Servilia

The Ancient Roman theme in Rimsky-Korsakov’s operatic legacy may initially seem completely incongruous, although the appearance of Servilia was certainly no chance circumstance. With it the composer was to complete a triad of operas written after plays by the renowned poet and dramatist Lev Mei. In addition to Servilia, this triad includes The Maid of Pskov – Rimsky-Korsakov’s first opera – and The Tsar’s Bride, an undoubted success for the creators, from both dramatic and musical points of view. All three operas have historical plots – two taken from Russian history and the third from the ancient world, although in Russian culture in the 19^th century with its rigid comprehension of the theme of autocracy such plots were regarded as allusions to Russian realities. Rimsky-Korsakov was inclined to work systematically and subsequently to execute his ideas, and the idea for Servilia came to him on more than one occasion; in the end, the composer took it upon himself to write the libretto, notwithstanding the glaring weaknesses of the literary source he had chosen. Work on the text was begun in 1900 immediately following a production of The Tale of Tsar Saltan, and the premiere of Servilia took place at the Mariinsky Theatre on 1 October 1902.

The composer sought space in which to experiment, striving to go beyond the confines of his line of business as a composer – first of all his line of work as a Russian storyteller-composer. The ancient plot freed him of any “folkloric” obligations and permitted any stylistic experiments: “A plot taken from the life of Ancient Rome liberated the hands regarding freedom of style. Here everything was suitable with the exception of the clearly inconsistent, such as, for example, anything clearly German, obviously French, undoubtedly Russian etc. Neither was there to be any trace of ancient music, no-one had heard it, no-one had the right to criticise the composer for the fact that his music was not Roman, if he observed the condition of avoiding the clearly contradictory. As a consequence, the freedom was almost absolutely complete.” The freedom of which Rimsky-Korsakov wrote was expressed in the complex musical polystylism of the opera: it is incredibly interesting specifically to listen to it, revealing Rimsky-Korsakov’s dialogue with various branches of European music. The pompous Roman flavour was produced using means reminiscent of Wagner; as well as direct musical associations with Lohengrin, Tannhäuser and Parsifal, a suggestion of Wagner may be clearly observed in the developed system of leitmotifs. As an academic-composer, as a musicologist-composer, Rimsky-Korsakov of course made use of his knowledge of ancient modes (Phrygian, Mixolydian and so on) – naturally taking into account all of the conventions of this concept. Yet another stylistic mode is the general European Romantic intonational language. In the characterisation of his heroine, Rimsky-Korsakov uses this language in its most contemporary, complex and sophisticated late-Romantic form, making us think of Richard Strauss or Scriabin.

Hearing this music performed live is a rare triumph. The stage life of the opera was extremely brief: contemporaries gave the opera a welcome that was little more than polite, and in the Soviet period the opera was never staged anywhere (including for ideological reasons – because of the apologia of Christianity its plot contained). In 2016 the opera was staged at the Pokrovsky Chamber Music Theatre, and today, at last, it will once again be performed “at home” – at the Mariinsky Theatre.
Khristina Strekalovskaya