Tsar Saltan: a rebellious opera in the form of a story

Although his operas are less well-known in the West than Tchaikovsky's, Rimsky-Korsakof was an extraordinary and prolific operatic composer, whose The Golden Cockerel is already considered the masterpiece it undoubtedly is. Slightly earlier, from 1900, is The Tale of Tsar Saltan, from which many people, even unwittingly, know the excerpt "The Flight of the Bumblebee," and which in a way heralds it, since, like the latter, he skillfully blends Russian folk tales with a sarcastic critique of the arbitrary nature of autocratic power. The libretto is by Vladimir Belsky, who based it on a story, also a mixture of folklore and politics, by Pushkin.

The Teatro Real staged this opera for the first time in a version by the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. It featured an interesting staging that doubles the legendary adventure with the story of a modern-day abandoned woman with an autistic son, but without needing to twist the plot, instead injecting sensitivity and a bit of intelligence into the blending of eras without altering either the text or the music. Dmitri Tcherniakov is the stage director and set designer , offering a lesson in authenticity, fantasy, and a lack of conservatism, with suggestive costumes by Elena Zaytseva and lighting and video by Gleb Filshtinsky, which perfectly support the show. He makes a comprehensive use of the theater, sometimes extending beyond the stage, of which only the proscenium is used, to include side structures surrounding the stalls in an immersive performance that lays the groundwork for the music's realization. This is a great achievement, as Rimsky was a great melodist and a stunning orchestrator.

A very good vocal cast, with the Tsarina standing out, distantly related to the character of Cinderella , sung by Svetlana Aksenova, while the Tsarevich is played by Bogdan Volkov. We also highlight Ante Jekunica (Tsar) and Nina Minasyan (Swan Princess), but the entire cast deserves the applause the audience couldn't deny.

The outstanding work of the titular choir, prepared by José Luis Basso, and that of the Madrid Symphony Orchestra, which perfectly performs its role in this complex yet warm and luminous piece of music. The musical director was Ouri Bronchti, a French conductor with ties to La Monnaie, who demonstrated intimate knowledge of the work and conducted it with rigor and poetic elegance.

We are faced with an opera that uses folk legends and traditions that, although they are Russian, have an influence from and toward other European folklores. And both Pushkin, to whom the Royal Theatre dedicated the opera on the 225th anniversary of his

Birth, like Rimsky-Korsakof, knew that these popular tales conceal a social critique that they knew how to underline. Because in the tale there is fantasy, but also evil, deceit, betrayal, and arbitrariness, and this is embodied by the upper classes in an unequivocal allusion to the society that Russia lived in under the Tsarist autocracy that would soon afterward expel Rimsky from the Conservatory and ban his last opera, the wonderful The Golden Cockerel.

The technical means employed in the music and staging of this title are excellent, and that's why it reaches the audience, who appreciates its success. It's surely one of the most accomplished offerings of the current season at Real Madrid, one that anyone interested in the genre shouldn't miss. And it's a way to combine current events with legend without having to muddy the waters, or even spoil them, as is often the case.

FILE

The tale of Tsar Saltan. Libretto by Vladimir Belski, music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakof. Soloists, Main Choir of the Teatro Real, Madrid Symphony Orchestra. Stage director: Dimitri Tcherniakov. Musical director: Ouri Bronchti.

Qualification: ****