting is not simply a set of behaviors, but participation in an interpersonal, diffuse, affective relationship. Parenting is an eminently psychological role in a way that many other roles and activities are not.”
—Nancy Chodorow (20th century)
“Modern women are squeezed between the devil and the deep blue sea, and there are no lifeboats out there in the form of public policies designed to help these women combine their roles as mothers and as workers.”
—Sylvia Ann Hewitt (20th century)