Mikhail Lermontov

From high atop the beautiful Dagestan region, in the heart of the Caucasus, it's time once again for Sadko's World of Music. The role of Sadko today is being played by Sir Walter Scott. The role of the Bobbsie Twins is being played by Lucia and Drusilla Lammermoor. The role of Ken Moss is being played by Rex T. Ivanhoe. In the third half of the program, the role of Lenny the Listener will  be played by William Shatner. Our featured great Russian writer today is Mikhail Lermontov. Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov October 15 1814 – July 27  1841), a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest figure in Russian Romanticism. His influence on later Russian literature is still felt in modern times, not only through his poetry, but also through his prose, which founded the tradition of the Russian psychological novel.

Sergei Prokofiev – Waltz Suite, Op. 110: III. Mephisto Waltz, from Lermontov - Live Sergei Prokofiev – Prokofiev: Waltz Suite, Op. 110
Gretchaninov, Alexander – Gretchaninov: Lullaby - Lullaby Various Artists – Glière/Glazunov etc: Harp Concerto/Concerto for Coloratura Soprano etc
Rachmaninov, Sergey Vasil'yevich – Rachmaninov: By The Gates Of The Holy Dwelling (U vrat obiteli svyatoy) - By The Gates Of The Holy Dwelling (U vrat obiteli svyatoy) Elisabeth Söderström & Vladimir Ashkenazy – Rachmaninov: The Songs
Steven Isserlis – Akhmatova Songs (for soprano and cello): Pushkin and Lermontov Various Artists – Tavener - Svyati
Larissa Gatova – Mikhail Lermontov - Alone I Go Out to the Highway – Russian Poetry: Read in Russian by Larissa Gatova
Lincoln Mayorga – Three Pieces Opus 96, Contradance (from "Lermontov") – Piano Music Of Chopin, Brahms & Prokofiev
Larissa Gatova – Mikhail Lermontov - Angel  – Russian Poetry: Read in Russian by Larissa Gatova
Anton Rubinstein – A.Rubinstein." Mountain Peaks". Lyrics by Michail Lermontov
Larissa Gatova – Mikhail Lermontov - The Sail – Russian Poetry: Read in Russian by Larissa Gatova
Sergei Rachmaninov – S.Rachmaninov. "The Pine". Lyrics by Michail Lermontov Victor Popov – Russian Choir School. Victor Popov
Style of Five – Net, Ne Tebia Tak Pilko Ya Liubliu (No, It's Not You I Love So Fervently) - Arr. For Baritone And Orchestra Lev Mey – I Met You, My Love
Natalia Biryukova – 2 Romances, Op. 84: No. 1. Utro an Kavkaze (A Morning In The Caucasus)
Natalia Biryukova – 2 Romances, Op. 84: No. 2. Ballada  – SHOSTAKOVICH: Complete Songs, Vol. 1 - Vocal Cycles Of The Fifties (1950-1956)
Ivari Ilja, piano  – 6 Romances, Op. 38 (text by M. Lermontov): 6 Romances, Op. 38: No. 5. Lyubov' mertvetsa (The love of a dead man) Alexei Tolstoy – Hvorostovsky, Dmitri: Tchaikovsky Romances

The Hero of Our Time:
Schwartz, Abe, musician.  The klezmer king Columbia/Legacy, 2002. Hurra! Far unzer held Levine = Hurray! For our hero Levine (Irving Grossman)

The Princess of the Tide, 1841, ballad:
Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilich,  1840-1893. The sleeping beauty Princess Aurora. Capitol.   Ballet Theatre Orchestra; Joseph Levine, conductor.
Ravel, Maurice, 1875-1937. Pavane for a dead princess Columbia The Cleveland Orchestra; Pierre Boulez, conductor; Cleveland Orchestra Chorus; Margaret Hills, director.
 Rimsky-Korsakov, Nikolay, 1844-1908.   Shekherazada   from "Thousand and one nights"  Pilz, 1988.  The young prince and princess  Radio Symphony Orchestra Ljubljana; Anton Nanut, conductor.
 The Poet:
Mariàn Pivka – Schumann: Kinderszenen, Op. 15 - Hark! The Poet Speaks
Kleine stücke grosser meister, vol. 2  Short pieces, great composers, vol. 2.  PMG  [1988]. Aus "Kinderszenen" = From "Scenes of childhood," op. 15:  Hark! The poet speaks / R. Schumann
Halle Orchestra –Overtures : Poet and Peasant – Franz Von Suppe': Overtures
Emmerich Kálmán Capitol Records-- The Czardas princess / Kálmán  Madlon Harder, soprano; Jean Löhe, tenor, with chorus and orchestra of the Berlin State Opera; Hansgeorg Otto, conductor , sung in German.
Death of the Poet:
On July 25, 1841, at Pyatigorsk, fellow army officer Nikolai Martynov, who felt offended by one of Lermontov's jokes, challenged him to a duel. The duel took place two days later at the foot of Mashuk mountain. Lermontov was killed by Martynov's first shot. Several of his verses were discovered posthumously in his notebook. He is buried at Tarkhany.
The Duel between Liszt and Thalberg. Angel 1975 Liszt. Ballade no. 2 in B minor.--Liszt. Funeral march from Donizetti's Dom Sébastien.--Thalberg. Fantasy on Rossini's Moses.--Thalberg. Fantasy on Rossini's Barber of Seville.  Raymond Lewenthal, piano.

The Poet's Dead

The Poet's dead! - a slave to honor -
He fell, by rumor slandered,
Lead in his breast and thirsting for revenge,
Hanging his proud head!...
The Poet's soul could not endure
Petty insult's disgrace.
Against society he rose,
Alone, as always...and was slain!
Slain!...What use is weeping now,
The futile chorus of empty praise
Excuses mumbled full of pathos?
Fate has pronounced its sentence!
Was it not you who spitefully
Rebuffed his free, courageous gift
And for your own amusement fanned
The nearly dying flame?
Well now, enjoy yourselves...he couldn't
Endure the final torture:
Quenched is the marvelous light of genius,
Withered is the triumphal wreath.

Cold-bloodedly his murderer
Took aim...there was no chance of flight:
His empty heart beat evenly,
The pistol steady in his hand.
No wonder...from far away
The will of fate sent him to us
Like hundreds of his fellow vagrants
In search of luck and rank;
With impudence he mocked and scorned
The tongue and mores of this strange land;
He could not spare our glory,
Nor in that bloody moment know
"gainst what he'd raised his hand!...

He's slain - and taken by the grave
Like that unknown, but happy bard,
Victim of jealousy wild,
Of whom he sang with wondrous power,
Struck down, like him, by an unyielding hand.

Why did he quit the blissful peace of simple fellowship
To enter this society, so envious and stifling
To hearts of free and fiery passion?
Why did he give his hand to worthless slanderers,
How could he have believed their hollow words
And kindness, he, who'd ever understood his fellow man?...

And they removed his wreath, and set upon his head
A crown of thorns entwined in laurel:
The hidden spines were cruel
And pierced his noble brow;
Poisoned were his final moments
By sly insinuations of mockers ignorant,
And thus he died - for vengeance vainly thirsting
Secretly vexed by false hopes deceived.
The wondrous singing's ceased,
T'will never sound again.
His refuge, gloomy and small,
His lips forever sealed.

___
And you, the offspring arrogant
Of fathers known for malice,
Crushing with slavish heels the ruins
Of clans aggrieved by fortune's game!
You, greedy hordes around the throne,
Killers of Freedom, Genius and Glory!
You hide beneath the canopy of law
Fall silent - truth and justice before you...
But justice also comes from God, corruption's friends!
The judge most terrible awaits you:
He's hardened to the clink of gold,
He knows your future thoughts and deeds.
Then will you turn in vain to lies:
They will no longer help.
And your black blood won't wash away
The poet's sacred blood!