Boris Godunov (opera)Boris Godunov (Russian: Борис Годунов, romanized: Borís Godunóv ) is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881). The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar (1598 to 1605) during the Time of Troubles, and his nemesis, the False Dmitriy (reigned 1605 to 1606).
Faust (opera)Faust is a grand opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part One. It debuted at the Théâtre Lyrique on the Boulevard du Temple in Paris on 19 March 1859, with influential sets designed by Charles-Antoine Cambon and Joseph Thierry, Jean Émile Daran, Édouard Desplechin, and Philippe Chaperon.
Arturo ToscaniniItalian conductor (1867–1957)Arturo Toscanini (; Italian:; March 25, 1867 – January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. One of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, Toscanini was renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orchestral detail and sonority, and his eidetic memory. He was at various times the music director of La Scala in Milan and the New York Philharmonic.
Charles GounodCharles-François Gounod (UK: GOO-noh, US: goo-NOH; French: [ʃaʁl fʁɑ̃swa ɡuno]; 17 June 1818 – 18 October 1893) was a French composer, conductor, and organist of the Romantic era. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been Faust (1859); his Roméo et Juliette (1867) also remains in the international repertoire.
Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd (Петроград), and later Leningrad (Ленинград), is the second-largest city in Russia, after Moscow, the nation's capital. Situated on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, its area of 1,439 square kilometers (556 sq mi) makes it the smallest administrative division of Russia by area.
MephistophelesMephistopheles ( , German:), also known as Mephostophilis or Mephisto, is a demon featured in German folklore, originating as the chief devil in the Faust legend. He has since become a stock character appearing in other works of arts and popular culture. Mephistopheles never became an integral part of traditional magic.
Russian languageRussian is an East Slavic language belonging to the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is one of the four extant East Slavic languages, and is the native language of the Russian people. Russian was the de facto (and de jure in its final years) official language of the former Soviet Union.
Romanization of RussianThe romanization of the Russian language (the transliteration of Russian text from the Cyrillic script into the Latin script), aside from its primary use for including Russian names and words in text written in a Latin alphabet, is also essential for computer users to input Russian text who either do not have a keyboard or word processor set up for inputting Cyrillic, or else are not capable of typing rapidly using a native Russian keyboard layout (JCUKEN).Basso profondoBasso profondo (Italian: [ˈbasso proˈfondo], "deep bass") is the lowest bass voice type. It is often misspelled as basso profundo. While The New Grove Dictionary of Opera defines a typical bass as having a range that extends downward to the second E below middle C (E2), operatic bassi profondi can be called on to sing low C (C2), as in the role of Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier.Bass (voice type)A bass is a type of classical male singingvoice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E below middle C (82.41 Hz) to the E above middle C (164.81 Hz) (i.e., E2–E4). Its tessitura, or comfortable range, is normally defined by the outermost lines of the bass clef.
Realism (theatre)Realism was a general movement that began in 19th-century theatre, around the 1870s, and remained present through much of the 20th century. 19th-century realism is closely connected to the development of modern drama, which "is usually said to have begun in the early 1870s" with the "middle-period" work of the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen's realistic drama in prose has been "enormously influential."
Old Style and New Style datesOld Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, they refer to the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 1582 and 1923. Consequently, the same day can have two dates, one for each calendar used to record it.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.