Libretto: Vladimir Belsky, after a Russian legend

“The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya” is Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's last grand epic opera. Its lengthy title beckons to bylinas (Russian epic tales), with their leisurely, poetically vivid style. The key words in this title are “invisible” and “maiden”. In the final years of his life, coinciding with the onset of tumultuous times in Russia, the composer deeply pondered the dramatic fate of his homeland and sensed the impending trials it was to endure. He wrote of the “oppressive, anxious states” that troubled him, dreaming of an “invisible” or phantom and idealistic Russia lost in a mythical and folkloric past – a “virgin holy Rus”. The opera's philosophy (which should indeed be approached as a philosophical work) contains many allusions and subtexts. Its plot is mythological, fundamentally akin to Biblical parables: a tale of the power of human nature, animated by faith. A power that (in Rimsky-Korsakov's own words) overcomes demonic "undead" through the sincerity and fervour of faith. Therefore, it's no coincidence that half of the opera's action consists of prayers, collective or secretly confessional. The entire tonal structure of “Kitezh” seems to peer deeply into the primordial, sacred foundations of the “Russian spirit”. In this last period of his life Rimsky-Korsakov was at the peak of his creative maturity but constantly engaged in renewing his musical language. He wrote, “I feel that I am entering a new period and that I am mastering a technique which so far has been somewhat accidental to me…” He refers to a unique style of vocal writing, akin to ancient peasant chants, free from the constraints of Western European classical harmony. It is in “Kitezh” that the results of these explorations reached their fullest embodiment both in large choral scenes and in the monologues of soloists.
The opera premiered on 7 February 1907 at the Mariinsky Theatre to exceptional success, preceded by a year and a half of intense rehearsals. Many ideas of the sixty-three-year-old composer seemed overly radical even to the younger generation of artists, and once, departing from a rehearsal, Rimsky-Korsakov exclaimed, “My feet shall never step into this theatre again”. Nevertheless, a common language was eventually found, and the composer highly appreciated the fruits of this arduous collaborative effort.
The theatre has revisited “Kitezh” numerous times: productions followed in 1910, 1918, 1958, 1994, and 2001. Recently, Alexei Stepanyuk, the director of the 1994 staging, prepared a new version of Rimsky-Korsakov's mystical drama.