“Prince Igor,” a defining work of Russian opera, will make its first appearance at the Metropolitan Opera in nearly 100 years, beginning on February 6. Written and composed by Alexander Borodin, it was left unfinished when the composer died in 1887 and was completed in 1888 by the composers Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov. The new production at the Met, directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov, stars bass-baritone Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role, with Gianandrea Noseda conducting.
Borodin led an unusual life. The illegitimate son of a prince, he was born into serfdom although he received a better education due to his connection to royalty. He became enamored with music in his teens, but took a detour through his early life to study chemistry. He continued to write music in his spare hours, but it wasn’t until he met the composer Mily Balakirev that he began focusing more seriously on what was until that point just a side project. Together, with others, they formed a group called “The Five,” whose aim was to make distinctively Russian music that was removed from German influence. But even as Borodin’s work gained recognition, chemistry was still his first priority. During his career he helped found the School of Medicine for Women in St. Petersburg, no easy task in Tsarist Russia, and was a vocal advocate for education. Music remained a hobby, even if he was more famous for it.
The new production of “Prince Igor” arrives at the Met with some baggage. Tcherniakov is known as a director who takes risks, not all of them favorably received. His production of Verdi’s “La Traviata,” which opened the season at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan late last year, was met with jeers from the audience. In 2006, his production of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” at the Bolshoi Theater was so widely disliked that famous Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskayaboycotted the theater as a sign of protest.
“I think, really, in many ways, this is one of the most important pieces that we will have attempted to put on here,” Peter Gelb, the Met Opera’s general director, recently told the New York Times. The Met should be applauded for taking on challenging collaborators, even when they are rejected by other, more conservative, companies. The question now is how will the audiences at the Met accept Tcherniakov’s non-traditional ideas. Will “Prince Igor” receive a standing ovation? Or will this prove to be a massive misstep for the famed institution?
