A comparison of womens role in society in 16th and

19th C. Russia and how it relates to RimskyKorsakovs The Tsars Bride

Rimsky-Korsakovs The Tsars Bride was premiered on October 22,
1899 in the Moscow Theatre of the private opera of S.I Mamontov,
the work was received enthusiastically by Russian audiences and
most critics, however was not hailed positively by many of RimskyKorsakovs close acquaintances and is not a popular opera in
Europe. Quoting Nadezhda Nikolayenva Rimsky-Korsakovs wife,
herself a musician, who was quite critical of The Tsars Bride she did
not sympathise with the return to the old operatic forms in the
style of A Life of the Tsar (by Glinka).

The opera however was still

a success showing elements of both Italian and Russian opera with

use of lyrical and diatonic arias and particular scenes such as
Lykovs aria which ironically contains the Slava motifs from the
Hymn to the Tsar in Mussorgskys Boris Godunov. Usually the
elements of The Tsars Bride that are evaluated are the elements of
race and exoticism found in the ceremonious scenes of the opera.
However I feel its important to challenge the other main theme of
gender in the form of mens ownership of women that hasnt been
analysed in scholarly literature of The Tsars Bride.
The plot of The Tsars Bride is based on the real history of Ivan the
terribles marriage to Marfa Sobakina and on the drama of the same
name by Lev Mey. The plot intrigued me as it represented the
different sides of feminist conversation.
The side that shows the man as dominant and woman as submissive
to him by choice, but also another view of it is the representation of
men taking ownership of women by force in an unnatural way that
1 Rutger Helmers, Not Russian Enough? Nationalism and
Cosmopolitanism in Nineteenth-Century Opera, 1st Edition,
Rochester NY, 2014, University of Rochester press

the female character opposes. The main female characters Marfa

and Lyubasha have a taste of both owning a male and being owned.
In the case of Marfa she feels a sense of ownership over betrothed
Lykov where by she sings in her first aria that she has loved him
since she was young
Looking at the opera form a modernist view it seems that Marfa has
no choice who she will end up with. The inter-play between Ivan IV,
Lykov and Gryaznoy determines her faith. Each man is represented
differently through orchestral and lyrical differences. If we firstly
look at Ivans musical representation he is extremely lacking in
vocal content where by he has no aria or solo line of his own. Ivans
presence is represented through the orchestral accompaniment that
comes with his presence. His

Like many operas such as Carmen and Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk
the main female character Marfa dies because she swept up in to a
love affair involving many different partners vying for each others
love. The innocent Marfa is swept up into just because of her
beauty and no other reason it is fickle and shallow representation of
how men see women and is not completely representative of the
1899 Russia.
Context is needed to understand how easily Ivan IV procures wives
such as Marfa, who was the third wife out of a total of seven he had
in his lifetime. In 16th century Russia marital shows occurred when
Male nobility wanted to choose a respectable wife. Women would
usually willingly place themselves in front of the nobility and it did
not matter if they were previously betrothed nobility could choose
whom ever they liked and the parents of young would almost always
agree to it as it gave there family name more respect within Russia.
Women in Russia

Considering the context of both 16th century and 19th century

women in Russia is important when considering whether this opera
is going against any of the social reforms that started to come in for
women.