Music by: Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881)

Rendered into Arabic by: Samir Shikhani

An opera in four acts, adapted from a play by Alexander Pushkin.

Produced for the first time in St. Petersburg in 1874.

The Characters: • Boris Godunov • Grigory, a novice monk, later called Dimitri • Pimen, a monk and chronicler • Prince Shuisky, a royal counselor • Missail and Varlaam, mendicant monks • Marina Mnishek, a Polish noblewoman • Xenia, Boris's daughter • Fyodor, Boris's son • Rangoni, a Jesuit priest • The hostess of the inn • The Simpleton • Soldiers, guards, pilgrims, men, women, children

Time: 1598–1605. Place: Russia and Poland.

Act One

Scene One: A courtyard before a monastery in Moscow.

The young Tsar Fyodor, son of Ivan the Terrible, has died, and it has become necessary to choose a successor to him, for there is no direct heir. Boris Godunov, who was regent over the young Fyodor, is conspiring in secret to become Tsar of Russia. But he wishes this deed of his to appear as an answer to the popular will. He has withdrawn to a monastery and refused the offer made to him to sit upon the throne; but he has ordered the police to gather a great crowd of people and compel them to demand that he receive the crown. A band of pilgrims comes forward, chanting and distributing holy amulets and charms among the assembled crowds, making the people believe that it is the will of God that Boris should be the new Tsar. A herald appears at the gate of the monastery and announces to all that Russia is threatened with collapse unless

Boris can be brought to consent to take the throne. Whereupon all kneel in prayer at the prompting of the men of the police..

Scene Two: A monk's cell in the Monastery of Chudov.

The old monk Pimen is writing a history of Russia. He tells the novice Grigory that he has grown very old and will not be granted time to complete this history, and he begs him to take up the task. He has reached, in his setting down of the history, the following point: that Dimitri, the younger brother of the late Tsar Fyodor, was killed at the instigation of Boris Godunov, who aspired to reach the throne. The old monk says that had this boy lived he would have become Tsar of Russia, and he would now be of Grigory's age. And so a tremendous idea takes root in the mind of this ambitious youth, as he cries: "Here, in this secluded cell, dwells the avenger of the murdered boy!"

Scene Three: A square before the Kremlin palace in Moscow (the Coronation Scene).

The pealing of bells is heard, and the enthusiasm of the crowd rises at the appointment of the new Tsar. A magnificent procession crosses the stage while the people chant the hymn "Glory to Russia, glory to Tsar Boris!" At last Boris appears in his splendid robes for the coronation ceremony, accompanied by his daughter Xenia and his little son Fyodor. The strains of the music die away as he addresses the multitudes with complete calm — and sadness.. for he — as he says — feels grief at yielding to their wish and receiving the throne. But the truth is that he secretly feels the reproach of conscience for having committed the crime that carried him to the throne. He blesses the crowds with utter humility and majesty, then enters the Cathedral of the Archangels, and the procession continues on its way. The pealing of the bells rises anew, and the crowd sings the "Coronation Hymn,"

which has no sooner ended than we see Boris standing on the steps of the cathedral.

Act Two

Scene One: An inn near the Lithuanian border.

The curtain rises and we hear the hostess of the inn, a simple peasant woman, singing as she goes about the business of her inn. Before long two mendicant monks, Missail and Varlaam, come in;