Starring: Evgeny Nesterenko, Marina Mescheriakova, Alexander Lomonosov

A life for the Tsar was Glinka’s first opera, and a great success when it was first premiered. This and Glinka’s later opera Ruslan and Ludmila, helped to found the Russian operatic tradition, having a great influence on later Russian music, and heralding the start of a series of heroic operas based on incidents from Russian history. Its grand choruses and formal ballet were rooted in French operatic tradition, but its subject was essentially Russian: a 17th Century tale of how a peasant gave his life to save the Tsar for the Russian people. After the Russian Revolution, the Communist regime renamed the opera Ivan Susanin, after the main character, and altered the libretto in order to emphasise how Susanin delivered Russia from attack from the Polish enemy. The original title and libretto have now been restored. In this production by The Bolshoi Opera, filmed in 1992, Russian bass Egveny Nesterenko magnificently sings the dramatic role of Ivan Susanin, the tragic hero who leads the Polish enemy on a false path in their search for the Tsar, and so allowing the Tsar to escape. The cast also includes Marina Mescheriakova as Susanin’s daughter Antonida, Alexander Lomonosov as her fiancée Sobinin, and Elena Zaremba as Susanin’s son, Vanja. The conductor is Alexander Lazarev.

Technical Details

Certification: E
Duration: 175 mins
Format: DVD
Region: 2
Cat. No: 4509920512(WARNER MUSIC VISION) [NVC Arts]
Category: Music/Performing Arts:Performing Arts:Opera/Operetta