About the work
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov composed „Mlada“ in 1889–90 as his own opera-ballet in four acts, after an 1872 collaborative project by the „Mighty Handful“ – including César Cui, Alexander Borodin and Modest Mussorgsky – for a joint Slavic ballet-opera had collapsed following Alexander Serov's death. Rimsky-Korsakov reused the libretto by Stepan Gedeonov from that project and adapted it himself. It premiered on 1 November 1892 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, conducted by Eduard Nápravník.
Plot
In the Baltic coastlands of the 9th–10th century, the power-hungry princess Voislava kills her rival Mlada to win Mlada's betrothed, Prince Yaromir of Arkona, for herself. Unaware of the murder, Yaromir is haunted by mythological forces – the goddess Morena and, in an exotic dream vision, the shade of Cleopatra – until Voislava's guilt is revealed and Yaromir kills her; the souls of the two lovers, Mlada and Yaromir, are united.
Cultural significance
The premiere failed to catch on, and the opera soon dropped from the Mariinsky's repertoire, but its scenery was reused in 1896 for Marius Petipa's own ballet version of the same story. Rimsky-Korsakov later drew a five-movement orchestral suite from the score.