Boris Godunov

The first version of Modest Mussorgsky’s opera, based on Alexander Pushkin’s ‘dramatic chronicle’ of the historical figure Boris Godunov (1552–1605), was rejected (probaply in 1870) by the committee who particularly criticised the absence of a representative female role. This first version was later termed the ‘original Boris’. As a result, Mussorgsky substantially adapted and expanded the work over the following three years. The new version (known as the ‘revised Boris’) was premiered in St. Petersburg in 1874, however it was removed from the performance schedule in 1882 by the state censoring authority for political reasons. Further repeated adaptations by Mussorgsky, along with subsequent orchestrations by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (from 1892) and Dmitri Shostakovich (1939/40), meant that Mussorgsky’s original Boris Godunov was long concealed from the public eye.

It was only when the critical edition appeared, edited by Pawel Lamm and published in 1928 on which the Schott edition of this work is based, that the opera could be performed in its original intended form. Today, numerous theatres choose to perform the ‘original Boris’ using Schott’s performance material.