Yestignei Fomin - The Coachmen at the Horse Stage-Post - Ретиво сердце молодецкое, Н...
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- LindoroRossini
- Source:
- YouTube.com
- Description
- I've recently managed to add several early Russian operas to my collection and, though I am not particularly fond of Russian music on the whole, I found some of the pieces truly enchanting and, in context of the musical tradition that was developing in Europe at the time (at the end of the eighteenth century), both authentically Russian and yet incorporating ideas that would not seem out of place in a European opera. The present upload is a compilation of my personal selections from one such work, "The Coachmen at the Horse Stage-Post" by one of Russia's first classical composers, Yestignei Fomin. The narrative of the work (which barely lasts more than half an hour) is simple: the coachmen are eagerly awaiting the Tzarina's passage of their post, only the virtuous Timofei is saddened, as he is concerned over his quiet life with his wife, as the no-good Vachrush has been heard saying that he would occupy himself with bringing Timofei's downfall. This plan is quickly brought into action when the former approaches (with several armed men) the post to send Timofei into the army. Thankfully, the whole affair (just fifteen minutes into the work) is resolved by the assistance of all the coachmen and a benevolent officer of the crown which causes general excitement, thus the work is resolved in a positive light. This short story, obviously intended to propagate the authority of Russia, comprises in total, ten numbers, most of them being folk choruses and ensembles. I've chosen only three of them (in order of appearance): the sole aria of the work, "How ardent is a young man's heart" (No. 2; belongs to Timofei as he quietly recounts his suffering, based on a folk motive), the chorus that opens the piece, "Not for my father does the swallow sing" (surprisingly solemn in its' melodic material, though no less effective), and a part of the final celebration, "A birch-tree suffered in the field" (No. 8; utilizing a simple folk idiom (amounting pretty much to a bass line stated by the balalaika and accounting a archetypal stor
- Language:
- English
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