Composition history

Performance history

The film Ivan the Terrible (Part One) premiered on 30 December 1944. The sequel, The Boyar Conspiracy (Part Two), was not shown until 1958.

The concert premiere of the soundtrack film score, as restored by Frank Strobel, took place on 16 September 2016 at the Musikfest Berlin, accompanied by a showing of the film in the Great Hall of the Konzerthaus Berlin. Strobel conducted the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Rundfunkchor Berlin, with soloists Marina Prudenskaya (contralto) and Alexander Vinogradov (bass).

Publication history

• 1958, 'Songs and Choruses from the Music for the Film Ivan the Terrible', vocal scores, published by Levon Atovmyan in the magazine Sovetskaya Muzyka; the six numbers included:^[1]

1. 'The Black Cloud'
2. 'Ocean-Sea'
3. 'Song of Praise'
4. 'The Swan'
5. 'The Cannoneers'
6. 'Song about the Beaver'

• 1960, 'Songs and Choruses from Cantatas, Oratorios, and Films', published by Levon Atovmyan, vocal scores, Sovetskiy Kompozitor; the numbers from Ivan the Terrible included:^[2]

1. 'The Oath of the Oprichniki'
2. 'Song of Fyodor Basmanov and the Oprichniki'
3. 'Song of the Oprichniki'

• 1997, Ivan the Terrible, manuscript film score, full score, edition by Marina Rakhmanova and Irina Medvedeva, Musikverlage Hans Sikorski, Hamburg^[3]
• 2016, Ivan the Terrible, soundtrack film score, full score, edition by Frank Strobel, Musikverlage Hans Sikorski, Hamburg

Ivan the Terrible (Part 1, 1944)

Ivan the Terrible: The Boyar Conspiracy (Part 2, 1946)

Oratorio by Levon Atovmyan (1961)

Performance history

Atovmyan's oratorio finally received its public premiere on 28 January 2012 at the Royal Festival Hall, London. Vladimir Jurowski conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus. The soloists were Ewa Podleś and Andrey Breus.

The Russian premiere took place on 2 April 2012 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. Vladimir Jurowski conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra with the Sveshnikov State Academic Russian Choir and the Chamber Choir of the Moscow Conservatory. The soloists were Elena Zaremba and Andrey Breus.

The North American premiere took place on 18 October 2012 at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco. Vladimir Jurowski conducted the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus. The soloists were Elena Zaremba and Andrey Breus.

Numbers

Atovmyan's oratorio is in 8 sections, some consisting of several numbers (or parts of numbers) from the film score—refer to 'Sequence' below:^[4]

The performance duration is about 45 minutes.

Scoring and instrumentation

Atovmyan's oratorio is scored for contralto or mezzo-soprano (in 'Ocean-Sea' and 'Song about the Beaver') and baritone (in 'Song of the Oprichniki'), mixed (SATB) chorus, and the following instrumentation:

• Strings: violins I & II, violas, cellos, double basses
• Woodwinds: 2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, english horn, 2 clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon
• Brass: 4 horns, 5 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba
• Percussion: timpani, piccolo timpani, bass drum, snare drum, triangle, tambourine, cymbals, tam-tam, bells, xylophone, wood block, whip
• Other: piano, celesta, 2 harps

Oratorio by Abram Stasevich (1961)

The following commentary, by composer and musicologist Thomas Korganov (1925-2015), was printed in the preface to Stasevich's vocal score in 1961:

"Without adding material of his own or making changes to the composer's manuscript, A. Stasevich approached the music for the film in a creative manner turning it into an oratorio consisting of 20 numbers. By repeating certain episodes and sections, and by linking them in a variety of ways, Stasevich was able to turn the various parts of this substantial work into self-contained numbers. In order to comply with the dictates of musical logic, he did not always adhere strictly to the order of the musical episodes prescribed by the plot. Thus certain episodes were transformed into tripartite structures, and others expanded to become rather large movements. Certain changes were also made to the orchestration, and certain instrumental lines were reinforced ... Stasevich also added another formal determinant in the shape of a speaker."^[5]

Performance history

The premiere took place on 23 April 1961 in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. Abram Stasevich conducted the Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra.^[6]

Publication history

• 1962, Ivan the Terrible, oratorio by Abram Stasevich, vocal score, Sovetskiy Kompozitor, Moscow^[7]
• 1972, Ivan the Terrible, oratorio by Stasevich, full score, Sovetskiy Kompozitor, Moscow^[8]

Numbers

Stasevich's oratorio is in 20 movements, some consisting of several numbers (or parts of numbers) from the film score—refer to 'Sequence' below:

Performance duration is about 75 minutes.

Scoring and instrumentation

Stasevich's oratorio is scored for contralto (in 'Ocean-Sea' and 'Song about the Beaver') and baritone (in 'Song of the Oprichniki'), mixed (SATB) chorus, and the following instrumentation:

• Strings: violins I & II, violas, cellos, double basses
• Woodwinds: 3 flutes (including 2 piccolos), 3 oboes (including english horn), 5 clarinets (including E-flat clarinet & bass clarinet), alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, 4 bassoons (including contrabassoon)
• Brass: 4 horns, 5 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas
• Percussion: timpani, bass drum, snare drum, triangle, tambourine, cymbals, tam-tam, church bells, glockenspiel, xylophone, wood block, metal bar, whip
• Other: piano, 2 gusli, 2 harps

Ballet by Mikhail Chulaki (1975)

The ballet Ivan the Terrible, arranged by Mikhail Chulaki and choreographed by Yuriy Grigorovich, debuted in February 1975 at the Bolshoy Theatre with Yuri Vladimirov in the title role. The two act (7 scenes) work consists of selections from Prokofiev's film score for Ivan the Terrible supplemented with excerpts from his Symphony No. 3 (1928), Russian Overture (1936), and 'The Field of the Dead' from the film score for Aleksandr Nevskiy (1938).

Performance history

The world premiere performance took place on 20 February 1975 at the Bolshoy Theatre. Algis Zhuraitis conducted. The cast included Yuriy Vladimirov (Ivan), Natalya Bessmertnova (Anastasiya), and Boris Akimov (Kurbskiy).

Oratorio by Michael Lankester (1988)

Performance history

The premiere took place on 4 May 1988. Michael Lankester conducted the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.^[9]

Numbers

This version of Ivan the Terrible consists of 29 numbers.^[10]

The performance duration is about 95 minutes.

Concert Scenario by Christopher Palmer (1991)

Christopher Palmer discusses his Ivan the Terrible concert scenario in the notes to a Chandos CD recording made a few days after the work's premiere:

"...in 1962 Abram Stasevich (1906-1971), who had conducted Ivan for the film soundtrack, published his Ivan the Terrible 'oratorio' for speaker, soloists, chorus and orchestra which incorporated all the major musical sequences in the film plus a few that had been left out (notably 'Russian Sea'). It is in this form that the Ivan music has been known outside the film ever since, and in this form that critics have tended to find it long and diffuse. The main problem is the speaker, introduced by Stasevich primarily because he had been unwise enough to try and incorporate a large number of short fragmentary episodes, and had to find a way of stitching them together. Unfortunately once the speaker was in, he seemed to take over the entire work—much to its detriment in terms of narrative intelligibility and tightness of structure. My new 'performing version' eliminates the speaker and shorter sections (most of which are pastiche Russian-liturgical music of minimal Prokofievian interest). It also restores a number of episodes to their original format, most importantly the assassination of the Pretender in Part II—the climax of the film and one of the most electrifying moments in film music. While retaining Stasevich's make-up of most of the larger movements, I have reverted largely to the film's original sequence of musical events."^[11]

Performance history

The concert scenario received its premiere on 28 February 1991 at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Neeme Järvi conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus.^[12]

Numbers

The 'new' work is in 13 movements,^[13] some consisting of several numbers (or parts of numbers) from the film score—refer to 'Sequence' below:

The performance duration is about 60 minutes.

Audio

Video