Sadko | |
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Opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov | |
![]() Feodor Chaliapin as the Varangian Guest, in 1897 | |
Native title | Russian: Садко |
Librettist | Rimsky-Korsakov Vladimir Belsky Vladimir Stasov |
Language | Russian |
Premiere | 7 January 1898 Solodovnikov Theatre, Moscow |
Sadko (Russian: Садко, romanized: Sadkó , the name of the main character) is an 1898 opera in seven scenes by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by the composer, with assistance from Vladimir Belsky, Vladimir Stasov, and others.[1] Rimsky-Korsakov was first inspired by the bylina of Sadko in 1867, when he completed a tone poem on the subject, his Op. 5. After finishing his second revision of this work in 1891, he decided to turn it into a dramatic work.[2]
The music is highly evocative, and Rimsky-Korsakov's famed powers of orchestration are abundantly evident throughout the score. According to the Soviet critic Boris Asafyev, writing in 1922,[3] Sadko constitutes the summit of Rimsky-Korsakov's craft. From the opus 5 tone poem the composer quoted its most memorable passages, including the opening theme of the swelling sea,[1] and other themes as leitmotives[4] – he himself set out to "utilize for this opera the material of my symphonic poem, and, in any event, to make use of its motives as leading motives for the opera".[5]