Editing Boris Godunov (opera) (section)

==Versions by other hands==

===Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (1896)===
[[File:Walentin Alexandrowitsch Serow 004.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov edited Mussorgsky's works (often drastically) to enable them to enter the repertoire. Portrait by [[Valentin Serov]] (1898).]]
After Mussorgsky's death in 1881, his friend [[Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov]] undertook to put his scores in order, completing and editing ''[[Khovanshchina]]'' for publication (1883),<ref>Oldani (2002: p. 549)</ref> reconstructing ''[[Night on Bald Mountain]]'' (1886), and "correcting" some songs. Next, he turned to ''Boris''.<ref>Calvocoressi (1956: pp. 215, 217)</ref>

{{blockquote|"Although I know I shall be cursed for so doing, I will revise ''Boris''. There are countless absurdities in its harmonies, and at times in its melodies."<ref name="Calvocoressi 1956: p. 216">Calvocoressi (1956: p. 216)</ref>|Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, 15 April 1893}}

He experimented first with the Polonaise, temporarily scoring it for a [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]-sized orchestra in 1889. In 1892 he revised the Coronation Scene, and, working from the 1874 Vocal Score, completed the remainder of the opera, although with significant cuts, by 1896.

===Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (1908)===
In the spring of 1906, Rimsky-Korsakov revised and orchestrated several passages omitted in the 1896 revision:<ref>Rimsky-Korsakov (1923: p. 421)</ref>
#"Pimen's story of Tsars Ivan and Fyodor" (Cell Scene)
#"Over the map of the Muscovite land" (Terem Scene)
#"The story of the parrot" (Terem Scene)
#"The chiming clock" (Terem Scene)
#"The scene of the False Dmitriy with Rangoni at the fountain" (Fountain Scene)
#"The False Dmitriy's soliloquy after the Polonaise" (Fountain Scene)
[[File:Chaliapin Godunov 1912.jpg|thumb|175px|[[Feodor Chaliapin|Fyodor Shalyapin]] was a powerful exponent of the Rimsky-Korsakov version, which launched ''Boris Godunov'' abroad. Portrait by [[Aleksandr Golovin (artist)|Aleksandr Golovin]] (1912).]]
Rimsky-Korsakov compiled a new edition in 1908, this time restoring the cuts, and making some significant changes:
* He omitted the end of the Novodievichy Scene, so that it ends with the Pilgrims' Chorus. (As does the 1874 vocal score.)
* He added some music to the Coronation Scene, because producer [[Sergei Diaghilev|Sergey Dyagilev]] wanted more stage spectacle for the Paris premiere. The additions are a 40 bar insert placed before Boris's monologue, and a 16 bar insert following it, both of which are based on the bell motifs that open the scene and on the "Slava" theme.
* He altered the dynamics of the end of the Inn Scene, making the conclusion loud and bombastic, perhaps because he was dissatisfied that all of Mussorgsky's scenes with the exception of the Coronation Scene end quietly.
* He similarly altered the conclusion of the Fountain Scene, replacing Mussorgsky's quiet moonlit trio with a grand peroration combining the 6 note descending theme that opens the scene, the 5 note rhythmic figure that opens the Polonaise, and the lusty cries of "Vivat!" that close the Polonaise.

These revisions clearly went beyond mere reorchestration. He made substantial modifications to harmony, melody, dynamics, etc., even changing the order of scenes.

{{blockquote|"Maybe Rimsky-Korsakov's harmonies are softer and more natural, his part-writing better, his scoring more skillful; but the result is not Mussorgsky, nor what Mussorgsky aimed at. The genuine music, with all its shortcomings, was more appropriate. I regret the genuine ''Boris'', and feel that should it ever be revived on the stage of the Mariinskiy Theatre, it is desirable that it should be in the original."<ref>Calvocoressi (1956: pp. 216–217)</ref>|César Cui, in an article in ''Novosti'', 1899}}

{{blockquote|"Besides re-scoring ''Boris'' and correcting harmonies in it (which was quite justifiable), he introduced in it many arbitrary alterations, which disfigured the music. He also spoilt the opera by changing the order of scenes."<ref name="Calvocoressi 1956: p. 216" />|Miliy Balakirev, letter to Calvocoressi, 25 July 1906}}

Rimsky-Korsakov immediately came under fire from some critics for altering ''Boris'', particularly in France, where his revision was introduced. The defense usually made by his supporters was that without his ministrations, Mussorgsky's opera would have faded from the repertory due to difficulty in appreciating his raw and uncompromising idiom. Therefore, Rimsky-Korsakov was justified in making improvements to keep the work alive and increase the public's awareness of Mussorgsky's melodic and dramatic genius.

{{blockquote|"I remained inexpressibly pleased with my revision and orchestration of ''Boris Godunov'', heard by me for the first time with a large orchestra. Moussorgsky's violent admirers frowned a bit, regretting something... But having arranged the new revision of ''Boris Godunov'', I had not destroyed its original form, had not painted out the old frescoes forever. If ever the conclusion is arrived at that the original is better, worthier than my revision, then mine will be discarded and ''Boris Godunov'' will be performed according to the original score."<ref>Rimsky-Korsakov (1923: p. 407)</ref>|Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, ''Chronicle of My Musical Life'', 1909}}

The Rimsky-Korsakov version remained the one usually performed in Russia, even after Mussorgsky's earthier original (1872) gained a place in Western opera houses. The Bolshoy Theatre has only recently embraced the composer's own version.<ref>Lloyd-Jones (2002)</ref>

===Dmitriy Shostakovich (1940)===
[[File:Dmitri Shostakovich credit Deutsche Fotothek adjusted.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Dmitriy Shostakovich orchestrated Pavel Lamm's vocal score.]]
[[Dmitri Shostakovich|Dmitriy Shostakovich]] worked on ''Boris Godunov'' in 1939–1940 on a commission from the [[Bolshoy Theatre]] for a new production of the opera. A conflation of the 1869 and 1872 versions had been published by Pavel Lamm and aroused keen interest in the piece. However, it did not erase doubts as to whether Mussorgsky's own orchestration was playable. The invasion of Russia by Nazi Germany prevented this production from taking place, and it was not until 1959 that Shostakovich's version of the score was premiered.<ref>Maes, 368–369.</ref>

To Shostakovich, Mussorgsky was successful with solo instrumental timbres in soft passages but did not fare as well with louder moments for the whole orchestra.<ref>Maes, 368.</ref> Shostakovich explained:

{{blockquote|"Mussorgsky has marvelously orchestrated moments, but I see no sin in my work. I didn't touch the successful parts, but there are many unsuccessful parts because he lacked mastery of the craft, which comes only through time spent on your backside, no other way."|Dmitriy Shostakovich}}

Shostakovich confined himself largely to reorchestrating the opera, and was more respectful of the composer's unique melodic and harmonic style. However, Shostakovich greatly increased the contributions of the woodwind and especially brass instruments to the score, a significant departure from the practice of Mussorgsky, who exercised great restraint in his instrumentation, preferring to utilize the individual qualities of these instruments for specific purposes. Shostakovich also aimed for a greater symphonic development, wanting the orchestra to do more than simply accompany the singers.{{Citation needed |date= January 2021}}

{{blockquote|"This is how I worked. I placed Mussorgsky's piano arrangement in front of me and then two scores—Mussorgsky's and Rimsky-Korsakov's. I didn't look at the scores, and I rarely looked at the piano arrangement either. I orchestrated by memory, act by act. Then I compared my orchestration with those of Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. If I saw that either had done it better, then I stayed with that. I didn't reinvent bicycles. I worked honestly, with ferocity, I might say."|Dmitriy Shostakovich}}{{Citation needed |date= January 2021}}

Shostakovich remembered [[Alexander Glazunov]] telling him how Mussorgsky himself played scenes from ''Boris'' at the piano. Mussorgsky's renditions, according to Glazunov, were brilliant and powerful—qualities Shostakovich felt did not come through in the orchestration of much of ''Boris''.<ref>Volkov (1979: pp. 227–228)</ref> Shostakovich, who had known the opera since his student days at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, assumed that Mussorgsky's orchestral intentions were correct but that Mussorgsky simply could not realize them:{{Citation needed |date= January 2021}}

{{blockquote|"As far as I can tell, he imagined something like a singing line around the vocal parts, the way subvoices surround the main melodic line in Russian folk song. But Mussorgsky lacked the technique for that. What a shame! Obviously, he had a purely orchestral imagination, and purely orchestral imagery, as well. The music strives for "new shores," as they say—musical dramaturgy, musical dynamics, language, imagery. But his orchestral technique drags us back to the old shores."|Dmitriy Shostakovich}}{{Citation needed |date= January 2021}}

One of those "old shore" moments was the large monastery bell in the scene in the monk's cell. Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov both use the gong. To Shostakovich, this was too elemental and simplistic to be effective dramatically, since this bell showed the atmosphere of the monk's estrangement. "When the bell tolls," Shostakovich reportedly told [[Solomon Volkov]], "it's a reminder that there are powers mightier than man, that you can't escape the judgment of history."<ref name="Volkov 1979: p. 234">Volkov (1979: p. 234)</ref> Therefore, Shostakovich reorchestrated the bell's tolling by the simultaneous playing of seven instruments—bass clarinet, double bassoon, French horns, gong, harps, piano, and double basses (at an octave). To Shostakovich, this combination of instruments sounded more like a real bell.{{Citation needed |date= January 2021}}

Shostakovich admitted Rimsky-Korsakov's orchestration was more colorful than his own and used brighter timbres. However, he also felt that Rimsky-Korsakov chopped up the melodic lines too much and, by blending melody and subvoices, may have subverted much of Mussorgsky's intent. Shostakovich also felt that Rimsky-Korsakov did not use the orchestra flexibly enough to follow the characters' mood changes, instead making the orchestra calmer, more balanced.{{Citation needed |date= January 2021}}

===Igor Buketoff (1997)===
The American conductor [[Igor Buketoff]] created a version in which he removed most of Rimsky-Korsakov's additions and reorchestrations, and fleshed out some other parts of Mussorgsky's original orchestration. This version had its first performance in 1997 at the [[Metropolitan Opera]], New York, under [[Valery Gergiev]].<ref>[http://www.historicopera.com/listing_composers_conductors.htm Historic Opera] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114061640/http://www.historicopera.com/listing_composers_conductors.htm |date=14 January 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/11/arts/igor-buketoff-87-conductor-and-expert-on-rachmaninoff.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss| title = New York Times, 11 September 2001| work = The New York Times| date = 11 September 2001| last1 = Kozinn| first1 = Allan}}</ref>