HOW NOT TO WRITE AN OPERA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 185, 12 July 1940, Page 2

HOW NOT TO WRITE AN OPERA

BORODIN BALKED AT "PRINCE IGOR'" As regularly as midsummer and midwinter arrive, Donizetti wrote two operas per annum for thirty years. Rossini dashed off "The Barber of Seville" in thirteen days. But Borodin's "Prince Igor" Avas no mass-production piece. It was more like Wagner's "Siegfried," which was composed over a period of 20 years, except that in the cas.? of "Prince Igor" the composition, begun in 1869, was not finished at all when the composer died in 1887. The story of "Prince Igor" is the . story of liow not to write an opera. Intending composers please note. Borodin started enthusiastically, then balked. Result: "Prince Igor" was only a scattered collection of melodies and libretto when he died. „ Fortunately, for much of the music . was very well worth preservation, Ribsk3 r -Korsakov and Glazounov had been taking an interest in the pro--gress of the work and when Borodin died they collected the broken pieces, glued them together, and , turned the opera' out complete at r last. The main themes are still ( Borodin's, but it is known that a ' great deal of the music was composed by his friends to fill the gaps left by his own inconsequential treatment of the work. Stacssov Delivered the Goods. When he began "Prince Igor," Borodin had already had success with symphonic compositions. But he still wanted to see his music put to an opera, to hear himself interpreted in terms of the stage. It became his ambition to write a Russian epic into opera. With a friend, Stassov, he at last found a suitable scenario. Stassov. by the way, showed a good deal more application to the work than his friend. Borodin wanted a scenario. Stassov sat down one morning to write it and delivered it later in the day. It was, briefly, the story of Igor's , attack on the Polovetzky, his' def feat and capture, the love story of his son, and his own final reunion with his Avife. , Borodin spent some time study-. . ing atmosphere, and then set about writing just those numbers which . most appealed to liim. When he tir- , ed of these, or found himself too occupied with his profession, which was chemistry of all things, he used up other of his works which had been begun and abandoned. In His Odd Moments. The years went by with nothing ' realty constructive completed. In 1872 he was commissioned to write the fourth act. of "Mlada.*' For this he started by using some of the "Prince Igor" music. But he did not I finish it, and later retaliated upon himself by writing some of the "Mlada" music into "Prince Igor." I Odd bits and pieces were added from time to time. He wrote, he adI mitted, when he was too unwell to do his ordinary work or else, as in 1876, when he was held up on a journey by a river in flood. . Korsakov despairingly tried to egg him on, and finally, with Lyadov, sat all through one night work ing on the score of the dances wilth Borodin. Six more years went by. Borodin suddenly died. Korsakov and Glazounov, remarkably faithful to the memory of their, friend, set to work to finish and score the opera. They, were able to find only about eight completed numbers. The rest consisted of partly completed sections in piano score, partly of rough sketches. Some of the numbers were not written doiwn at all. They had to put them on paper from memories of Borodin's playing of them.