Reuven Tsur
The End of Boris
Contribution to an Aesthetics of Disorientation
The Simpleton's Wailing
Anti-Closure and "Sobbing Away"
Listen to the Simpleton's wailing at the end of the Kromy Forest scene, from the Claudio Abado recording (with Alexander Fedin as the Simpleton). In the orchestral ending, the lower strand of the music imitates a repeated plaintive, sobbing sound, with gradually falling orchestral richness, tempo and loudness. It does not come to a conclusive end—it rather "sobs itself out of existence", so to speak.
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Focus your attention on the sequence of modulations in the Simpleton's lament (modulation is gradual transition from one key to another). In this series, the melody descends chromatically, each phrase ending with a major chord in a different key: chromaticism is here the basis of modulation (from the Claudio Abado recording, with Alexander Fedin as the Simpleton).
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Listen to the "sobbing" motive, from Valery Gergiev's recording, followed by the theme of the instrumental prelude to the Simpleton's lament—repeated in the postlude, ending the opera with the obstinate "sobbing" notes ("ostinato").
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The ending of the opera with the "sobbing" motive. After the disappearance of the sustained A, which took care of the A minor scale, tonality becomes even vaguer, less perceptible, as the opera ends on a note that is not the tonic (the keynote) (Claudio Abado's recording).
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Listen again to the last 18.188-second-section of Claudio Abado's recording.
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Boris' Death Scene
Majesty, "Noble" Feelings and Acquiescence
Listen to Boris' last speech, with the bells and the monks' choir, at the end of the death scene from the Valery Gergiev recording (with Vladimir Vaneev as Boris, and Zlata Bulicheva as Fyodor).
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Listen to Boris' last speech, with the bells and the monks' choir, at the end of the death scene from the André Cluyten recording (with Boris Christoff as Boris and Ana Alexieva as Fyodor).
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Listen again to the last 1-minute-25-second-long-section of the preceding excerpt, amplified by 7.7 db.
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Listen to Boris' last speech, with the bells and the monks' choir, at the end of the death scene from the Claudio Abado recording (with Anatoly Kotcherga as Boris and Liliana Nichiteanu as Fyodor).
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Listen again to the last 1-minute-38-second-long-section of the preceding excerpt, amplified by 20 db.
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The Entrance of Varlaam and Misail
The Grotesque and the Apocalyptic
Listen to Varlaam's and Misail's melody at their entrance in the Kromy Forest scene in the André Cluyten recording (with Boris Christoff and Milen Paounov as Varlaam and Missail)
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