Salammbô (Mussorgsky)


Salammbô is an unfinished opera in 4 acts by Modest Mussorgsky. The fragmentary Russian language libretto was written by the composer, and is based on the novel Salammbô by Gustave Flaubert, but includes verses taken from poems by Vasiliy Zhukovsky, Apollon Maykov, Aleksandr Polezhayev, and other Russian poets.
Salammbô was Mussorgsky's first major attempt at an opera. He worked on the project from 1863 to 1866, completing six numbers before losing interest.

Composition history

The Russian translation of Flaubert's 1862 novel was published serially in the Saint Petersburg journal Otechestvennye Zapiski in 1863, and was read with enthusiasm by the six members of the commune in which the composer was then living. Mussorgsky was likely influenced in his choice of subject by having recently heard Aleksandr Serov's Judith, which premiered on 16 May 1863, and which shares with Salammbô an exotic setting and similar narrative details.
The unfinished vocal score consists of three scenes and three separate numbers:
No.CompletedSceneDescription
1
1864-08Act 1Song: "Song of the Balearic Islander"
2
1866-04-10Act 1Chorus: "War Song of the Libyans"
3
1863-12-15Act 2, Scene 2Scene: The Temple of Tanit in Carthage
4
1864-11-10Act 3, Scene 1Scene: The Temple of Molokh
5
1864-11-26Act 4, Scene 1Scene: The Dungeon of the Acropolis
6
1866-02-08Act 4, Scene 2Chorus:

Two numbers were orchestrated by the composer.
The chorus of priestesses and warriors is a reworking of the "Scene in the Temple: Chorus of the People", the only surviving number from Oedipus in Athens, Mussorgsky's earliest stage-work.
In Mathô's monologue in the dungeon, the text is borrowed from the poem Song of the Captive Iroquois, by Alexander Polezhayev. The theme of this passage, accompanying a new text, was recycled in 1877 in the chorus Joshua .
Mussorgsky's orchestration in Salammbô is quite ahead of its time. One example of a modern idea is, in the projected scoring for the "Hymn to Tanit", the abundance and variety of percussion, in addition to a mixture of pianos, harps, and glockenspiels of a sort which only reappeared fifty years later.

Performance history

The first staged performance of Salammbô took place at the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, on 29 March 1983 in a version revised and edited by Zoltán Peskó. The work was repeated on 30 March and on 1, 2 and 6 April. It had originally been agreed that the role of Salammbô in these performances would be sung by Lyudmila Shemchuk and that of Mathô by Georgy Seleznev, but the Soviet authorities subsequently withdrew the exit visas of both singers, and they were substituted by Annabelle Bernard and Boris Bakov respectively. Because of these enforced changes it was necessary to postpone the date of the premiere from 26 to 29 March.

Roles

Synopsis

Setting

Act 1

Scene: Hamilcar's Garden in Carthage

Act 2

Scene 1:
Scene 2: The Temple of Tanit in Carthage

Act 3

Scene 1: The Temple of Moloch
Scene 2:

Act 4

Scene 1: The Dungeon of the Acropolis
Scene 2:

Subsequent use of musical materials

Mussorgsky reused much of the music from Salammbô in later works. Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov gives the following account of thematic borrowing in his memoirs, Chronicle of My Musical Life :

«В течение сезона 1866/67 года я более сблизился с Мусоргским. Я бывал у него, а жил он со своим женатым братом Филаретом близ Кашина моста. Он много мне играл отрывков из своей «Саламбо», которые меня премного восхищали. Кажется, тогда же играл он мне свою фантазию «Иванова ночь» для фортепиано с оркестром, затеянную под влиянием «Danse macabre». Впоследствии музыка этой фантазии, претерпев многие метаморфозы, послужила материалом для «Ночи на Лысой горе». Играл он также мне свои прелестные еврейские хоры: «Поражение Сенахериба» и «Иисус Навин». Музыка последнего была взята им из оперы «Саламбо». Тема этого хора была подслушана Мусоргским у евреев, живших с ним в одном дворе и справлявших праздник кущей. Играл мне Мусоргский и романсы свои, которые не имели успеха у Балакирева и Кюи. Между ними были: «Калистрат» и красивая фантазия «Ночь» на слова Пушкина. Романс «Калистрат» был предтечею того реального направления, которое позднее принял Мусоргский; романс же «Ночь» был представителем той идеальной стороны его таланта, которую впоследствии он сам втоптал в грязь, но запасом которой при случае пользовался. Запас этот был заготовлен им в «Саламбо» и еврейских хорах, когда он еще мало думал о сером мужике. Замечу, что большая часть его идеального стиля, например ариозо царя Бориса, фразы самозванца у фонтана, хор в боярской думе, смерть Бориса и т. д. — взяты им из «Саламбо». Его идеальному стилю недоставало подходящей кристаллически-прозрачной отделки и изящной формы; недоставало потому, что не было у него знания гармонии и контрапункта. Балакиревская среда осмеивала сначала эти ненужные науки, потом объявила их недоступными для Мусоргского. Так он без них и прожил, возводя для собственного утешения свое незнание в доблесть, а технику других в рутину и консерватизм. Но когда красивая и плавная последовательность удавалась ему, наперекор предвзятым взглядам, как он был счастлив. Я был свидетелем этого не один раз.»

The Song of the Balearic Islander was included by the composer in a collection of his juvenilia composed between 1857 and 1866 called Youthful Years. The song is No. 17 in the series of manuscripts consisting of 17 songs and one duet.
Several measures of Salammbô's dialogue with the crowd were used in the 1867 tone poem St. John's Eve on the Bare Mountain :
Several musical themes from this project were recycled and played important roles in the composer's subsequent opera Boris Godunov. The borrowings concern the orchestral accompaniments only, which are fitted to new vocal lines. The correspondence in narrative detail, mood, or atmosphere in each case is often quite close:
Seq.SceneSalammbôSeq.SceneBoris Godunov
1Act 2,
Scene 2		Salammbô: "Gentle Tanit"
8
Act 4,
Scene 1		Boris: "From empyrean unassailable heights"
2Act 2,
Scene 2		Chorus: "Go down to the dark meadow and forest"
3
Act 3,
Scene 2		Dmitriy: "Tis you alone, Marina"
3Act 2,
Scene 2		Mathô: "Divine, wondrous singing"
4
Act 3,
Scene 2		Dmitriy: "You wound my heart, cruel Marina"
4Act 2,
Scene 2		Salammbô: "Away! Away from me!"
9
Act 4,
Scene 2		Vagabonds: "Gaida! Choke them! Throttle them!"
5Act 3,
Scene 1		High Priest: "Our sacred city is besieged"
2
Act 2Boris: "Heavy is the right hand of the awesome judge"
6Act 3,
Scene 1		People: "Repel the daring foes from our walls"
1
Act 2Boris: "In vain the astrologers foretell"
7Act 3,
Scene 1		Priests and people: "Glory to Moloch!"
10
Act 4,
Scene 2		Vagabonds: "Glory to the Tsarevich!"
8Act 4,
Scene 1		Mathô: "You were under my heel"
7
Act 4,
Scene 1		Shuysky: "Pale, bathed in a cold sweat"
9Act 4,
Scene 1		Four priests of Moloch: "Glory to thee, all-powerful one!"
5
Act 4,
Scene 1		Orchestral introduction
10Act 4,
Scene 1		The pentarchs sentence Mathô to execution
6
Act 4,
Scene 1		The boyars pass sentence on the Pretender

The War Song of the Libyans from Act 1 became the basis of the chorus Iisus Navin, better known as Joshua, for alto, baritone, chorus, and piano, composed in 1877. An orchestral edition prepared by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov was published in 1883. The theme of the middle section of Joshua, a solo for alto and a brief women's chorus, "The women of Canaan weep", said to be of Jewish origin by Vladimir Stasov and Rimsky-Korsakov, is based on part of Mathô's monologue in the dungeon, "I shall die alone".
The 'Chorus of Priestesses' was orchestrated by Rimsky-Korsakov, and published and performed as an independent piece after Mussorgsky's death.

Versions by other hands

Zoltán Peskó was the first to orchestrate the rest of the numbers. Peskó claims to have found a Mussorgsky orchestration of No. 1 in the library of the Paris Conservatory, but this version has disappeared.
YearEditorTypeNotes
1980Zoltán PeskóOrchestrationPerformance: 10 November 1980, Milan
1991Vyacheslav NagovitsinOrchestrationPerformance: 1991, Mérida

Recordings