British/Irish music about Russia/Slavs

[Christopher]

As I have mentioned elsewhere, I live out in Moscow and greatly enjoy the vibrant musical and artistic scene that is so accessible here.  Despite the difficult political relations, British culture is greatly admired, particularly our literature.  A large number of Russian composers were inspired by British themes (particularly Shakespeare, of course): Tchaikovsky wrote Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Hamlet; Balakirev wrote King Lear; Napravnik wrote Harold (about the 1066 invasion); Prokofiev wrote Romeo and Juliet; Cui wrote William Ratcliff (ok, it was by a German playwright, but about Scotland!); Stravinsky wrote The Rake's Progress; Bortkiewicz wrote Othello; Ippolitov-Ivanov wrote Ossian's Monologue; etc etc etc .

BUT: my Russian friends, who are curious about British music generally as it's not at all well-known here, have asked me what music was written by British composers on Russian or Slavic themes.  I am a bit stuck and have been able only to come up with:

Bantock - Russian Scenes
Bax - Russian Suite
Torch - Slavonic Rhapsody

Does anyone know of any other pieces? Whether about Russia, Ukraine, Slavs, Russian literature, history, etc...

[Jimfin]

I started by thinking "I must be able to come up with more", but I can only add: the second movement of Holbrooke's String Quartet no. 2 "Russian Dance" and Britten's "Russian Funeral". It seems Asia, Italy and Spain were far more popular themes

[Hovite]

Does anyone know of any other pieces? Whether about Russia, Ukraine, Slavs, Russian literature, history, etc...

John Field set up shop in Russia, and so was obviously influenced, as is shown by his Air Russe and Variations on a Russian Folksong. His Piano Concerto No. 3 consists of just two movements, of which the second is polonaise (Rondo: Tempo di polacca). In addition, the Piano Concerto No. 5 (subtitled Storm and Fire) may have been inspired by the destruction of Moscow during the Napoleonic invasion.

[Hovite]

A large number of Russian composers were inspired by British themes (particularly Shakespeare, of course): Tchaikovsky wrote Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Hamlet; Balakirev wrote King Lear; Prokofiev wrote Romeo and Juliet;

To these should be added Boris Godunov, which was inspired by Shakespeare's Macbeth.

[dafrieze]

Humphrey Searle's opera, The Diary of a Madman, is based on a story by Gogol.

[jerfilm]

I don't think it should be a matter to be embarassed about, however.  It seems to me that it boils down to one simple thing - how many Russian (or for that matter, any nationality) playwrights have ever attained the fame, stature and quality of Shakespeare?  Hasn't most of the "Russian" music written in the west been scenes, sketches, folk song or folk song-like suites - that sort of thing and not operas or other large scale works based on some form of literature?

[isokani]

Well there are a few.

The obvious one for me is Bax's 1st piano sonata was written in Russia/Ukraine and ends with what are clearly orthodox church bells. There is a kind of Ukrainian sub-plot to the piece. I think I gave the piece's Ukrainian premiere a few years ago ... and there is also May Night in Ukraine, a piano piece of similar vintage.

I know a few people - British composers - who have set Akhmatova, Kharms and other 20thC Russian poets etc etc.

Then there is The Poet's Echo, Pushkin settings written for Vishnevskaya by Britten.

Nigel Osborne wrote an opera called The Electrification of the Soviet Union ...

[Dundonnell]

Sir John Tavener:

Akhmatova Requiem and Six Russian Folk-Songs.

[eschiss1]

Bax's The Truth about the Russian Dancers , tangentially...
Also, Edward German: Polish Suite (1891) .
Will add what I can think of or find later, must to work

[Christopher]

Vic Lewis (b.1919) - Russian Suite

[Jimfin]

Oh, another one: Walton's "The Bear", based on Chekhov

[Hovite]

I don't think it should be a matter to be embarassed about, however.  It seems to me that it boils down to one simple thing - how many Russian (or for that matter, any nationality) playwrights have ever attained the fame, stature and quality of Shakespeare?  Hasn't most of the "Russian" music written in the west been scenes, sketches, folk song or folk song-like suites - that sort of thing and not operas or other large scale works based on some form of literature?

I think that there is more to it than that.

Shakespeare can be heavy going for English schoolboys. But translated into modern Italian and handed to Verdi, then the result was Otello, Macbeth, and Falstaff. So, foreign composers probably have an advantage, because they were able to use a contemporary text in their own language.

Another factor than cannot be ignored is that Britain has produced fewer major composers, and British opera is almost non existent. If you go to see an opera in England, it is very likely to be by a foreign composer.

[Alan Howe]

British opera is almost non existent.

Not in the modern era, surely.

[semloh]

British opera is almost non existent.

Not in the modern era, surely.

This is perhaps the stuff of a new thread, but...
I agree, and can only suppose it is a tongue-in-cheek comment. It's like calling England "a land without music"! From Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, then Handel, Arne and contemporaries, Sullivan, and into the 20th century, we do have more than a scattering of British operas. [I wonder if Colin will resist providing us with a comprehensive list?  ]

As to Russian themes in British music - and the paucity thereof - surely it's matched by a paucity of British themes in Russian music? I don't see Rimsky-Korsakov's Variations on a Cotswold Pastoral Theme, or Gliere's Ode to Lord Beaconsfield in their lists of works! 

[eschiss1]

Probably. Glinka variations on a Scottish theme... (on the other hand, non-Russian Slavic connections with the British Isles are more substantial- consider Mlynarski's work with the Scottish Symphony Orchestra and his dedication of his F major symphony thereunto... and the post-Bolshevik-Revolution years of some expatriate Russian composers probably contain a few examples, just as Remenyi - etc. - wrote American-themed works after settling in the United States (one finds some digitized by the Library of Congress) - etc.)

(But it does seem to be more common with German and Austrian composers - Carl Loewe's Scottish Pictures for trio, Egon Wellesz's "English" symphony, Mendelssohn's A minor symphony and Hebrides Overture.
Though again just as one looks for works inspired by Pushkin in the UK, one can look for works with Shakespeare or Ossian as inspiration or even librettist-at-one-remove for some examples- e.g. Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev's Hamlet (admittedly a Danish subject but inspired by Shakespeare's play), the former's The Tempest (and the Storm also?...),  Balakirev's King Lear, even an early 20th century work whose (Russian or in-that-area) composer's name is escaping me right now (I thought it was A. or G. Krein but it is neither) that is also inspired by King Lear I think- will check (@IMSLP, should be able to find it...)'
(Dvorak's Othello overture, too...)