CHRISTMAS EVE
Rimsky-korsakov
Five key facts about a work being performed this month (Choice 2)
Christmas Eve is an opera in four acts, composed by Rimsky-korsakov between 1894 and ’95. The plot is based on a short story by Ukrainian writer Nikolai Gogol. Tchaikovsky’s earlier work Vakula the Smith (1874) was based on the same source.
The story is set in a Ukrainian village and concerns a young blacksmith, Vakula (the son of witch Solokha), and his attempts to woo Oxana. To test his love, Oxana sets Vakula a task of fetching the Tsarina’s boots from St Petersburg’s Imperial Palace. He is helped by the Devil, who flies him there. On his Christmas Day return, Vakula discovers that Oxana would have loved him anyway, even without the boots, and they marry.
Rimsky-korsakov’s orchestration is enriched by Ukrainian folk references, including koliadki folk carols. The folk tune he uses for Oxana’s aria in the last Act was also drawn on by Tchaikovsky for the finale of his Piano Concerto No. 1. For his portrayal of the stars, the composer uses harp and celesta and emphasises the Devil’s scenes with intervals of augmented fourths.
Rimsky-korsakov had the story in mind for an opera for some time but held off out of respect for Tchaikovsky. It was only after the latter’s death in 1893 that he felt that Gogol’s story was once again fair game. He composed the libretto in April 1894, following the text of Gogol but adding ‘numerous new things… in its fantastic parts’.
The premiere took place at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1895, with soprano Yevgeniya Mravina singing Oxana. The Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich caused a commotion at the rehearsal, demanding that the singer playing the Tsarina was too similar to his great-grandmother, Catherine II, and should be replaced. The composer obliged, but boycotted the premiere.