On 30 December the historic Mariinsky Theatre will host the 500th performance of Tchaikovsky's opera Mazepa since the premiere.
Mazepa was first performed in February 1884 with three days between the Moscow and St Petersburg premieres. The composer, tired following the rehearsals in Moscow, did not come to the capital, but at the Mariinsky Theatre the new opus was given an ovation. Emperor Alexander III awarded Tchaikovsky the Order of St Vladimir, fourth class, and decreed that Eugene Onegin should be produced at the imperial stage in the capital without delay, it having been previously performed in St Petersburg only in amateur circles. One month later, the composer informed the conductor of the Imperial Russian Opera Eduard Nápravník of his desire to make amendments to the score of Mazepa: henceforth the strident opera, filled with seething dark passions, would conclude with Maria's gentle cradle-song.
A natural lyricist, in this work Tchaikovsky focussed on the emotions of the characters: a fateful drama unfolding against a historical backdrop. Here, traced in the folk spirit, there are depictions of brutal heroic episodes and intimate expressions in the perturbed arioso style typical of the composer. Boris Asafiev referred to Mazepa as the first of Tchaikovsky's tragic operas, ranking it alongside The Enchantress and The Queen of Spades.
The production performed at the Mariinsky Theatre today is the fourth production of six ever staged there. It was created in 1950, and has been revived on numerous occasions: in 1966, 1968, 1974, 1998 and 2009. It has been conducted by Sergei Yeltsin, Konstantin Simeonov and Valery Gergiev. In 2000 this version, widely regarded as definitive, was taken on tour to London, and in June 2019 it was broadcast by a major TV channel dedicated to classical music - Mezzo and Mezzo Live HD.
On 30 December the performance will see the same dazzling cast of Mariinsky Theatre soloists who performed the opera live on-air in the summer: Vladislav Sulimsky (Mazepa), Maria Bayankina (Maria), Ekaterina Semenchuk (Lyubov) and Sergei Semishkur (Andrei). The anniversary performance will be conducted by Valery Gergiev.