''The Mandarin's Son'' (''Сын мандарина'' in Cyrillic; ''Syn mandarina'' in transliteration) is comic opera in one act by

César Cui César Antonovich Cui ( rus, Це́зарь Анто́нович Кюи́, , ˈt͡sjezərʲ ɐnˈtonəvʲɪt͡ɕ kʲʊˈi, links=no, Ru-Tsezar-Antonovich-Kyui.ogg; french: Cesarius Benjaminus Cui, links=no, italic=no; 13 March 1918) was a Ru ...

, composed in 1859. The

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

, which includes spoken dialogue, was written by

Viktor Krylov Viktor Alexandrovich Krylov (russian: Виктор Александрович Крылов, 2 February 1838 — 13 March 1908) was a Russian playwright (who occasionally used the pen name Viktor Alexandrov), theatre critic, librettist, Imperial ...

. No small influence for this work came from the French composer Daniel Auber, particularly his ''

Le cheval de bronze ''Le Cheval de bronze'' (''The Bronze Horse'') is an '' opéra comique'' by the French composer Daniel Auber, first performed on 23 March 1835 by the Opéra-Comique at the Salle de la Bourse in Paris. The libretto (in three acts) is by Auber's ...

'', which had a similar setting, and was being performed in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

at the time. Cui dedicated this opera to his bride, Mal'vina Bamberg. (They had married the previous year.) The orchestration is credited to Mily Balakirev.

Performance history

The first performance of ''The Mandarin's Son'' was "domestic," so to speak. It occurred on 22 February 1859 at the apartment of Cui's in-laws in

, with

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

accompaniment. The cast for this performance included

Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...

in the role of the Mandarin and Mal'vina as the Innkeeper's daughter. The first public performance was given on 7 December 1878 in St. Petersburg, by the Клуб художников rtists' Club Thereafter it proved to be one of the few operas by Cui that was popular in

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

. Soon after the composer's death, however, the opera seemed to have disappeared from the repertory in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. It was revived, however, in 1998 by the Pokrovsky Chamber Music Theater in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in a modified production.

Roles

Synopsis

:Place:At an inn in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

The innkeeper discovers that his daughter, Iedi, is interested in his servant Muri, whereupon he tells Muri to leave. In the meantime, the Mandarin has arrived, searching for his long-lost son, who turns out to be Muri.

Bibliography

* Bernandt, G.B. ''Словарь опер впервые поставленных или изданных в дореволюционной России и в СССР, 1736-1959'' 'Dictionary of Operas First Performed or Published in Pre-Revolutionary Russia and in the USSR, 1836-1959'' Москва: Советский композитор, 1962, p. 288. * Cui, César. Сын мандарина: комическая опера в одном действии he Mandarin's Son: comic opera in one act Ст.-Петербург: А. Битнер, 1859. * _______. ''Le fils du mandarin'': opéra comique en un acte. Réduction pour chant et piano. Leipzig: Rahter, 1888. * Krylov, V.A. "Композитор Ц.А. Кюи (отрывок из воспоминание)," ''Прозаические сочинения в двух томах'', т. 2 The Composer C.A. Cui (Fragment from Reminiscences)," ''Prose Works in Two Volumes'', v. 2 С. Петербург, 1908, pp. 289-300. * Nazarov, A.F. ''Цезарь Антонович Кюи'' 'Cezar' Antonovič Kjui'' Moskva: Muzyka, 1989. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mandarins Son, The Operas by César Cui Operas Russian-language operas 1859 operas