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| Fyodor Stravinsky as Mstivoy in the premiere |
Well. There is always something you should have known. There is an opera named Mlada by Rimsky-Korsakov written in the early 1890s. As you can see below, there is, at best, a really sketchy plot line. The music is, however, amazing and the suite of very familiar tunes from the opera is at the bottom. Here is the synopsis:
- Time: The ninth or tenth century
- Place: The Slavic lands of the Baltic sea-coast, in the city of Rethra, near the Labe (Elbe) River, in modern-day Germany.
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| Fedov Stravinsky |
Act 1. Voyslava has killed Mlada, Yaromir's bride, to have him for herself. With the help of Morena, the goddess of the underworld, she has captivated Yaromir. But he sees the murder in his dreams.
Act 2. At the midsummer festival the people dance, while the spirit of Mlada intervenes between Yaromir and Voyslava.
Act 3. By night Mlada leads Yaromir up Mount Triglav, where the dead gather, before the Witches' Sabbath in which Yaromir is shown a vision of Cleopatra.
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| The Stravinsky kid; Igor |
Act 4. Yaromir, at the Temple of Radegast, is shown by the spirits that Voyslava is guilty. She confesses her sin and he kills her. Morena, with whom Voyslava had made a compact, destroys the temple and the city of Rethra, but Yaromir is united with Mlada in heaven.
Had enough?
The reason I think about this is that although sure Igor Stravinsky had a father, I had no idea, NONE, that he was a famous opera singer and active when Igor was just into his craft.
I could have gone the rest of my life without knowing. I'm not smarter for "discovering" this factoid as I have been lazy for nearly 3/4ths of a century for not looking things up when they occur to us. A lesson for all of us everyday I would think.