GLAZOUNOFF
(Alexander Glazounoff: born in St. Petersburg, August 10, 1865; now living there)
"STENKA RÂZINE," SYMPHONIC POEM: Op. 13
Stenka Râzine (or Râzin), the subject of Glazounoff's symphonic poem, was a Cossack rebel and outlaw who flourished in the seventeenth century. In 1667 he was elected leader of the insurgent Cossacks, and, after a tumultuous career of plunder and devastation, was finally executed at Moscow in 1671. He is the hero of numerous Russian ballads, and Nikolai Kostomaroff, in 1859, made him the subject of one of his famous historical monographs.
In the legend selected by Glazounoff for musical treatment, Stenka Râzine is portrayed as the hero of an incident which is related by the composer as follows in an explanatory note (in French) prefaced to the score:
"The Volga, vast and calm. For long years the region about the great river dwelt in peace; then suddenly there appeared the terrible Ataman [Cossack chief] Stenka Râzine, who, at the head of his ferocious horde, began to sweep along the Volga, devastating and pillaging the towns and villages situated along its banks. His ship was splendidly adorned, his sails were of silk, his oars were gilt; in the midst of a tent of cloth of silver, upon barrels full of gold and silver, reclined the Persian princess, Stenka Râzine's captive and mistress. On a certain day she fell into deep thought, and, addressing her master's comrades, began to tell them that she had dreamed a dream, in which it had been revealed to her that Stenka Râzine would be shot, that his band of warriors would be cast into dungeons, and that she herself would perish in the waves of the Volga. The dream of the princess came true. Stenka was surrounded by the soldiers of the Tsar. Seeing that the day was lost, Stenka said: 'Never, during all the thirty years of my raids, have I offered the Volga a gift. To-day I will give it what is dearest to me among all the treasures of the earth,' and with these words he hurled the princess deep into the waves. The fierce band began to sing in honor of its Ataman, and all hurled themselves upon the soldiers of the Tsar."
Glazounoff's music is based on three main themes. We hear first the melancholy chant of the bargemen on the Volga (derived from a celebrated Russian folk-tune); by it the Volga is typified (the theme is announced by the oboe, against tremolos in the strings). Stenka himself is next portrayed by a theme that is brutally forceful and savage. Then follows a gracious and dulcet melody (sung, pp, by clarinet, with accompaniment of harp, flutes, bassoon, and horn), in which the princess, Stenka's captive and beloved, is suggested. By his vivid and dramatic juxtaposition of these themes, Glazounoff suggests the progress and culmination of his tonal narrative.
The score bears the date-line: "St. Petersburg, 1885."