Boris Godonov was a late 16th century Russian Tsar who was considered by many of his people to have been an assassin and usurper. Modest Mussorgsky wrote an opera about the Tsar and the tumultuous times in which he lived (it is generally considered Mussorgsky's masterpiece).
My favorite part is the coronation scene. Glorious music and majestic staging.
3 comments:
A Russian 'Richard III" was he?
(Most of what we think we know about him comes from Shakespeare's magnificent play, but most historians now consider Richard's alleged "vileness" to be Tudor propaganda.)
Spiny, did you ever read Josephine Tey's novel, A Daughter in Time? Although framed as a mystery story, it is, in fact, a lengthy (and, to me, a pretty persuasive) argument that Richard III did indeed get a bum rap.
Boris Godunov was, in actuality, a relatively decent ruler, as Tsars went in those days (except for the possibility of that assassination business, which, as we would say today, was "just politics").
Sorry, that's A Daughter of Time.
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