Salammbô

Composition history

The Russian translation of Flaubert's 1862 novel was published serially in the Saint Petersburg journal Otechestvennye Zapiski in 1863, and was read with enthusiasm by the six members of the commune in which the composer was then living. Mussorgsky was likely influenced in his choice of subject by having recently heard Aleksandr Serov's Judith, which premiered on 16 May 1863, and which shares with Salammbô an exotic setting and similar narrative details.

The unfinished vocal score consists of three scenes and three separate numbers:

Two numbers (No.2 and No.5) were orchestrated by the composer. Zoltán Peskó claims to have found a Mussorgsky orchestration of No. 1 in the library of the Paris Conservatory, but this version has disappeared.

The chorus of priestesses and warriors (Act 2, Scene 2, Episode 3: "After the theft of the Zaimph") is a reworking of the "Scene in the Temple: Chorus of the People", the only surviving number from Oedipus in Athens (1858-1861), Mussorgsky's earliest stage-work.

In Mathô's monologue in the dungeon (the passage "I shall die alone"), the text is borrowed from the poem Song of the Captive Iroquois, by Alexander Polezhayev. The theme of this passage, accompanying a new text, was recycled in 1877 in the chorus Joshua [see Subsequent use of musical materials in this article for more details].

Mussorgsky's orchestration in Salammbô is quite ahead of its time. One example of a modern idea is, in the projected scoring for the "Hymn to Tanit" (Act 2, Scene 2), the abundance and variety of percussion, in addition to a mixture of pianos, harps, and glockenspiels of a sort which only reappeared fifty years later.

Performance history

The first staged performance of Salammbô took place at the Teatro di San Carlo, Naples, on 29 March 1983 in a version revised and edited by Zoltán Peskó. The work was repeated on 30 March and on 1, 2 and 6 April. It had originally been agreed that the role of Salammbô in these performances would be sung by Lyudmila Shemchuk and that of Mathô by Georgy Seleznev, but the Soviet authorities subsequently withdrew the exit visas of both singers, and they were substituted by Annabelle Bernard and Boris Bakov respectively. Because of these enforced changes it was necessary to postpone the date of the premiere from 26 to 29 March.

In 1989 Vyacheslav Nagovitsin was commissioned to produce an orchestration in the fullest possible version, in addition to the available numbers orchestrated by Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov and Vissarion Shebalin. This staged version of the opera was first performed at the Ancient Roman arena in Mérida, Spain.

Synopsis

Setting

Time: 241 to 238 B.C., before and during the Mercenary Revolt.

Place: Carthage (in what is now Tunisia).

Although no complete synopsis is available, Tedeschi states, it be reconstructed fairly accurately without any effort, since Mussorgsky stays close to the handling of the original.

Act 1

Scene: Hamilcar's Garden in Carthage

After the war with Rome was lost, the mercenaries Carthage recruited from Europe and Africa are rebelling, because they have not been paid. To calm them down, they are invited to a festive feast in the gardens of Hamilcar's palace. Soon it degenerates into a brutal argument. Slaves are freed from the underground dungeons, lions and elephants are mutilated, the sacred fish are eaten. When Salammbô, the daughter of Hamilcar and priestess of Tanit, appears (singing) in the middle of the violent goings-on, it soothes their spirits. Mâtho, the chief of the Libyan warriors and the Numidian leader Narr'Havas are captivated by her appearance.

Act 2

Scene 1: The rampart of Megara

Spendius, a freed slave, urges Mâtho to sneak into Carthage in order to steal the miraculous veil guarded by Salammbô, the Zaimph, which protects the city.

Scene 2: The Temple of Tanit in Carthage

In the temple of Tanit. Salammbô sings - first alone, then with the choir - a hymn to the goddess and decorates the altar with emerging and stealing the veil. The Virgin awakes, sounds the alarm, the stage fills with people and priests.

Act 3

Scene 1: The Temple of Moloch

The priests sacrifice little children to the terrible god and, together with the people, implore his help. Enter Salammbô; she joins the prayers and announces her resolve to go to the barbarian camp to reclaim the veil.

Scene 2: The tent at the encampment

Salammbô seduces Mâtho and falls asleep in his arms. Then, while the Carthaginians storm the camp and take Mâtho prisoner, she takes possession of the veil.

Act 4

Scene 1: The Dungeon of the Acropolis

Mâthos lament. He is being held captive in the dungeons of the Carthaginian Acropolis. Priests and pentarchs sentence him to death.

Scene 2: The festival of celebration in Carthage

The priestesses clothes Salammbô for the double ceremony, the marriage to Narr'Havas and the execution of Mâtho. During the wedding banquet, Mâtho, martyred to death, falls at the feet of Salammbô, who in turn falls dead over his body.

Subsequent use of musical materials

Mussorgsky reused much of the music from Salammbô in later works. Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov gives the following account of thematic borrowing in his memoirs, Chronicle of My Musical Life (1909):

During the season of 1866-1867 I became more intimate with Mussorgsky. I used to visit him; he lived with his married brother Filaret, near the Kashin Bridge. He played me many excerpts from his opera Salambo, which greatly delighted me. Then also, I think, he played me his fantasy St. John's Eve, for piano and orchestra, conceived under the influence of the Danse Macabre. Subsequently the music of this fantasy, having undergone many metamorphoses, was utilized as material for A Night on Bald Mountain. He also played me his delightful Jewish choruses: The Rout of Sennacherib and Iisus Navin [Joshua]. The music of the latter was taken by him from Salambo. The theme of this chorus had been overheard by Mussorgsky from Jews who lived in the same house as Mussorgsky and who were celebrating the Feast of the Tabernacles. Mussorgsky also played me the songs which had failed with Balakirev and Cui. Among these were Kalistrat and the beautiful fantasy Night, on a text by Pushkin. The song Kalistrat was a forerunner of the realistic vein which Mussorgsky later made his own; the song Night was representative of that ideal side of his talent which he himself trampled into the mire, though still drawing on its reserve stock in emergency. This reserve stock had been accumulated by him in Salambo and the Jewish choruses, when he took but little thought of the coarse muzhik. Be it remarked that the greater part of his ideal style [in, for example, Boris Godunov], such as Tsar Boris's arioso, the phrases of Dmitriy at the fountain, the chorus in the boyar duma, the death of Boris, etc., were taken by him from Salambo. His ideal style lacked a suitable crystal-like finish and graceful form. This he lacked because he had no knowledge of harmony and counterpoint. At first Balakirev's circle ridiculed these needless sciences, and then declared them beyond Mussorgsky. And so he went through life without them and consoled himself by regarding his ignorance as a virtue and the technique of others as routine and conservatism. But whenever he did manage to obtain a beautiful and flowing succession of notes, how happy he was. I witnessed that more than once."

The Song of the Balearic Islander (Russian: «Песнь балеарца», Pesn' baleartsa) was included by the composer in a collection of his juvenilia composed between 1857 and 1866 called Youthful Years (Russian: «Юные годы», Yunïye godï, 1866). The song is No. 17 in the series of manuscripts consisting of 17 songs and one duet.

Versions by other hands

Zoltán Peskó was the first to orchestrate the rest of the numbers.