FULL DEADS SOULS (Shchedrin) Bolshoi Moscow 2025 Vasily Sokolov, Igor Onishchenko, Elena Manistina, Vladislav Popov, Evgeniya Segenyuk

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Dead Souls or Мёртвые души  
• Composer: Shchedrin Rodion  
• Libretto: Rodion Shchedrin based on the verse-novel Dead Souls by Gogol    Libretto Text, Libretto Index
• Venue & Opera Company: Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, Russia  
• Recorded: November 23, 2025
• Type: Staged Opera Live
• Singers: Vasily Sokolov, Igor Onishchenko, Elena Manistina, Vladislav Popov, Evgeniya Segenyuk, Tikhon Goryachev, Anna Aglatova, Andrey Zorin, Demyan Onufrak, Ramil Minikhanov, Daria Belousova, Danil Knyazev, Irina Berezina, Kristina Latysheva
• Conductor: Valery Gergiev  
• Orchestra: Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre  
• Chorus: Chorus of the Bolshoi Theatre  
• Chorus Master: Valery Borisov  
• Choreographer: Dmitry Bryancev, Ekaterina Mironova  
• Stage Director: Boris Pokrovsky  
• Stage Designer: Valery Leventhal  
• Costume Designer: William Klementyev  
• Lighting Designer: Sergey Shevchenko   

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Bolshoi Theatre  
• Date Published: 2025  
• Format: Streaming
• Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
• Subtitles: nosubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  The Bolshoi Theatre continues to bring back iconic productions from past years to its repertoire. This season, Rodion Shchedrin’s opera “Dead Souls” will appear on the Historical Stage. Director Ksenia Shostakovich is working on this revival of Boris Pokrovsky’s legendary production, while set designer Alyona Pikalova is restoring Valery Leventhal’s sets. The musical director for the production is maestro Valery Gergiev.

  SYNOPSIS

  Act One

  Scene One. Introduction

  The song “The Snows Are Not White” is performed in the Russian folk style.

  Scene 2. “Dinner at the Prosecutor’s”

  The officials of town N are hosting a dinner in honor of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, attended by Manilov, Sobakevich, Nozdrev, Mizhuev, the governor, the prosecutor, the chairman of the chamber, the police chief, and the postmaster. “Vivat, Pavel Ivanovich,” the town’s eminent citizens chorus, and they take turns treating Chichikov to a meal, expressing their love for him. Chichikov, in turn, lavishes compliments on the “fathers of the city.”

  Scene 3. “The Road”

  A carriage moves along the road. Selifan sits on the box, and Chichikov is in the carriage. Selifan begins singing “Hey, My Dear Ones!” He asks two men he meets, “How far is it to Zamanilovka?” They reply that it’s only a verst to Manilovka, and that there’s no Zamanilovka at all. The carriage continues on its way.

  Scene 4. “Manilov”

  The hospitable Manilov and his wife greet Chichikov. “May day… The heart’s name day…” Manilov murmurs tenderly, singing his guest’s praises in an arioso. Taking Manilov aside, Chichikov offers to sell him dead souls. Manilov is perplexed, expressing doubt: “Wouldn’t this transaction be inconsistent with Russia’s prospects?” But Chichikov easily convinces him otherwise. The Manilovs and their guest dream aloud of the joys of existence. Then Manilov notices that Chichikov has already disappeared. He falls silent and ponders: “Dead souls?”

  Scene Five. “Shiben”

  And again on the road. Selifan complains of the pitch darkness, Chichikov suggests they look around to see if a village is visible. “God, carry this storm cloud away,” the choir sings.

  Scene Six. “The Box”

  A room in the house of the landowner Korobochka. Korobochka complains about “crop failures and losses,” telling Chichikov what wonderful workers she has recently lost. Chichikov suddenly offers: “Give them to me.” At first, Korobochka can’t grasp what he’s talking about: the deal is tempting, but unusual. The dialogue becomes increasingly tense. Both speak faster and faster, and by the end, their words are inaudible. A pantomime scene ensues. At the climax, Korobochka relents: “Why are you angry? .. If you please, I’ll give them to you for fifteen banknotes.” Chichikov disappears, and Korobochka is left alone, pondering: “How much are dead souls walking around these days?”

  Scene 7. “Songs”

  The songs are: “Don’t cry, don’t cry, fair maiden”, “The snow is not white”, “You, wormwood, wormwood-grass”.

  Scene Eight. “Nozdryov”

  Nozdryov has just come from the fair—he’s been completely wiped out. He sits Chichikov down to play checkers. During the game, a trade in dead souls is underway. Nozdryov also tries to foist off a puppy and a barrel organ on his partner. Then Chichikov catches Nozdryov cheating. A quarrel breaks out, gradually escalating into an unimaginable scandal. Suddenly, the police captain appears: “Mr. Nozdryov, you are under arrest… You are accused of personally insulting the landowner Maksimov with a cane while drunk…”

  Act II

  Scene Nine. “Sobakevich”

  Chichikov is in Sobakevich’s office. Sobakevich is vilifying all the city officials. Chichikov tries to make small talk, even mentioning “non-existent” souls. “Do you need dead souls?” Sobakevich asks point-blank, naming an unthinkable price—one hundred rubles apiece. A lengthy haggling ensues. Occasionally, the portraits of Greek generals hanging on the walls interject into the conversation, confirming the validity of Sobakevich’s arguments. Eventually, the parties reach an agreement.

  Scene Ten. “Coachman Selifan”

  Once again, the road is endless, and Chichikov’s carriage continues on its way. Selifan sings a sad song. “How far is it to Plyushkin?” he asks the men he meets, but receives no answer.

  Scene Eleven. “Plyushkin”

  Plyushkin complains about his life and informs Chichikov that the damned fever has cost him “a hefty sum of peasants.” Chichikov acts as a benefactor, offering to sign a deed of sale for all 120 dead souls.

  Scene Twelve. “The Soldier’s Wife’s Lament”

  The peasant woman bitterly complains about fate, which took away her son, who was taken into the army.

  Scene Thirteen. “The Governor’s Ball”

  The guests are animatedly discussing Chichikov’s virtues and wealth. The governor’s daughter stands out among the dancers. Chichikov appears. Everyone greets him and congratulates him on his acquisition of the peasants, unaware that it’s a scam, a scheme by which he hopes to obtain mortgages on non-existent serf property. The governor’s wife introduces her daughter to the “millionaire.” Nozdryov, suddenly appearing, exposes Chichikov’s dealings: “I won’t leave you until I find out why you were buying dead souls.” Everyone is perplexed. But then Korobochka appears, having come to town to find out “how much dead souls are going today.” This further increases the confusion of those gathered…

  Act Three

  Scene 14. “The Chorus”

  The song “Not White Snows” is playing again.

  Scene Fifteen. “Chichikov”

  The opera’s hero is alone in a hotel room. His entire cunning plan has failed.

  Scene Sixteen. “Two Ladies”

  Anna Grigoryevna, “a lady pleasant in every way,” and Sofya Ivanovna, “a lady simply pleasant,” met to discuss the latest gossip. Anna Grigoryevna claims that Chichikov, with Nozdryov’s help, wanted to abduct the governor’s daughter.

  Scene Seventeen. “The City Rushing”

  The action unfolds at the police chief’s office, in drawing rooms, and on the streets. The opera’s characters discuss the Chichikov case. New theories continually arise. The postmaster asserts that “Chichikov is none other than Captain Kopeikin…” “Is Chichikov Napoleon in disguise?” asks the prosecutor. Nozdryov reveals that Chichikov is a spy, a tax collector, and a “maker of government banknotes.” Then Nozdryov readily confirms that he has agreed to help Chichikov spirit away the governor’s daughter. The excitement mounts. Suddenly, it is revealed that the prosecutor has died, unable to bear the shock. The crowd is subdued.

  Scene Eighteen. “The Prosecutor’s Funeral Service”

  The funeral procession, led by the priest, moves toward the cemetery. Chichikov, in his hotel room, continues his interrupted monologue.

  Scene Nineteen. The Finale

  Nozdryov tells Chichikov that he is considered a robber and a spy, “intent on carrying off the governor’s daughter.” Chichikov is terrified—he must flee. He calls Selifan and orders the carriage to be prepared. And again the endless road, along which Chichikov’s carriage rides off into the unknown. Selifan sings his song. And by the side of the road stand a man with a goat and a bearded man. They call out to each other: “Look at that wheel! What do you think, would that wheel, if it happened, reach Moscow or not?” “It will.” “But I don’t think it will reach Kazan?” “It won’t reach Kazan.” And the song continues…

  ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

  “If I were stranded on a desert island and could only take one book, I would choose Dead Souls ,” Rodion Shchedrin said in an interview. For Shchedrin, this “desert island” was his study, where for ten years, without the constraints of a commission, he translated Gogol’s poem into the language of modern musical theater, combining for the first time the professions of playwright, librettist, and composer. The experiment proved a rare success for musical theater. Its author managed to find an exact musical equivalent to Gogol’s poem and masterfully combine avant-garde language with tradition—folk song and the classical operatic canon.

  Shchedrin the librettist works boldly and precisely with the original prose text of the poem’s first volume. He condenses the narrative, edits episodes differently, shifts emphasis, and yet doesn’t simplify the plot in the slightest. When he has to write rare fragments himself, Shchedrin the playwright masterfully stylizes them to resemble Gogol’s text, and borrows some of Chichikov’s colorful phrases, or, for example, the description of the dishes at the police chief’s dinner, from the second volume.

  The story of Chichikov, the buyer of dead souls, famously lacks positive characters and significant female roles, nor is there the usual operatic love affair, which in itself sets the author on an inventive path. Shchedrin the composer actively transforms the genre’s canons: he neglects the overture, changes the orchestral composition, and even abandons opera as traditionally presented. He describes the composition of his Dead Souls as ” two operas developing in parallel .” Thus, following Gogol’s idea, Shchedrin musically recreates the unique space of two distinct human worlds—those who buy and those who are bought. They exist as parallel realities, with little interaction. Each opera is based on different stylistic models and develops according to its own laws. Along the edge between these operatic worlds, jumping from one to another, Chichikov travels in his carriage and reads Rus’ like a “living book,” turning one page after another.

  The first opera —the “folk” opera—unfolds in the boundless, endless expanses of Russia. This vast territory has been vacant for centuries, inhabited by nameless characters from the people: a peasant with a goat, a bearded man, a soldier’s wife, and voices “from the depths” of the orchestra pit. This is a space of piercing lyricism, the element of folk song, which “calls and weeps, and clutches at the heart” (Gogol). Stylistically, the opera grows out of the coachman’s song “The Snows Are Not White,” mentioned by Gogol in the opening pages of the poem, and his subsequent remark: “He began a song—not a song, but something so long that it seemed to have no end…” Beginning with “Snows,” Shchedrin supplements this genre with folk texts in the genres of lamentations, drawn-out songs, and soldiers’ songs (“Don’t Cry,” “Oh, I Will Never See My Son Nicholas,” “You Wormwood, Wormwood Grass,” “Don’t Be Sad, Maiden, That Your Friend Will Not Be a Soldier”…), to which he writes his own music, combining archaic melodies with a modern twelve-note scale. It is performed in a folk manner by two soloists and a “small choir,” located in the orchestra pit in place of violins (NB! Violins are not included in the score). The solo voices and choral songs seem to be randomly layered, intertwined, and together form a complex polyphonic fabric. The impression is created of genuine Russian melodies, the “unpolished” and vibrant intonation of the folk.

  The second opera , the “gentlemen’s” opera, parodies the world of high society and draws on the model of Italian opera buffa. Like a classic comic opera, it has a satirical plot (Chichikov’s struggle to improve his social status) and a rapidly developing action, confined within the walls of rooms and suites of halls. Its characters seem to have stepped out of a comedy of masks: the warrior captain Nozdryov, the stingy old man Plyushkin (a typical comedy travesty role, performed by a mezzo-soprano), the learned Doctor Sobakevich, who discusses education… The composer imbues each character with a vivid melodic image, outlining them graphically precisely and with Rossini-like ease: Manilov’s speech is based on rounded intonations with “sensitive,” languid pauses and soft endings of phrases; Korobochka’s feverish, landlady-like patter is interspersed with plaintive lamentations; Sobakevich has barking, coarse phrases; Plyushkin’s monotonous stutter unexpectedly breaks into falsetto. Pavel Ivanovich’s “lacy” flourishes depict the resourcefulness of his nature, his dexterous “ability to adapt and adapt to his interlocutor” (Gogol). The distinctiveness of the images is sharpened by the interplay of orchestral timbres: the cooing of flutes completes the portrait of the “saccharine” Manilov; two double basses, “reinforced” by contrabassoon, tuba and trombone, and even bass guitar, depict Sobakevich’s clumsy stomping; French horns accompany the entrance of the reckless and daring Nozdryov; the oboe—Plyushkin’s lamentations. Even the terrifying “dead souls” have their own aural image: their mention on stage is echoed in the orchestra by the tinkling of the harpsichord and the beats of the bongos.

  While each character has their own aria-portrait, the action is concentrated in brilliant, wittily written ensembles, of which there are many—from a duet to ten- and sixteen-part choruses. The opera’s two finales are staged as grand ensembles: the first, Chichikov’s triumph and “fall” at the governor’s ball; the second, developing the gossip spread by Korobochka at the same ball (“How much do dead souls walk these days?”), culminates in the ensemble “Talki v gorode,” built to a powerful crescendo. Here, the flywheel of gossip, gaining momentum, grows hyperbolically. In an atmosphere of mystical horror, the townspeople imagine Chichikov in the most fantastical disguises: now the kidnapper of the governor’s daughter, now Captain Kopeikin, Napoleon, the informer… At its climax, Gogol’s “laughter” ends with the death of the Prosecutor. But here’s the paradox: in the following Funeral Service, the boundaries of the parallel operatic worlds seem to close, and we hear the voices of the “small choir” joining the church chorale, but everything soon falls silent… The wheel of the carriage, “broken” by the hardships it has endured (if we are to believe the final—in the opera!—dialogue between the peasants, it will probably not make it to Moscow, but it certainly won’t make it to Kazan), continues its life’s journey along its familiar rut…

  Dead Souls’s run at the Bolshoi Theater was a success. The theater’s artistic council, after hearing Shchedrin’s latest work, accepted it for production without changes. Director Boris Pokrovsky and set designer Valery Leventhal conceived the opera’s concept in a large-scale, two-tiered structure reminiscent of a nativity scene. The lower tier housed “high society,” and scenes of Chichikov’s interactions with the landowners were played out. The upper tier depicted the vast Russian landscape, which “came to life” during Chichikov’s travels.

  The production’s musical director was Yuri Temirkanov, the principal conductor of the Mariinsky (then Kirov) Theatre. This was his first appearance in this capacity on the Moscow stage, and in a short time, he and the actors prepared the most complex roles.

  The Bolshoi Theatre premiered on June 7, 1977, to great acclaim and widespread acclaim. Critics praised the production’s complex theatrical performances and the flawlessly synchronized stunts. Particular praise was given to the first-class vocal talent and vibrant acting of the Bolshoi’s leading soloists: Alexander Voroshilo (Chichikov), Vladislav Piavko (Nozdryov), Larisa Avdeeva (Korobochka), Galina Borisova (Plyushkin), Boris Morozov (Sobakevich), Vitaly Vlasov (Manilov), and others. Over time, the Kirov Theatre began to feature soloists, and a year later, Yuri Temirkanov brought the production to the Leningrad stage, where Sergei Leiferkus achieved fame as Chichikov. Dead Souls ran at the Bolshoi Theatre until 1985 (a total of forty-eight performances were performed), and at the Kirov Theatre until 1983.

  Boris Pokrovsky’s production, which was included in the Soviet opera anthology, is being revived at the Historical Stage by director Ksenia Shostakovich . Ahead of the premiere, she spoke about what remains of that historic production and the work involved in its restoration.
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