pf: Moscow Symphony Orchestra cond/ Igor Golovschin
Year/Date of Composition: 1898–99
First Performance: 1899-11-03 – Moscow, Solodovnikov Theatre, Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov (conductor) (complete opera)
The Russian composer Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) finished his opera ‘The Tsar’s Bride’ in 1899. This opera is a lurid melodrama set in the time of Ivan the Terrible, though this might hardly be guessed from its overture. However, this was a period when Rimsky was concerned with ‘classicizing’ his style, and the piece is best taken simply as a neat sonata structure built from highly abstractive music, though with what sounds like a sort of double recapitulation followed by a wistful new melody introducing the dying coda.
Sources:
http://www.batonmusic.nl/catalogue/item/the-tsars-bride-overture
http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Tsar’s_Bride_%28Rimsky-Korsakov,_Nikolay%29