7 V’yezd Aleksandra vo Pskov 7 Alexander’s entry into Pskov DDD Na velikiy boy vïkhodila Rus’; Russia went forth to a great battle; voroga pobedila Rus’. Russia defeated the foe. PROKOFIEV 8.555710 Na rodnoy zemlye ne bïvat’ vragu. No enemy shall remain on Russian lands, Kto pridyot, budet nasmert’ bit. whoever comes will be mortally defeated. Veselisya, poy, mat’ rodnaya Rus’! Rejoice and sing, mother Russia! Na rodnoy Rusi ne bïvat’ vragu, No enemy shall remain on Russian lands, Alexander Nevsky (Cantata) ne vidat’ vragu nashikh russkikh syol. the enemy shall not see our Russian villages. Kto pridyot na Rus’, budet nasmert’ bit. Whoever comes against Russia will be mortally Pushkiniana (Orchestral Suite) Ne vidat’ vragu nashikh russkikh syol. defeated. Kto pridyot na Rus’, budet nasmert’ bit. The enemy shall not see our Russian villages. Na Rusi rodnoy, na Rusi bol’shoy Whoever comes against Russia will be mortally Irina Gelahova, Mezzo-soprano ne bïvat’ vragu ! defeated. Stanislavsky Chorus • Russian State Symphony Orchestra Veselisya, poy, mat’ rodnaya Rus’! In our own Russia, in vast Russia Na velikiy prazdnik no enemy shall remain! Dmitry Yablonsky sobralasya Rus’. Rejoice and sing, mother Russia! Veselisya, Rus’! For the grand festivities Veselisya, Rus’ rodnaya mat’! Russia has come together. Rejoice, Russia! Rejoice and sing, mother Russia! Words by Vladimir Lugovskoy and Sergey Prokofiev © 2003 English translation by Philip Taylor 8.555710 8 Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953) Podnimaysya, vstan’, mat’ rodnaya Rus’ ! Rise up, take up arms, our mother Russia! Alexander Nevsky Na Rusi rodnoy, na Rusi bol’shoy In our native Russia, ne bïvat’ vragu. in our vast Russia From his first mature stage-work, the opera The III - The Crusaders in Pskov Podnimaysya, vstan’, mat’ rodnaya Rus’ ! let there be no enemy. Gambler (1917), it was clear that Sergey Prokofiev had The chanting of the Teutonic knights invokes their Vstavaytye, lyudi russkiye, Arise, ye Russian people, an innate feel for the cinematic. On his last visit to the subjugation of the Russian people, underlined by na smertnïy boy, na smertnïy boy. take arms in the glorious and mortal battle. United States in 1938 he studied the film-making dissonant brass and, in the contrasting central section, Vstavaytye, lyudi vol’nïye Arise, ye free people techniques prevalent in Hollywood film studios, supplicating strings. za nashu zemlyu chestnuyu! for our sacred land! intending to adapt them to Soviet films. Back in the Vragam na Rus’ ne khazhivat’, No enemies shall march to Russia, Soviet Union, he was able to put his ideas into practice IV - Arise, ye Russian People polkov na Rus’ ne vazhivat’, they shall lead no regiments to Russia, when Sergey Eisenstein (1898-1948) asked him to A defiant call-to-arms as the people prepare to defend putey na Rus’ ne vidïvat’, they shall not see the roads to Russia, collaborate on Alexander Nevsky. Work proceeded the Motherland, offset by the gentler, expressive central poley Rusi ne taptïvat’. they shall not trample our Russian fields. apace, the creative affinity between composer and section of remembrance. Vstavaytye, lyudi russkiye, Arise, ye Russian people, director ensuring that the music for each sequence was na slavnïy boy, na smertnïy boy. take arms in the glorious and mortal battle. written with a minimum of pre-planning or the need for V - The Battle on the Ice Vstavaytye, lyudi vol’nïye Arise, ye free people re-editing. After the frozen wastes of the coming scene of battle za nashu zemlyu chestnuyu! for our sacred land! Released in late 1938 this dramatization of the have been pointedly evoked by strings, a tramping thirteenth-century conflict between the Russian people motion in lower strings and brass depicts approaching 5 Ledovoye poboishche 5 The Battle on the Ice and Teutonic invaders struck a resounding chord in the Teutonic hordes. The Latin chanting returns, as do a Peregrinus, expectavi, pedes meos in cymbalis est! Peregrinus, expectavi, pedes meos in cymbalis est! Soviet Union at a time when war with Hitler’s Germany number of motifs heard earlier in the cantata, as in the Vincant arma crucifera! Hostis pereat ! Vincant arma crucifera! Hostis pereat ! seemed inevitable. The film itself was acclaimed original film-score. Brass fanfares from the preceding internationally as a masterpiece of cinema, and remains movement mark the Russian counter-attack, and a 6 Myortvoye polye - Mezzo-soprano solo 6 The Field of Death - Mezzo-soprano solo a classic of the medium. In 1939, Prokofiev re-arranged scherzo-like section, skilfully amalgamated from Ya poydu po polyu belomu, I shall cross the snow-white field, the score as a cantata for concert performance, in which disparate fragments of the film-score, the mounting polechu po polyu smertnomu, I shall fly over the field of death, form it was first performed in Moscow on 17th May, excitement of the battle. A pile-driving march episode poishchu ya slavnïkh sokolov, I shall search out the bright-eyed falcons, soon establishing itself as one of the most popular depicts the Russian victory and terrible loss of life, with zhenikhov moikh, dobrïkh molodtsev. my husbands, my fine fellows. choral works of the century. a closing allusion to the Nevsky Song as calm descends Kto lezhit mechami porublennïy, Some lie hacked by swords, The cantata consists of seven sections, which on the carnage. kto lezhit streloyu poranennïy, some lie pierced by an arrow, follow the course of the film quite closely: napoili oni krov’yu aloyu they have watered with their scarlet blood VI - The Field of Death zemlyu chestnuyu, zemlyu russkuyu. the sacred land, the Russian land. I - Russia under the Mongol Yoke The emotional heart of film and cantata, a solitary Kto pogib za Rus’ smert’yu dobroyu, Whoever died a fine death for Russia The weight of oppression is vividly evoked by cutting woman, mezzo-soprano, wanders across the silent potseluyu tovo v ochi myortvïye, I shall kiss him on his lifeless eyes, strings and plangent woodwind, intentional microphone battlefield in search of her lover, commemorating the a tomu molodtsu, shto ostalsya zhit’ I shall be the faithful wife and the loving bride distortion on the original soundtrack ensuring a suitably dead and apostrophizing the living. budu vernoy zhenoy, miloy ladoyu. of that fine lad who survived the battle. harsh sound. Ne voz’mu v muzh’ya krasivovo, - I shall not take the handsome one to be my VII - Alexander’s Entry into Pskov krasota zemnaya konchayetsya, husband, - II - Song about Alexander Nevsky The Nevsky Song sounds out imperiously as the finale, a poydu ya za khrabrovo. earthly beauty has its end, Male voices recall the massacre of Swedish soldiers on depicting the hero’s homecoming, ushers in a tableau of Otzovitesya, yasnï sokolï ! but I shall wed the brave one. the banks of the River Neva, and the determination of songs and dances, again recalling earlier movements, in Now answer me, bright-eyed falcons! the Russian people to defend their homeland against honour of Russia’s glorious victory. The crash of tam- foreign invaders. tams and peal of bells caps proceedings in appropriately triumphal manner. 8.555710 2 7 8.555710 Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953) 1937, the year after Prokofiev returned to the Soviet gently-paced Menuet, a lively Polka with a moodier Alexander Nevsky Union for good, also marked two important central section, and a Mazurka alternately engaging and anniversaries: the 20th anniversary of the Bolshevik yearning in manner. Revolution and the centenary of the death of poet The innovative music for Boris Godunov was 1 Rus’ pod igom mongol’skim 1 Russia under the Mongolian yoke Alexander Pushkin. With the latter in mind, Prokofiev shelved when the director, Vsevolod Meyerhold, fell became involved in three major projects - stage foul of the authorities, and remained unheard until a 2 Pesnya ob Aleksandre Nevskom 2 Song about Alexander Nevsky adaptations of Eugene Onegin and Boris Godunov, and Moscow production in 1957. The Polonaise depicts the A, i bïlo delo na Nevye-rekye, It happened on the river Neva a film version of The Queen of Spades. In the event, scheming Imposter during the fountain scene, in music na Nevye-rekye, na bol’shoy vodye. on the river Neva, on the watery expanses. none of these projects was ever realized, but the which recalls similar set-pieces in the operas of Glinka Tam rubili mï zloye voinstvo, There we were hacking down the enemy hosts, composer - resourceful as ever - re-used the music in a and Tchaikovsky. zloye voinstvo, voysko shvedskoye. the Swedish forces. number of major compositions over the next decade. In A better fate awaited Prokofiev’s incidental music Ukh, kak bilis’ mï, kak rubilis’ mï! Oh, how we fought them, the 1960s, as part of the wider rehabilitation of to Radlov’s production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, which Ukh! Rubili korabli po dostochkam. how we hacked them down! Prokofiev's output, the conductor Gennady opened in Leningrad on 15 May 1938. Of the ten Nashu krov’-rudu ne zhaleli mï Oh! We smashed their boats for firewood, Rozhdestvensky assembled a suite of movements from numbers which comprise the score, The Ghost of za velikuyu zemlyu russkuyu. and we didn’t spare our life’s blood. these aborted projects under the title Pushkiniana. Hamlet’s Father evokes the presence of the spirit in Gde proshol topor, bïla ulitsa, The swing of our axes carved streets Given that the film was never shot, it would be sombre, even wrathful terms. gde letelo kop’yo, - pereulochek . and the flight of our spears forged lanes! impossible to recreate the score for The Queen of In comparison with the success of Alexander Polozhili mï shvedov, nemchinov, We lay low the invading Swedes Spades in the way intended by Prokofiev.