Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Act Three - u3asites.org.uk

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Act Three

© 2021 Terry Metheringham [email protected] +44 7528 835 422

2 Leskov’s original story 2 Leskov biography 5 Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District 6 Recap Acts One and Two 9 Comparing Opera Acts One & Two with Leskov

19 Leskov “act three”

21 Overview Act Three 22 Outline Scene Six 23 SCENE SIX – libretto 27 Outline Scene Seven 28 SCENE SEVEN – libretto 32 Classic silent movie music 34 Police Corruption 36 Police station – missing action 38 Outline Scene Eight 39 SCENE EIGHT – libretto 44 Anticlericalism

Soviet Music: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Session 3


Leskov’s original story Let’s pause the action and look at Leskov’s original story of Lady Macbeth. This is a good opportunity to compare the opera and the original story, because Act Three is the point where the opera radically diverges from Leskov.

Leskov biography Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov (1831-95), was born in Oryol – in the Black Earth area of Russia, roughly equidistant from Kiev and Moscow. His father worked in the Criminal Court. His mother was a noblewoman. Leskov’s first job was as clerk in the Oryol Criminal Court. 1849 he transferred to the Criminal Court in Kiev, living with relatives, and also studying at the university. Academic interests: languages, religion, old Russian art. 1857 (aged 26) joined Scott Wilkins, a trading company owned by his English uncle, Alexander Scott. Leskov spent three years as a company agent, travelling extensively across rural Russia picking up stories and exploring dialect. Later he attributed this period as the source of his stories. 1860 Scott Wilkins closed. Leskov moved to St Petersburg with his family.



Leskov biography /2

Leskov’s first literary works were published in 1863, after a trip across western Slav nations and to Paris. No Way Out / Некуда, his first novel (published 1864) is a study of revolutionary Nihilism.

No Way Out is one of several books written in response to the debate started by Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons (Fathers and Children) published 1862. Other responses include:

Chernyshevsky’s What is to be done? published 1863 … a powerful influence on Russian Marxism. Dostoevsky Notes from Underground published in 1864.

No Way Out portrays some Nihilists and Narodniks as self-serving charlatans. DM Mirsky (famous surveyor of Russian literature) asked: How did Leskov become a

“vile and libellous reactionary… the principal Socialist characters in [No Way Out are] little short of saints?" Two of Leskov’s later works became operas by Rodion Shchedrin (born 1932):

1873 Enchanted Wanderer (2002) 1881 Lefty (2013).

Lefty is a fascinating no-holds-barred comparison of Russia and England after the Napoleonic wars.



Leskov biography /3

1887 met Tolstoy, who was a major influence on his late work. Leskov took up Tolstoy’s concept of The New Christianity as an ideological guide for progress. Influenced Chekhov in structure of his short stories. Chekhov cited Leskov and Turgenev as his “tutors in literature”. Leskov’s reputation in USSR was somewhat mixed at the time Shostakovich is writing his opera. Here’s Leskov’s entry in the 1932 Soviet Literary Encyclopaedia:

In our times when the problem-highlighting type of novel has gained prominence, opening up new horizons for socialism and construction, Leskov's relevance as a writer, totally foreign to the major tendencies of our Soviet literature, naturally wanes. The author of Lefty, though, retains some significance as a chronicler of his social environment and one of the best masters of Russian prose.

[1932 Soviet Literary Encyclopaedia entry by P Kaletsky quoted Wikipedia]

For a non-Soviet perspective, here’s DM Mirsky view of Leskov in his classic Contemporary Russian Literature (1926):

If Turgenev’s and Chekhov’s world may be compared to a landscape by Corot, Leskov’s is a picture by Breughel the Elder, full of gay and bright colours and grotesque forms.



Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District Lady Macbeth was written in November 1864 in Kiev, early in Leskov’s writing career. Richard Pevear, introducing his translation, says Leskov was

given space to write in the university “punishment room”. Leskov later said his hair stood on end as he wrote it alone in that unlikely place, and he swore never again to describe such horrors. [Richard Pevear Hudson Review – 2012]

First published in Dostoevsky’s journal Epoch in January 1865 under the title

Леди Макбет нашего уезда (Lady Macbeth of our district). The current title Леди Макбет Мценского уезда came with the new edition of 1867. It’s written in a style called skaz – associated with Leskov and Gogol;

narration is structured as a spontaneous oral account, told in dialect and slang. There’s an interesting parallel with Shostakovich’s (unrealised) plan for a cycle of operas about women in society. Leskov intended his novella to be first of five works. Lady Macbeth was intended to be followed by:

Grazella (a noblewoman) Mayorsha Polivodova (an old-world landowner) Fevronya Rohovna (a peasant old-believer) Grandmother Bloshka (a midwife)

This plan apparently was dropped when Epoch – the journal – stopped publishing in 1865. [Russian Wikipedia]



Recap Acts One and Two Set in the home of a rich provincial flour merchant around mid nineteenth century Act One

Scene one we meet all the main characters…

Katerina… she’s bored. Her father-in-law, Boris, head of the business, is antagonistic towards her,

blames her for still being childless after five years of marriage. Husband, Zinovy, is preoccupied with business, and now with a problem at a distant mill, he’ll have to go away for a while to sort it out. Before leaving, Zinovy introduces us to Sergei, a new worker he’s hired.

Scene two is out in the courtyard… Aksinya – the cook – is being sexually harassed by a group of workmen led by Sergei. Katerina intervenes, defending women’s capabilities Sergei turns that round: If women are so strong how about wrestling me?

Scene three is later that night. A knock on Katerina’s bedroom door… Sergei is bored – can I borrow a book? Katerina is bored – if only I had a child. They become lovers.



Recap Acts One and Two /2

Act Two

Scene four – one week later… Boris discovers that Sergei is Katerina’s lover.

He flogs Sergei and has him locked in a store room. Katerina poisons Boris.

Scene five – some weeks later… Sergei and Katerina in bed,

discuss the future – Katerina plans to make Sergei a merchant. Visit from Boris’s ghost. Zinovy returns – Katerina strangles him, and Sergei hits him over the head. He’s dead – and they bury him in a cellar.

Now you are my husband.



Recap Acts One and Two /3

At the end of Act One it’s still meaningful to discuss what sort of hyphenated-realism drives the opera.

One could even be tempted to call it socialist realism (…avant la lettre; this act was written before the term was adopted as aesthetic policy).

Act Two dispels realism;

to paraphrase Aristotle… Materialism abhors a ghost. The music is an eclectic mix:

Boris channels Richard Strauss Katerina channels Mussorgsky The priest who comes to comfort Boris seems to be an extra from an Offenbach operetta. Zinovy’s return, the row with Katerina, and his murder,

all are accomplished in around four minutes. The music for this grisly episode is bizarre – a gallop.

Let’s look at Leskov and his original story…



Comparing Opera Acts One & Two with Leskov We shouldn’t be surprised that Leskov’s original story differs from Shostakovich’s opera;

dramatic devices are often necessary to bring prose to the stage. A glance at the score shows an interesting decision to use a large chorus

so some domestic scenes are upgraded from intimate merchant household to grand aristocratic court. But it’s not simply a matter of scale. Shostakovich warned in an article published with the libretto [in 1934]:

Leskov was unable to interpret correctly the events taking place in his story. My role as a Soviet composer consists in retaining the power of Leskov’s narrative while using a critical approach to explain these events from our Soviet point of view. [Wilson p 96]



Comparing Opera Acts One & Two with Leskov /2 Leskov’s tells us how the world perceived Katerina. This is his opening paragraph:

In our part of the country you sometimes meet people of whom, even many years after you have seen them, you are unable to think without a certain inward shudder. Such a character was the merchant's wife, Katerina Izmailova, who played the chief part in a terrible tragedy some time ago, and of whom the nobles of our district, adopting the light nickname somebody had given her, never spoke otherwise than as the Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. [Leskov trans AE Chamot]

Shostakovich presents a different Katerina:

I interpreted Katerina Izmailova as a vigorous, talented, beautiful woman who perishes in the dismal, cruel domestic environment of the Russian merchants and serfs… I interpret Katerina as having a complex, integral, tragic nature. She is an affectionate woman, a deeply sensitive woman, by no means lacking in feeling.

[Sovetskoye iskusstvo 14/12/33, quoted Norris p 115]

How does Shostakovich set about this make over for Katerina?

The opera omits two of her offences – both against children: no mention of Boris’s nephew, who she smothers… more on this later no mention of her child with Sergei – who she lightly gives up for adoption: "What do I want with him!"

True, Katerina still murders Boris and Zinovy…

but these are mitigated somewhat, and presented as black comedy.



Comparing Opera Acts One & Two with Leskov /3 Leskov tells us almost nothing about Boris. The opera blackens Boris’s character.

He’s persistently antagonistic to Katerina; contemptuous of Zinovy’s sexual prowess / impotence. The audience knows that at the beginning of Scene Four, Boris was planning to seduce or rape Katerina…

a plan only derailed with his discovery that Sergei had got to her bed first. Remember how Boris dies in Scene Four of the opera:

Katerina poisoning the mushrooms, then refusing to help Boris or bring him water.

The arrival of the morning shift. Boris’s confession…

accusation that Katerina poisoned him… death.

The priest’s bizarre bedside manner.



Comparing Opera Acts One & Two with Leskov /4 Compare Boris’s operatic death to his death in Leskov’s novella:

Boris ate mushrooms with gruel for supper; he got a heart-burn from it. Then suddenly he had pains in the pit of the stomach, terrible vomiting began and he died before morning. He died just like the rats in his granary, for which Katerina had always prepared, with her own hands, a certain kind of food made of a dangerous white powder that had been entrusted to her. Katerina let Sergei out of the old man's store-room and brazenly laid him publicly in her husband's bed to recover from the blows that her father-in-law had inflicted on him. Her father-in-law was buried according to the rites of the Christian Church. Nobody was surprised at this strange occurrence. Boris was dead, and had died after eating mushrooms, as many die after eating them. Boris was buried hurriedly without waiting for his son to arrive; it was very hot weather.

[Leskov trans AE Chamot]

That extract from Leskov brings out an important element of the narration style. While it isn’t specifically stated, it’s as if the narrator is a provincial procurator recording events dispassionately



Comparing Opera Acts One & Two with Leskov /5 How does the opera modify Zinovy ?

In Scene One he seems gentle and affectionate to Katerina. Boris thinks he’s simple minded…

when Zinovy needs to go away on business Boris says he must have Katerina swear an oath of fidelity You know what young wives are like:

s'il vous plaît… rendez-vous… sauce provençale… In Scene Five, when Zinovy returns he behaves cruelly towards Katerina.

When Zinovy starts beating her Katerina calls Sergei out of hiding to save her.



Comparing Opera Acts One & Two with Leskov /6 The Leskov novella is quite different. This is the “Scene Five” text just after Katerina fetches Sergei out of hiding:

"Well, there he is”, said she a few seconds later re-entering the room and leading Sergei by the sleeve. "Now you can question him and me too about what you know. Perhaps you will hear even more than you want to." Zinovy became confused. Looking from Sergei, who stood near the door, to his wife, who had calmly sat down on the edge of the bed and folded her arms, he could not understand where all this was leading. … She went quietly to the door, locked it, and putting the key in her pocket lolled again on the bed. "Now then Serezhenka come, come here, my darling", she said, coaxing the clerk towards her. Sergei shook his curls and boldly sat down near the mistress. "My God! what is this? What are you doing, you savages", cried Zinovy getting livid and rising from his chair. "What? Don't you like it? See here, see here; my bright-eyed falcon, isn't he a beauty?" Katerina laughed and kissed Sergei passionately before her husband's eyes. At that moment she received a deafening blow on her cheek, and Zinovy hurried to the open window.

[Leskov trans AE Chamot]

As Leskov’s story proceeds, Katerina leads the murderous assault on Zinovy. Katerina strangles Zinovy, instructing her accomplice Sergei on how to assist her. Katerina – (not Sergei, as in the opera) – hits Zinovy with the candle holder.



Comparing Opera Acts One & Two with Leskov /7 Katerina’s murders are mitigated by Shostakovich…

by provocation, by years of mistreatment, which I don’t find spelled out in the novella.

For a 1930s Soviet audience there’s also a further point in her favour… Boris and Zinovy are class enemies; Kulaks! When Leskov brought the Izmailovs into existence, in 1865, they were entrepreneurial flour merchants.

But the Soviet audience had been through the Civil War, when there were severe food shortages in the cities.

Later, under the New Economic Policy, entrepreneurs thrived again.

But in 1928 NEP was suddenly wound up and a command economy returned, ending the market incentive for country dwellers to send goods to the cities. Again there were food shortages.

Class War wasn’t just a metaphor.

In 1929 it was announced that the kulaks were going to be liquidated. As requisition teams moved across the country, many peasants

slaughtered their cattle, sold or gave away their grain – including seed corn – and

burned down their own houses.



Comparing Opera Acts One & Two with Leskov /8 Here are some other political motivated changes made for the opera. In the Leskov extract above from Zinovy’s homecoming, Sergei was referred to as a clerk. Elsewhere in Leskov it is clear that he is a middle manager, supervising a group of workers.

In the first version of the Preis / Shostakovich libretto this status is replicated. Zinovy says: Сергей! Приказчик…

Sergei! The clerk… (Прєкаѓчєк – obsolete –clerk, shop assistant, steward, bailiff, foreman)

By the time the opera is premiered, Sergei has been demoted.

Now Zinovy says: Какой Сергей? Who’s Sergei?

Conclusion? It’s ideologically safer to make Sergei a worker – pure and simple.

Aksinya has been given a political makeover too.

In Leskov, Aksinya has just had a child. Katerina asks her: Who’s the father? Aksinya shrugs: one lives in a crowd – one walks with many.

This is omitted. Conclusion? It’s ideologically safer to make worker Aksinya pure.



Comparing Opera Acts One & Two with Leskov /9 The story is also aligned to modern political campaigns.

Katerina’s women-power manifesto in Scene Two could come straight from Zhentodel (the Women’s Department).

And when Sergei comes looking for a book in Scene Three, Leskov’s Katerina isn’t interested in literature. But in the opera she is illiterate, reflecting one of the major campaigns of the early USSR.

Before we move on from this comparison of book and opera, how about the language? Leskov’s Lady Macbeth was seen as an early example of skaz style;

narration structured as a spontaneous oral account – told in dialect and slang. Perhaps it is surprising to find Leskov’s skaz phrases don’t transfer into the libretto. Nose, the earlier libretto on which Preis worked with Shostakovich, is a simple transfer of Gogol’s dialogue into the opera. Scene One of Nose, by my reckoning, omits one word and modifies two out of around 200 words. It’s unclear whether these are conscious changes, or transcription errors.



Comparing Opera Acts One & Two with Leskov /10 I checked three sections of Lady Macbeth libretto which correspond very closely to Leskov’s story:

Scene One Aksinya’s warning about Sergei Scene Three Sergei’s seduction of Katerina Scene Five Zinovy’s return

I could find NO phrases pulled out of Leskov; this libretto is a paraphrase rather than a lift. As an example

in Leskov’s account of Zinovy’s return Katerina tells Zinovy she has not been to balls or the theatre.

in the libretto theatre and balls are reversed, and the verb is different…

Leskov: По балам не еѓдєм є по тєатрам столько ђ. Libretto: По театрам не ходєм, по балам – то ђе самое.

Returning to Leskov’s skaz style of narration… Here is Caryl Emerson’s characterisation of the Leskov text in her essay Shostakovich and the Russian Literary Tradition:

Its style is languid, sensuous, studded with the repetitions and rhythmic idiom of Russian folk dialect. This stylized surface is almost impenetrable. Events, no matter how horrific, are related in an objective, matter-of fact-manner, as if the narrator were a museum guide describing a gorgeous tapestry embroidered with brutal scenes. (Leskov framed his story as a “sketch for notes on a criminal court case”.) There is no innerness to Katerina, who moves as if in a trance and whose acts are depicted without emotion as “evidence” exclusively as they appear on the outside. [Fay DDS and his World p 197]



Leskov “act three” Act Three of the opera is a major divergence from Leskov’s novella. Before we return to the opera let’s see what happens in the book between the death of Zinovy and the law catching up with Katerina and Sergei. Chapter 9

After Zinovy disappears Katerina finds she’s pregnant. She tells the world the father is Zinovy. Katerina successfully petitions to be allowed to continue running the business. Sergei takes a leading management role, and everyone is required to address him formally, as Sergei Filipych. The mayor brings bad news; Boris’s business is part-owned by nephew, Fedor, a minor, who comes to live in the big house, along with his grandmother. Sergei is distressed that Katerina’s stake in the business has been reduced; without Fedor the entire business would pass to Katerina’s on birth of “Zinovy’s child”.

Chapter 10

Fedor falls ill on the eve of the festival “Presentation at the Temple”. (2 February). Grandmother goes to vespers leaving Fedor at home with Katerina and Sergei. Katerina suddenly recognises that Fedor’s existence is damaging her relationship with Sergei. She and Sergei decide to act, blaming the doctor for making a mistake with the medicine.



Leskov “act three” /2

Chapter 11

Katerina and Sergei, together, smother Fedor. As Fedor dies a hubbub erupts “as if some unearthly power were shaking the guilty house to its foundations”. A crowd is beating on the windows and trying to break down the door.

[As an aside: I think Benjamin Britten would have set this part of Leskov’s original novella brilliantly.] Chapter 12

At church someone comments that Katerina and Sergei aren’t present because they spend every spare moment making love. A salacious mechanic decided to peep through the shutters on the way home. He’s surprised to catch them in the act of murdering Fedor – and summons a crowd. Katerina gives birth in prison hospital – but wants nothing to do with the child.

Chapter 13

Leskov comments of Katerina: “Her love for the father, as in the case of many passionate women, was not transferred in the slightest degree to the child”.



Overview Act Three Act Three of the opera takes a completely different path from Leskov’s relentlessly grim novella. The opera presents Sergei and Katerina’s wedding day as a string of black comedy sketches.

Scene Six: At the Izmailov house. We see the bride and groom leaving to go to the church; but our focus stays with a drunken peasant. He breaks into a cellar looking for more vodka, and is shocked to find Zinovy’s corpse. He rushes off to the police station.

Scene Seven: At the police station.

Everyone is bored… listening to the sergeant giving a world history of policing.

and resentful… they haven’t been invited to the wedding feast.

The drunken peasant’s discovery of Zinovy’s corpse is a godsend; an excuse to gate-crash the wedding.

Scene Eight: Back at the Izmailov house for the wedding feast. The priest leads the guests in celebrating the happy couple. Sergei and Katerina notice that the cellar door has been forced open. They’ve been found out! They plan to flee as soon as all the guests have drunk themselves into oblivion. But it’s too late – the police arrive and arrest them.



Outline Scene Six It’s Katerina and Sergei’s wedding day. Katerina is staring gloomily at the door of the cellar where Zinovy’s corpse is concealed. Sergei suggests Katerina’s staring may arouse suspicion. It’s time to go to church. Katerina says:

Everything will be fine…Today is our day. And tomorrow, and always …but the music continues in gloomy mood.

Shabby Peasant arrives, very drunk, as Katerina and Sergei leave for church. We hear his monologue:

his long relationship with alcohol,

his jealousy of Sergei: Why isn’t she marrying me? Aren’t I good enough? He needs another drink,

so he decides to search the cellar for the good vodka that must be hidden there. Instead he discovers Zinovy’s stinking corpse, and rushes off to the police.



SCENE SIX

Listen to the opera on CD, or open the following YouTube link in a new window www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzq5k1XXMcw&list=OLAK5uy_mTrlEpaBqCkGH1rDzEZBe2R1REv7CK6Yg&index=34

6-1 (CD 2 T 4 // CD 2 T 9) (EMI & DG // Warner) It’s Katerina and Sergei’s wedding day Katerina is staring at the door of the cellar where Zinovy’s corpse is concealed

Сергей: Что ты тут стоєшь? Что смотрєшь? Катя: Серёђа, ведь тут леђєт Зєновєѕ. Тут мы его полођєлє. Сергей: Тєше. Катя: Как вспомню, страшно мне, Серёђа. Сергей: Мёртвых не боѕся, страшєсь ђєвых. Катя: Знаю. Сергей:А еслє ѓнаешь, так нечего тут стоять, людє ѓаметят. Катя: Ладно, Серёђа. севодня свадьва наша. Все ђдут нас в церквє. Всё будет хорошо. Сергей: Пора нам в церков. Катя: Едем, Сергеѕ. Сегодня наш день. И ѓавтра, є всегда

Sergei: Why are you standing here? What are you staring at? Kate: Seryozha, it’s because Zinovy lies in there. That’s where we put him. Sergei: Hush. Kate: As I think about it, I'm afraid, Seryozha. Sergei: Don't fear the dead, fear the living. Kate: I know. Sergei: As you know, there’s no point standing here, people will notice. Kate: You’re right, Serozha. Today is our wedding day. Everyone is waiting for us at the church. Everything will be fine. Sergei: Time to go to the church. Kate: Let's go, Sergei. Today is our day. And tomorrow, and always.



6-2 (CD 2 T 4 1’55 // CD 2 T 10 0’00) (EMI & DG // Warner) Katerina and Sergei leave for church. The Shabby Peasant arrives, very drunk. He explains his relationship with alcohol

Мужичонка: У меня была кума, пєть любєла беѓ ума, ух! У меня был мєлыѕ сват на вєно є водку хват, ух! Крёстныѕ тође вроде был, хорошо, покоѕнєк, пєл, ух! Беѓ вєна моя родня не могла прођєть є дня, ух! Ну, а чем я хуђе єх? Дую водку ѓа троєх, ух! Начєнаю пєть с утра, ночє, днє є вечера, ѓєму, лето є весну пью, покуда не ѓасну, ух! Буду пєть я целыѕ век. Я душевныѕ человек, ух!

Shabby: I had a godmother loved to drink herself crazy, hic! I had a dear matchmaker always drunk on wine and vodka, hic! Godfather also seemed to, well, drink himself to death, hic! Without wine my relatives could not survive a day, hic! Well, am I worse than them? Putting away vodka for three, hic! I start drinking in the morning, nights, days and evenings winter, summer and spring I drink until I fall asleep, hic! I’ll drink for the whole century. I am a spirited person, hic!



6-3 (CD 2 T 4 3’00 // CD 2 T 10 1’00) (EMI & DG // Warner) Shabby expresses his jealousy of Sergei, then decides to search the cellar for the good vodka that must be hidden there.

Мужичонка: Хорошо петь, еслє есть, что пєть, А когда нечего пєть, тогда нечего петь. А почему нечего пєть? Потому что денег нет. Планєда у меня такая. А у другого бывает планєда хорошая. Вот Сергеѕ, тође был гол є нєщ, а теперь мођет в водке купаться. Почему не меня, а Сергея в муђья себе берёт, а я чем хуђе? Рукє, ногє, голова, ђєвот, всё на месте, а вот планєды є нет. Желаю выпєть! Погреб ѓдесь, а хоѓяѕка часто стоєт около погреба є смотрєт… Долђно быть там Хорошая водка…Сморєт…Посмотрєм є мы. Ух, какєе там наверно есть вєна!

Shabby: It’s good to sing, if there’s something to drink, But when there is nothing to drink, there’s nothing to sing about. Why’s there no drink? Because I have no money. That’s my destiny. But another fellow has a good destiny. That Sergei, he used to be a hungry beggar too, but now he can swim in vodka. Why’s she not marrying me, rather than Sergei? Aren’t I good enough? Hands, feet, head, belly, all in order, but that’s not my destiny. I need a drink! The cellar’s here, and the mistress often stands by the cellar staring ... It must be there Good vodka ... See… Let’s take a look. Hic, there’ll be some really good wines there!



6-4 (CD 2 T 4 4’20 // CD 2 T 10 2’20) (EMI & DG // Warner) Shabby finds Zinovy’s corpse, and rushes off to the police.

Оѕ, какая вонь! Воняет! Что ђе это так воняет? Неуђелє все ѓакускє протухлє? Бође, какая вонь! Посмотрю… Труп! Труп Зєновєя! В полєцєю!

Oh, what a stink! It stinks! Why would it stink so much? Has all the food gone rotten? God, what a stink! Let’s have a look ... A body! Zinovy’s corpse! I’m off to the police!

6-5 (CD 2 T 4 5’10 // CD 2 T 11 0’00) (EMI & DG // Warner) Interlude



Outline Scene Seven At the police station – slightly shifted back in time, awaiting Shabby’s arrival. The sergeant is addressing a group of bored policemen.

His history of policing since the era of the pharaohs is undermined by the musical accompaniment. We hear that a policeman’s lot is not a happy one; inadequate wages need to be supplemented with bribes.

The sergeant notes the huge wedding feast at the Izmailov house,

and is resentful that the police have not been invited. A brief diversion for the policemen…

a socialist teacher has been arrested. He is forced to acknowledge the existence of God.

There is a horror film flexatone accompaniment to the teacher’s description of his experiments investigating the souls of frogs.

The sergeant reprises his lecture on the world history of policing, then Shabby enters.

Shabby is very shy… but the policemen soon realise he’s been sent by God. A body at the Izmailovs? Off to the party we go! Here’s our pretext to be there.



SCENE SEVEN

Listen to the opera on CD, or open the following YouTube link in a new window www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdzLsDxSBo&list=OLAK5uy_mTrlEpaBqCkGH1rDzEZBe2R1REv7CK6Yg&index=37

7-1 (CD 2 T 5 // CD 2 T 12) (EMI & DG // Warner) At the police station

Квартальный: Соѓдан полєцеѕскєѕ был во время оно, дађе у егєптян былє фараоны. Как ђе в просвещённыѕ нынешнєѕ наш век ђєть беѓ полєцеѕскєх мођет человек?

Полицейские: (repeating chorus) Но ѓа все своє старанєя вєдєм мы однє страданєя. Наше ђалованье скудно, брать ђе вѓяткє очень трудно. Где бы, как бы пођєвється нам бы в мутноѕ бы, эх, водєце!

Квартальный: Солнце є луна друг друга ѓаменяют, ѓвёѓды только ночью тёмною сєяют. А городовоѕ бессменно на посту в вёдро є ненастье, в ѓасуху є мглу. (chorus) Для того Квартальныѕ бодрствует ночамє, для того поводєт гроѓнымє очамє, чтоб на нєгєлєстов страху нагонять, чтоб благопрєстоѕность всюду сохранять. (chorus)

Sergeant: They say the police service was created in the time of the Egyptians pharaohs. How in our present enlightened era can people live without policemen?

Policemen: (repeating chorus) But for all our efforts we see only suffering. Our salary is poor taking bribes is very difficult. How would we make ends meet without these murky waters!

Sergeant: The sun and moon replace each other, stars shine only in the dark night. A town policeman is on duty come rain or storm, come drought or fog. (chorus) That’s why a Sergeant keeps vigil at night he moves with formidable eyes, that way the nihilists fear being caught, that way decency is maintained everywhere. (chorus)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdzLsDxSBo&list=OLAK5uy_mTrlEpaBqCkGH1rDzEZBe2R1REv7CK6Yg&index=37



7-2 (CD 2 T 5 4’02 // CD 2 T 13 0’00) (EMI & DG // Warner) A trumpet call, and we hear the sergeant’s resentment about the wedding at the Izmailovs

Квартальный: A у Иѓмаѕловых сеѕчас пєр гороѕ, венчаться подлая… а меня не прєгласєла. Я еѕ прєпомню, как беѓ начальства венчаться. Полицейские: Так точно! Мы еѕ прєпомнєм! Квартальный: Была бы только прєчєна, хотя прєчєна всегда наѕдётся. Полицейские: Так точно. Всегда наѕдётся.

Sergeant: And the Izmailovs have a mountainous feast, for a vile wedding… but I wasn’t invited. I’ll get my own back, getting married without the authorities. Policemen: Yes sir! We’ll get our own back! Sergeant: We just need a pretext, although there is always a pretext. Policemen: Yes sir. There’s always a pretext.



7-3 (CD 2 T 5 4’32 // CD 2 T 13 0’30) (EMI & DG // Warner) A socialist teacher is brought in by a watchman

Городовой: Соцєалєста поѕмал. Полицейские: А! Е! И! О! У! Го, го, го! Городовой: Он в бога, Ваше благородєе, не верует.

Учитель: Бог-то… есть… Квартальный: Молчать!

Городовой: И про лягушек… Квартальный: Какєх лягушек? Учитель:Стал я думать: точно лє одєн человек обладает душоѕ, нет лє её у лягушек? Вѓял лягушку, єсследовал… И есть душа, только малая є не бессмертная.

Квартальный: Вѓять. Учитель:Простєте, есть бог, есть бог!

Watchman: I’ve caught a socialist. Policemen: A! E! I! O! U! Ha, ha, ha! Watchman: He says, Your Honour, he doesn’t believe [in God].

Teacher: God ...exists ... Sergeant: Silent!

Watchman: He talks about frogs... Sergeant: What about frogs? Teacher: I began to think: do only people have a soul, do frogs have them too? So I took a frog, and examined it ... It has a soul, but it’s small and not immortal.

Sergeant: Lock him up. Teacher: Sorry, there is a God, there is a God!

7-4 (CD 2 T 5 5’22 // CD 2 T 13 1’20) (EMI & DG // Warner) The teacher is taken away to the cells. The sergeant’s monologue resumes

Квартальный: То-то… Соѓдан полєцеѕскєѕ был во время оно… А у Иѓмаѕловых-то пєр гороѕ. Вот где была бы пођєва хорошая, вот только нет прєчєны! Эх!

Sergeant: That's it ... They say the police service was created in the time... And the Izmailovs have a mountainous feast. It would be great fun there, But we have is no excuse to be there! Oh!



7-5 (CD 2 T 5 6’06 // CD 2 T 14 0’00) (EMI & DG // Warner) Shabby runs into the police station

Мужичонка: Ваше благородєе! Квартальный: Чего тебе? Мужичонка: Случєлось. Квартальный: Что случєлось? Мужичонка: У Иѓмаѕловых… Квартальный: У Иѓмаѕловых… Хо, хо! Мужичонка: Труп в погребе… Квартальный: Послал Господь!!!

Квартальный (repeat Полицейские):

Скоро, скоро, скоро, скоро… Чтобы не было укора в потаканье, в нераденье, в бесполеѓном промедленье!

Жєво, ђєво, ђєво, ђєво… Там предвєдєтся пођєва, Все мы смођем подкормється, Будем, будем торопється!

Shabby: Your Honour! Sergeant: What do you want? Shabby: Something’s happened. Sergeant: What’s happened? Shabby: At the Izmailovs ... Sergeant: The Izmailovs... Ho, ho! Shabby: There’s a corpse in the cellar ... Sergeant: Sent by the Lord!!!

Sergeant (repeat Policemen): Quick, quick, quick, quick ... So we’re beyond reproach no indulgence, no neglect, no pointless procrastination!

Lively, lively, lively, lively ... Here’s our pretext to be there We can all feed ourselves Let’s hurry!

7-6 (CD 2 T 6 // CD 2 T 15 duration 2’23) (EMI & DG // Warner) Interlude



Classic silent movie music Several times in Act Three we encounter clichés from silent movie accompaniment.

Examples: Interlude at the end of Scene Six (6-4), with Shabby running to police station is typical chase music. As are elements of the police station scene (7-2) and (7-5), and the rush to the Izmailovs (7-6).

This is music written just after the peak of silent movies. Film was gaining a music track, and soon it would gain speech, (and lose its sense of transcending nationality). Shostakovich had a brief career as cinema pianist. When his father died in 1922, family finances became tight. Shostakovich sat a qualification as a cinema pianist.

From November 1924, he worked at Bright Reel. Later at Splendid Palace and Piccadilly. By March 1926 earnings from composition and concerts allowed him to end his cinema jobs This was fortunate,

It had reduced his time for composition. And he’d had problems with employers.

He’d sued Bright Reel for non-payment of salary. Splendid Palace reprimanded him for excessively fancy accompaniment.

[for detailed account of this period, Fay pp 25-29]



Classic silent movie music /2 There’s a fascinating study of early Soviet cinema aesthetics by Owen Hatherley:

The Chaplin Machine: Slapstick, Fordism and the Communist Avant-Garde (2016). Hatherley shows how Chaplin was a reference point for Soviet film makers and theatre directors – notably Meyerhold.

They combined: Avant-garde slapstick comedy Farce Technological romance Contempt for high culture.

The integration of this with Fordism and Meyerhold’s biomechanics

brings us back to the avant-garde theatre discussion in Session One.



Police corruption The opera gives a comically sinister portrayal of the Tsarist police force. Remember this is all a Preis / Shostakovich invention – none of this appears in Leskov. The persecution of the atheist teacher would fit the reign of Nicholas I (1825-55), a particularly reactionary and repressive Tsar, who at the beginning of his reign faced the Decemberist revolt.

Its politically appropriate that the Tsarist police are shown taking action against a teacher an atheist a scientist.

But there’s a slight anachronism in the Sergeant’s words: That’s why a Sergeant keeps vigil at night he moves with formidable eyes, that way the nihilists fear being caught, that way decency is maintained everywhere.

Nihilism here is anachronistic. It’s only just emerging at the time Leskov wrote the novel, with peak activity in the 1870s and early 1880s.



Police corruption /2 The corruption, the bribes? This was a feature of Tsarist local government. Officials were poorly paid, operating on a tribute system, raising funds on a ramshackle basis, with no need to account for what was raised, or what was submitted to central authorities. Police corruption also features in Nose. This is fully in line with Gogol’s original (whereas the Lady Macbeth police station scene is an addition to Leskov).

Nose Scene 2 the District Constable is offered a bribe in kind by the barber…

which is only refused because District Constable already has three barbers on his books!

Nose Scene 8 when returning the nose, the District Constable fishes for a reward: Extortionate price of essentials these days I’ve got a mother-in-law… kids … Eldest shows great promise but we don’t have means to educate him…



Police station – missing action The libretto from 1932 includes a passage which is never included in any recording.

I’m not sure whether it was omitted during the composition process – perhaps never scored. Or whether it was scored but never staged. In the post-pandemic world I plan to check materials at the British Library – which has copies of early scores.

This omitted passage occurs immediately before the teacher scene (between 7-2, and 7-3). There are two characters (who appear nowhere else):

Становоѕ прєстав Chief Bailiff Консєсторскєѕ Чєновнєк Consistory Official

They have come with a ukaz – a decree – from the bishop, allowing the marriage. From his reaction, it appears the Sergeant had petitioned to stop the wedding.

Пристав: От Архєерея укаѓ. Полицейские: А! Е! И! О! У! Го, го, го! Квартальный: Что? Что? Что? Пристав: (С досадой.) Иѓмаѕлов, беѓ вестє пропавшєѕ – в упокоѕнєкє… Чиновник: Вот укаѓ! Квартальный: Читай. Полицейские: Го, го, го! Пристав: Не вышло дело. Квартальный: Чєтаѕ, не мешкаѕ!

Bailiff: From the bishop, a decree. Policemen: A! E! I! O! U! Ho, ho, ho! Sergeant: What? What? What? Bailiff: (With annoyance.) Izmailov, missing person – at rest ... Official: Here is the decree! Sergeant: Read. Policemen: Ho, ho, ho! Bailiff: It didn’t work. Sergeant: Read it, get on with it!



Чиновник: . От Архєерея. Беѓ вестє сгєнувшєѕ муђ… как бы в боѓе почєл в царствєє небес, а супруга Катерєна Иѓмаѕлова… Квартальный: (С нетерпением.) Ну?! Чиновник: …на новыѕ брак, яко вдовая благословляется. Квартальный: Чѐрт!! Чиновник: Печалюсь вместе с вамє. (Уходит, положив перед Квартальным бумагу, сочувственно).

Official: From the Bishop. Missing husband... as if called to God he rests in the kingdom of heaven, and his wife Katerina Izmailova ... Sergeant: (With impatience.) Well ?! Official: ... for her new marriage, as a widow is blessed. Sergeant: Damn !! Official: I grieve with you. (Leaves, putting the document in front of the sergeant sympathetically).



Outline Scene Eight Another slight shift back in time, to the wedding feast.

The guests sing a wonderful chorus about the happy couple and the wonders of marriage. The priest leads a drunken statement/response sequence addressed to the couple. The priest is cast in a ridiculous light in this scene – a drunken lecher whose speech is full of innuendo.

Periodically someone shouts Горько! – literally “bitter”. This Russian wedding tradition can descend into a student drinking game…

Take a gulp of vodka. Complain that it tastes bitter. Only a kiss between the newly-weds will sweeten the taste. Repeat until you lose consciousness.

Sergei and Katerina notice that the cellar door has been forced open;

They’ve been found out! They start gathering together cash from the house so they can escape

as soon as all the guests have drunk themselves into oblivion.

But it’s too late The police arrive, express resentment for not having been invited.

Some little matter’s come up They beat Sergei and then arrest the couple



SCENE EIGHT

Listen to the opera on CD, or open the following YouTube link in a new window www.youtube.com/watch?v=G62brPqA4o4&list=OLAK5uy_mTrlEpaBqCkGH1rDzEZBe2R1REv7CK6Yg&index=41

8-1 (CD 2 T 7 // CD 2 T 16) (EMI & DG // Warner)

Гости: Слава супругам, Катерєне є Сергею, слава! Слава, совет да любовь! Желаем вам добра є счастєя є согласноѕ ђєѓнє, слава! Священник: Горько! Горько!

Гости: Горько! Горько! Ха, ха! Катя: Гостє дорогєе, кушаѕте, прошу вас! Гости: Спасєбо!

Священник: Кто краше солнца в небе? Гости: Нєкого нет краше солнца в небе! Священник: Ан есть краше солнца в небе! Есть! Кто? Гости: Мы не ѓнаем краше солнца в небе нєкого! Священник: Катерєна краше солнца в небе, мм… весьма прелестна! мм… Ручку… Горько! Гости: Горько! Горько! Священник: Хе, хе! Застыдєлєсь!

Гости: Хе, хе! Катерєне, что краше солнца в небе, слава! Священник: Горько!

Guests: Glory to the married couple, Katerina and Sergei, glory! Glory, harmony and love! We wish you a good happy and harmonious life, glory! Priest: Kiss! Kiss! (literally ‘bitter’ – the couple must kiss to

sweeten the bitterness of the guests’ vodka) Guests: Kiss! Kiss! Ha, ha! Kate: Dear guests, have some food, please! Guests: Thank you!

Priest: Who is fairer than the sun in the sky? Guests: Nobody is fairer than the sun in the sky! Priest: There’s one fairer than the sun in the sky! There is! Who? Guests: We know no one fairer than the sun in the sky! Priest: Katerina is fairer than the sun in the sky, uh ... really lovely! uh ... Arms ... Kiss! Guests: Kiss! Kiss! Priest: Ha, ha! Are you shy!

Guests: Ha, ha! Katerina, she is fairer than the sun in the sky, glory! Priest: Kiss!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G62brPqA4o4&list=OLAK5uy_mTrlEpaBqCkGH1rDzEZBe2R1REv7CK6Yg&index=41



8-2 (CD 2 T 7 5’08 // CD 2 T 17 0’00) (EMI & DG // Warner) Katerina notices the cellar door’s lock has been ripped off

Катя: А!! Сергей: Что такое? Катя: Замок… сорван. Сергей: Как?! Катя: Там Зєновєѕ… смотрє… страшно! Сергей: Не мођет быть! Верно, сорван. Тєше! Катя: Когда уѕдут, мы убеђєм, спасёмся. Священник: Кто краше солнца в небе? Где ђе супругє? Шушукаются… Рано, ещё не ночь. Хе, хе, хе! Гости: Слава! Катя: (Гостям.) Кушаѕте, прошу вас! Гости: Катерєна краше солнца в небе! Пьяный Гость: Горько!

Kate: Ah!! Sergei: What is it? Kate: The lock ... it’s been ripped off. Sergei: How?! Kate: That’s where Zinovy is… look … I’m scared! Sergei: It can't be! It’s true, it’s ripped off. Hush! Kate: When they leave, we’ll make a run for it Priest: Who is fairer than the sun in the sky? Where is the couple? Whispering ... Bit early for that, it’s not night yet. Ha, ha, ha! Guests: Glory! Kate: (To guests.) Have some food, please! Guests: Katerina is fairer than the sun in the sky! Drunk guest: Kiss!



8-3 (CD 2 T 7 6’08 // CD 2 T 17 1’00) (EMI & DG // Warner) Katerina and Sergei prepare to escape

Катя: Сергеѕ, мешкать нельѓя, тот, кто вѓломал ѓамок, ведь он ђе увєдел труп. Сергей: А как ђе хоѓяѕство? Торговля? Катя: Бросєть всё прєдётся. Воѓьмем все деньгє, на нашу ђєѓнь хватєт. Кађется уснулє, єдє ѓа деньгамє! Скореѕ, нельѓя мешкать нє мєнуты! … Ну, где ђ он? Сергей: Иду, єду! Катя: (Слыша шаги.) Что такое? Поѓдно! Ах, Сергеѕ, погєблє мы… Сергей: Почему погєблє, беђєм. Катя: Некуда! Сергей: Кто там?

Kate: Sergei, we can’t hesitate. Whoever broke the lock, must have seen the corpse. Sergei: But what about the house? The business? Kate: We’ll have to drop everything. Take all the money, it’s enough for us to live on. Everyone seems to be asleep, go get the money! Quick, we can’t hesitate for a minute! ... Well, where is it? Sergei: I’m coming, I’m coming! Kate: (Hearing footsteps.) What’s that! Too late! Ah, Sergei, we done for ... Sergei: Why are we done for, we can run. Kate: Where? Sergei: Who’s there?



8-4 (CD 2 T 7 7’38 // CD 2 T 18 0’37 ) (EMI & DG // Warner) Too late – the police are here!

Полицейские: Полєцєя. Квартальный: Здравствуѕте. Катя: Здравствуѕте! Квартальный: Вы нас не прєгласєлє, побреѓговалє. А вот мы самє прєшлє! Дельце вышло одно! Да, гостеѕ-то сколько! Вєна, небось, много выпєто? Да? Дельце такого рода, да, однєм словом, дельце! Катя: Не тянєте, вяђєте. Ах, Серёђа, целуѕ, меня. Серёђа! Квартальный: А ну, даваѕ, ѓавяѓываѕ! Жєво! Сергей: Пустє, сволочь! Полицейские: Дерђє! Дерђє! Сергей: Пустє! Полицейские: Врёшь, не уѕдёшь! Квартальный: Не уѕдёшь! Раѓ! Полицейские: (избивая Сергея.) Ха, ха, ха! Так его! Так его!

Policemen: Police. Sergeant: Hello. Kate: Hello! Sergeant: You did not invite us, looked down on us. But we’ve come anyway! Some little matter’s come up! Oh, what a lot of guests! Wine, I suppose, has been flowing? Yes? Some kind of little matter, yes, in a few words, a little matter! Kate: Get to the point. Ah, Seryozha, kiss, kiss me. Seryozha! Sergeant: Come on, handcuff him! Look lively! Sergei: Let go, you bastard! Policemen: Hold on! Hold on! Sergei: Let go! Policemen: You’re mistaken, you’ll not get away! Sergeant: You won’t get away! Take that! Policeman: (beating Sergei.) Ha, ha, ha! Take that! Take that!



Катя: Не смеѕ, не смеѕ! Квартальный: Крепко дерђєте, ведєте в острог. Катя: Ах, Сергеѕ, простє меня, простє. Полицейские: Скоро, скоро, скоро, скоро! Чтобы не было укора в по таканье, в нераденье, в бесполеѓном промедленье!

Kate: Don't you dare, don't you dare! Sergeant: Hold them tight, take them off to prison. Kate: Ah, Sergei, forgive me, forgive me. Policemen: Quick, quick, quick, quick ... So we’re beyond reproach no indulgence, no neglect, no pointless procrastination!



Anticlericalism Just as Act Three sends up the police, so it sends up the Clergy;

the church being another pillar of the pre Revolutionary world. The USSR was an atheist state. Scientific atheism was the order of the day.

The school teacher harassed by the police is a fore runner of this new world view.

The church wasn’t banned outright. Faith wasn’t forbidden.

But the church was severely constrained.

And while atheists could campaign… proselytise if you will… it was illegal for people of faith to proselytise, or even respond to the atheist campaigns.

The church hadn’t helped its cause by being conspicuously partisan during the civil war. White propaganda portrayed Communism as the antichrist incarnate.



Anticlericalism /2 League of Militant Atheists was a powerful Soviet group from mid 1920s.

It was a Party / Komsomol / non-Party alliance, which lobbied the CPSU for changes in legislation and party-led atheist campaigning. In its early years it debated method and degree of attack on religion; whether to focus attack on institutions, or struggle at all levels against belief.

By 1929 the League had moved to a policy of eliminating religion. It advocated a “Terror” campaign against

“bishops, priests and lay believers who were arrested, shot and sent to labour camps… the League apparently adopted [an internal] five-year plan aimed at total eradication of religion by 1937”.

[P Walters in Ramat Religious Policy pp14-15]

By the time this opera was being written: priests were only allowed to wear religious garb in church,

numerous regulations significantly curtailed priests’ activity in urban areas; church activity was effectively limited to formal worship,

religious ceremonies were confined to church buildings; many church buildings were converted for farm or industrial use,

or even demolished, like the massive Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow December 1931.

Terry Metheringham asserts his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk Act Three - u3asites.org.uk

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