Monday, January 12, 2015


"Of course I have used dissonance in my time, but
  there has been too much dissonance. Bach used
  dissonance as good salt for his music. Others
  applied pepper, seasoned the dishes more and more
  highly, till all healthy appetites were sick and until
  the music was nothing but pepper."
AUTHOR: Sergei Prokofiev
"Dissonance in music (different sounds
 that do not blend pleasantly together)
 should be used like spices are used in
 food; overuse will spoil the product."

Portrait of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov by Valentin Serov
The Tsar's Bride Overture
from the opera of the same name
Tatyana Gorokhovskaya: Ivan the Terrible Choosing His Bride
Lois Rowell Karlsberger
Overture to The Tsar's Bride
by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov
The overture from Rimsky-Korsakov's 1898
opera, The Tsar's Bride, attests to his orchestral
virtuosity and his affinity for dramatic subjects
rooted in Russian history and folklore. A member
of "The Mighty Five'' of Russian nationalistic
music, he was inspired by Mikhail Glinka's
Mikhail Glinka

opera, A Life 
for the Tsar (1836).
Characteristically, Rimsky
-Korsakov's operas display a wealth of color and
lyricism, an extensive use of folk melodies, and
a mastery of orchestral effects. Many of his
operas move in a fantasy world of romance
and legend. The Tsar's Bride, however, is
a tragedy, set during the reign of
Viktor Vasnetsov: Ivan the Terrible
Grigor loves Martha, fiancée of the
aristocrat Lykov. Grigor asks a magician
for a love potion; but the magician, compelled
by Grigor's former lover Liubacha, substitutes
a slow but effective poison, which Grigor
unwittingly gives Martha. Then, the Tsar
announces that he will take Martha as his
bride. She becomes Tsarina, but dies
mysteriously. When Liubacha confesses,
Grigor kills her, and he is arrested.
Ilya Yefimovich Repin: Russian Tsar Michael I choosing
his bride from an array of fair maidens in 1626