Igor Svyatoslavich - in The Arts

In The Arts

On his campaign against the Cumans, a heroic poem was written which is the peak of old Russian poetry. As a matter of fact, scholars still argue as to whether the Lay of Igor’s Campaign is written in verse or in rhythmic prose; in either case, it is poetry at its height and its language is racy and powerful. Besides rhythm, the poetic elements of the Lay comprise an extremely rich imagery constructed primarily on parallels with nature, symbolism, poetic address, and lyric lamentation.

In 1869, Vladimir Stasov, a major literary figure of 19th-century Russia, suggested to Alexander Borodin that an opera might be written on the subject of the Lay of Igor’s Campaign. Borodin began to write his Prince Igor but he left the opera unfinished at the time of his death nearly twenty years later. It fell to Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov to finish the orchestration and prepare Prince Igor for publication and performance in 1890.