Salammbô (Mussorgsky)
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Salammbô (The Libyan) – Russian:Саламбо (Ливиец) – is an unfinished opera in 4 acts by the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, to his own libretto based on the novel of the same title by Gustave Flaubert (1862), as well as poems by Alexander Polezhayev, Apollon Maikov and Vasily Zhukovsky.
The vocal score of the fragments of the four intended acts and seven scenes of the opera have survived and have been published in Mussorgsky's Complete works, vol. V, Moscow - Leningrad, 1939.
History of creation
Mussorgsky's early operatic project, a setting of Victor Hugo’s Han d’Islande, never was realized. He next attempted a grand opera based on Gustave Flaubert's Salammbô, on which Mussorgsky worked from 1863 until 1866. The Russian translation of the novel was published in "Otechesvennye zapiski" in 1862 and made a great impression on Mussorgsky. In 1866 he lost interest in the project. During this period he had returned to St. Petersburg and was supporting himself as a low-grade civil-servant while living in a six-man 'commune'. In 1865 his mother died. It was at this point that the composer had his first serious bout of alcoholism. The Salammbô project was abandoned, and Mussorgsky began to compose another opera – Zhenitba (The Marriage, 1868) based on Gogol’s comedy. Salammbô remained unfinished. However, much of the material from this project was later used in his opera Boris Godunov.Synopsis
The novel Salammbô (published in 1862) interweaves historical and fictional characters. The action takes place before and during the Mercenary Revolt, an uprising of mercenaries in the employ of Carthage in the 3rd century BC. In 1858, in order to gather material for Salammbo, Flaubert paid a visit to Carthage.Salammbô, a priestess and the daughter of Hamilcar Barca, an aristocratic Carthaginian general, is the object of the obsessive lust of Matho, leader of the mercenaries. With the help of the scheming freed slave, Spendius, Matho steals the sacred veil of Carthage, the Zaïmph, prompting Salammbo to enter the mercenaries' camp in an attempt to steal it back.
Music
Listen to a fragment of the opera, the "Chorus of Priestesses", at the following links (conductor Claudio Abbado):Recordings
Mussorgsky: Salammbô
- CB272, CBS Masterworks / 1981 2 Lp Box
- Six Scenes of the unfinished opera
- Orchestra Sinfonica E Coro Di Milano Della Radiotelevisione Italiana
- Ludmilla Shemchuk
- Gheorgi Seleznev
- William Stone
- Giorgio Surjan
- Giorgio Tieppo
- Eftimios Michalopoulos
- Conductor: Zoltan Pesko
External links
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