I loved seeing this (early 20th C) Russian score - it reminds me how influential Mozart and (in particular) Italian operatic composers - Rossini and Verdi - were on the young Tchaikovsky, so much so that Mahler (conducting the New York Philharmonic around 1911) told the orchestra, during rehearsals for a performance of the Pathétique (Sixth Symphony), that Tchaikovsky was essentially an Italian composer, what with his love of melody and the syntax, as it were, of his orchestration. I think Mahler made there an astute observation. To my mind, every Russian composer of worthy 19th and 20th C opera has had to address and exorcise his Italian demons - Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky - and, in so many words, add their gloss to the puzzles they no doubt could whistle in Mozart and Verdi but not, perhaps, solve on their own. Though I think Mozart would be surprised at the popularity of his work today, and probably a little mystified that people thought he was such a genius - given how much of his work was written in a single take precisely because it was meant to be played while champagne bottles were being uncorked and people talked - I think he would enjoy seeing/hearing his operas, and take great pride in how (for example) so much of the 2nd Act (of the four-act original structure) is essentially through-composed, with the recitative written out in full - it would take another two generations before we saw Romantic opera composers doing just that. If he had a genius, it was for the love of singers and narrative and character, such that he could weave around the defects and virtues of any individual and hand them a great role. If by contrast Mozart had been given an open-ended assignment, without any particular singers in mind, the task would have been much more difficult. This opera wrote itself.
![Ēriks Ešenvalds - Northern Lights [Score Video]](/img/n.gif)
I loved seeing this (early 20th C) Russian score - it reminds me how influential Mozart and (in particular) Italian operatic composers - Rossini and Verdi - were on the young Tchaikovsky, so much so that Mahler (conducting the New York Philharmonic around 1911) told the orchestra, during rehearsals for a performance of the Pathétique (Sixth Symphony), that Tchaikovsky was essentially an Italian composer, what with his love of melody and the syntax, as it were, of his orchestration. I think Mahler made there an astute observation.
To my mind, every Russian composer of worthy 19th and 20th C opera has had to address and exorcise his Italian demons - Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky - and, in so many words, add their gloss to the puzzles they no doubt could whistle in Mozart and Verdi but not, perhaps, solve on their own.
Though I think Mozart would be surprised at the popularity of his work today, and probably a little mystified that people thought he was such a genius - given how much of his work was written in a single take precisely because it was meant to be played while champagne bottles were being uncorked and people talked - I think he would enjoy seeing/hearing his operas, and take great pride in how (for example) so much of the 2nd Act (of the four-act original structure) is essentially through-composed, with the recitative written out in full - it would take another two generations before we saw Romantic opera composers doing just that. If he had a genius, it was for the love of singers and narrative and character, such that he could weave around the defects and virtues of any individual and hand them a great role. If by contrast Mozart had been given an open-ended assignment, without any particular singers in mind, the task would have been much more difficult. This opera wrote itself.
David Mehnert imagine writing this big a comment to get three likes, could never be me
How to make measuring a room beautiful.
You can see where Mahlers 4th got the inspiration
Hi. does anyone know of an instrumental/karaoke version of this aria? Thanks.
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Thank you for posting this score animation. It's helpful when not having the notes at hand.
Do you know who is performing?
The information is in the description box.
Ooops, thank you. I did indeed not look enough.
Sad thing : the audio is heavily compressed, high frequencies sound awful