Editing Boris Godunov (opera) (section)

===Part 3 / Act 2===
[[File:Shishkov - Terem.jpg|thumb|right|Shishkov's design for the Terem Scene (1870)]]
''The Interior of the Tsar's [[Terem Palace|Terem]] in the [[Moscow Kremlin]] (1605)''

[[Xenia Borisovna Godunova|Kseniya (or Xenia)]], clutching a portrait of [[John, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein|"Prince Ivan"]], her betrothed who has died, sings a brief mournful aria ("Where are you, my bridegroom?"). [[Feodor II|Fyodor]] studies a great map of the [[Tsardom of Russia]].
:[''Revised 1872 Version only:'' Fyodor tries to console Kseniya and shows her the magic of the clock, once it starts chiming].
Kseniya's nurse assures her that she will soon forget about "Prince Ivan".
:[''1872:'' The nurse and Fyodor attempt to cheer Kseniya up with some songs ("A gnat was chopping wood" and "A little tale of this and that").]
Boris abruptly enters, briefly consoles Kseniya, and then sends her and her nurse to their own quarters. Fyodor shows Boris the map of Russia. After encouraging his son to resume his studies, Boris delivers a long and fine [[soliloquy]] ("I have attained supreme power").
{{Listen|filename=Moussorgski Monologue Boris Godounov.ogg|title="I have attained supreme power"<br>(Rimsky-Korsakov Version)|description=performed by [[Feodor Chaliapin]]}}
:[''1872:'' At the end of this [[arioso]] he reveals that he has been disturbed by a vision of a bloody child begging for mercy. A commotion breaks out in his children's quarters. Boris sends Fyodor to investigate.]
The boyar-in-attendance brings word of the arrival of [[Vasily IV|Prince Shuysky]], and reports a denunciation against him for his intrigues.
:[''1872:'' Fyodor returns to relate a whimsical tale ("Our little parrot was sitting") involving a pet parrot. Boris takes comfort in his son's imagination and advises Fyodor, when he becomes Tsar, to beware of evil and cunning advisors such as Shuysky.]
Prince Shuysky now enters. Boris insults him, accusing him of conspiring with Pushkin, an ancestor of the poet. However, the prince brings grave tidings. A [[Pretender]] has appeared in [[Lithuania]]. Boris angrily demands to know his identity. Shuysky fears the Pretender might attract a following bearing the name of Tsarevich Dmitriy. Shaken by this revelation, Boris dismisses Fyodor. He orders Shuysky to seal the border with Lithuania, and, clearly on the edge of madness, asks Shuysky whether he has ever heard of dead children rising from their graves to question Tsars. Boris seeks assurance that the dead child the prince had seen in [[Uglich]] was really Dmitriy. He threatens Shuysky, if he dissembles, with a gruesome execution. The Prince describes the ghastly scene of Dmitriy's murder in a brief and beautiful aria ("In Uglich, in the cathedral"). But he gives hints that a miracle ([[incorruptibility]]) has occurred. Boris begins choking with guilt and remorse, and gives a sign for Shuysky to depart.
:[''1872:'' The chiming clock again begins working.]
Boris hallucinates (''Hallucination or 'Clock' Scene''). The spectre of the dead Dmitriy reaches out to him. Addressing the apparition, he denies his responsibility for the crime: "Begone, begone child! I am not thy murderer... the will of the people!" He collapses, praying that God will have mercy on his guilty soul.