Song of the Indian Guest (Sadko)

Rimsky-Korsakov's Sadko was refused by the Imperial Theatres — Nicholas II is said to have asked for something more cheerful — and had its premiere instead at Mamontov's Private Russian Opera in Moscow on 7 January 1898. The composer called it an opera-bylina and built it in seven tableaux rather than acts, following the Novgorod merchant-adventurer who wins a wager, sails away and spends time in the underwater kingdom of the Sea King. Recitative is largely replaced by measured epic declamation; the scene in which foreign merchants sing of their homelands gave the score its most portable numbers.