The Guilt Trip

Mussorgsky started many operas, but Boris Godunov was the only one he managed to finish; and while Boris was even performed – not unsuccessfully – in Mussorgsky’s lifetime, its place in the standard repertoire of the twentieth century owes a great deal to the editorial intervention of Rimsky-Korsakov, who believed so firmly in the opera’s raw power that he revised and reorchestrated it twice to make it more acceptable to the audiences of his time. 

In recent years the desire for authenticity has led to a re-evaluation of Mussorgsky’s own versions of the opera, not merely the one first performed in 1874, but also the earlier version submitted for performance in 1869 and rejected due to the lack of a substantial female role. The new production of Boris Godunov at the Deutsche Oper – a co-production with Covent Garden which opened there in…