Prince Igor - Performance History

Performance History

"During the season of 1888–9 the Directorate of Imperial Theatres began to lead us a fine dance with the production of Prince Igor, which had been finished, published, and forwarded to the proper authorities. We were led by the nose the following season as well, with constant postponements of production for some reason or other." "On October 23, 1890, Prince Igor was produced at last, rehearsed fairly well by K. A. Kuchera, as Nápravník had declined the honor of conducting Borodin's opera. Both Glazunov and I were pleased with our orchestration and additions. The cuts later introduced by the Directorate in Act 3 of the opera did it considerable harm. The unscrupulousness of the Mariinsky Theatre subsequently went to the length of omitting Act 3 altogether. Taken all in all, the opera was a success and attracted ardent admirers, particularly among the younger generation." —Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Chronicle of My Musical Life, 1909

The world premiere was given in St. Petersburg on 4 November (23 October O.S.), 1890 at the Mariinsky Theatre. Set designers were Yanov, Andreyev, and Bocharov, while Lev Ivanov was balletmaster.

Moscow premieres followed later. The first was given in 1892 by the Russian Opera Society, conducted by Iosif Pribik. The Bolshoy Theatre premiere was given in 1898 and was conducted by Ulrikh Avranek

Other notable premieres were given in Prague in 1899, and in Paris in 1909, with a Sergei Diaghilev production featuring Feodor Chaliapin as Galitsky and Maria Kuznetsova as Yaroslavna. London saw the same production in 1914 conducted by Thomas Beecham, again with Chaliapin as Galitsky. In 1915 the United States premiere took place at the Metropolitan Opera, but staged in Italian and conducted by Giorgio Polacco. The first performance in English was at Covent Garden on 26 July 1919, with Miriam Licette as Yaroslvna.

In January and February 2009 there was a production at the Aalto Theatre by the Essen Opera. While some aspects of the production may have been unusual, one critic noted that "placing the (Polovtsian) Dances as a Finale is an elegant idea, the director Andrejs Zagars and the conductor Noam Zur have thus presented a musically and dramaturgically coherent Prince Igor. Heartfelt applause for a worthwhile evening at the opera.

In 2011 there was a concert performance in Moscow by Helikon Opera, based on Pavel Alexandrovich Lamm reconstruction. Soon the new edition based on 92 survived note manuscripts by Borodin was completed by musicologist Anna Bulycheva.