Yaroslav Mudriy is an opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 in eight scenes, comprised in three acts, by the Ukrainian

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

 composer Heorhiy Maiboroda

Heorhiy Maiboroda

Heorhiy Ilarionovych Maiboroda, sometimes transcribed in English as Georgiy or Heorhy Maiboroda or Mayboroda Heorhiy Ilarionovych Maiboroda, sometimes transcribed in English as Georgiy or Heorhy Maiboroda or Mayboroda Heorhiy Ilarionovych Maiboroda, sometimes transcribed in English as Georgiy or...

, written in 1973 and premiered in 1975. The composer himself adapted the libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 from a dramatic poem by Ivan Kocherga.

Conceived on a grand scale, and written in a straightforward diatonic style, the opera evokes comparisons (not entirely in its favour) to Mussorgsky

Mussorgsky

Mussorgsky can refer to:*The Mussorgsky family of Russian nobility;*Modest Mussorgsky, a Russian composer belonging to that family.*Mussorgsky , a 1950 Soviet film about the composer...

's Boris Godunov

Boris Godunov (opera)

Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...

and (especially in its last two scenes) Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky.

Roles

{| class="wikitable"
!Role
!Voice type
!Premiere Cast, Kiev Opera House, 1975
(Conductor: Stefan Turchak)
|-
|Yaroslav the Wise

Yaroslav I the Wise

Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise Yaroslav I, Grand Prince of Rus, known as Yaroslav the Wise (Old Norse: Jarizleifr; ; Old East Slavic and Russian: Ярослав Мудрый; Ukrainian: Ярослав Мудрий; c...

, Prince of Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

|bass
|Oleksandr Zgurovskiy
|-
|Ingigerda, his wife
|soprano

Soprano

A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

|Gisela Tsipola
|-
|Elizaveta, their daughter
|soprano
|Nadiya Kudelya
|-
|Anna, their daughter
|mezzo-soprano

Mezzo-soprano

A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...

|
|-
|Harald, a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 noble
|baritone

Baritone

Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...

|Anatoliy Mokryenko
|-
|Mykyta, a scribe

Scribe

A scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession and helps the city keep track of its records. The profession, previously found in all literate cultures in some form, lost most of its importance and status with the advent of printing...

|tenor

Tenor

The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

|
|-
|Djemma, a Sicilian

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 girl
|mezzo-soprano
|Galyna Tuftina
|-
|Zhureyko, a stonemason
|tenor
|Andriy Ishchenko
|-
|Mylusha, his wife
|soprano
|
|-
|Silvestr, head scribe
|bass
|Anatoliy Kocherga
|-
|Citizens of Kiev and Novgorod, nobles, Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

s, etc.
|
|
|-
|}

Synopsis

11th century Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

. Yaroslav is Great Prince of the Kievan Rus'

Kievan Rus'

Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....

, married to the Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 princess Ingigerda. The episodic plot of the opera - which contains a number of perplexing coincidences and bewildering changes of character by the leading roles, and scarcely testifies overall to the hero's wisdom - deals with Yaroslav's attempts to govern despite the destabilising influences of the town of Novgorod, the Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 Varangians, and the invading Pechenegs. Many of the characters are actual historical personages.

Scene 1

The palace. The scribe Sylvestr supervises his pupils, including Mykyta who is in fact the son of Kosnyatyn, the governor of Novgorod, imprisoned by Yaroslav. Both Mykyta and the visiting Harald of Norway are struck by the beauty of Yaroslav's daughter, Elizaveta

Elisiv of Kiev

Elisaveta Yaroslavna of Kiev , , was a Rus' Princess of Kiev and a Norwegian queen, wife and queen consort of king Harald III of Norway.-Biography:...

; Mykyta sets aside his intention of assassinating Yaroslav.

Scene 2

Harald declares his love for Elizaveta, but Yaroslav says he must first win himself a kingdom. Zhureyko complains to Yaroslav that a Viking, Turvald, has attempted to rape his wife Mylusha and has murdered her brother. When Elizaveta pleads for clemency, Yaroslav remits the death sentence for a fine. Turvald however continues to menace Mylusha - Zhureyko kllls him and flees.

Scene 3

Yaroslav broods over his problems. Enter Ingigerda, who pleads for another Viking, Ulf, whom Yaroslav wishes to exile. They argue, Ingigerda accusing him of being low-born. A noble enters to tell Yaroslav of the intended rebellion of Novgorod, and Yaroslav orders the death of Kosnyatin.

Scene 4

Harald returns, having become King of Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. He is espoused to Elizaveta to the jubilation of the population.

Scene 5

Messengers from Novgorod tell Mykyta, who is musing over his loss of Elizaveta, of the death of his father. Djemma, a girl from Harald's retinue, declares her love for Mykyta, who vainly fobs her off, claiming he is a monk. He determines to take revenge on Yaroslav (but in fact does nothing). Zhureyko returns to Kiev in secret and happens to overhear Ingigerda plotting with Ulf to murder Yaroslav. He sends Mylusha to warn the prince, but she is captured and murdered by Ulf's henchmen. Zhureyko escapes them and denounces Ulf and Ingigerda, who is sent to a nunnery.

Scene 6

Some years later. Mykyta and Djemma return from Norway (it is not explained what they were doing there) with news of the death of Elizaveta. The nobleman Myroslav then tells the distraught Prince Yaroslav that the Pechenegs are invading. Enter Zhureyko, who has somehow got early wind of this news and has been on his own initiative to Novgorod to get support against this new joint enemy. Mykyta makes a sarcastic comment that Yaroslav always has to rely on the Novgorodians whom he so maltreats; Yaroslav moves to strike him but is dumbfounded when Djemma reveals that he is Kosnyatyn's son.

Scene 7

The battle against the Pechenegs is graphically described in a lively intermezzo for orchestra.

Scene 8

Yaroslav has been triumphant, although Mykyta has died defending Kiev. The people praise their wise ruler.