The Story and Music of Act 1, Scene 2

A ROOM IN THIE KABANOVS HOUSE

The long scene in which Kátja pours out her heart, and reveals her innermost soul to her friend, is one of the most musically inspired ever written by Janáček. Its originality is astounding, for every bar, every note, every turn of phrase of the voice parts is stamped with the composer's own individuality.
Sheer musical invention, the sensitive, truthful portrayal of every shade of passion, of desire, of fancy, of religious ecstasy in this remarkable young woman is musically dramatized with overpowering conviction and understanding: every shade of thought and of mood, every action is accompanied by an inspired musical counterpart.
The scene opens with delightful bird music, No. 133
No 133

over a shivering E tremolo for no fewer than fifty-four bars: a few outbursts hint at matters of deeper import.
Kátja has been sewing and is chatting with Varvara who, as we know from the end of the first scene, is devoted to her.
"Do you know what came into my head just now?" Kátja says to her. "Why can't people fly, the way birds do? - just spread out their wings and take to the air." Putting her sewing aside, Kátja takes a few leaping steps, then sighs: at one time she was gay and lively but now, in this house, she is depressed and sad. (A sustained G flat major triad with a slower two-note drooping figure on oboe and the fluttering No. 133 with its "wings clipped".)
Varvara nods in sympathy. (Kátja's story begins [6] with a change of mood to slower, sustained bass chords in contrast to the substantially treble sounds of the bird music.) At home she was like an uncaged bird. In the summer she would rise early and bathe in the spring, then sprinkle all the flowers with water (delicious, fresh, spring-like motifs radiate through the orchestra). She loved going to church and often felt the ecstasy of Paradise. Once she had a vision of angels floating aloft in the golden dome of the cathedral and heard them singing heavenly music built up to a sensuous climax.
No 134

Other visions she had too, of golden temples with marvellous gardens where invisible voices would sing and cypress trees send forth their soft, delicate fragrance.
No 135

Varvara is at first a little disturbed, and then downright alarmed at these fantasies of her sister-in-law, particularly when Kátja goes on to tell her of less pleasant matters her presentiment that something terrible is about to happen to her, that the devil himself is whispering horrible temptations to her (a variation of No. 133 worked up). She cannot sleep at night any more because someone seems to be whispering caressingly to her (sensitive musical expression of her deep subconscious desires), someone who wishes to embrace her fiercely, passionately, and in the end she gives herself to him. (A quiet amorous-laden adagio [14] which unleashes itself in an erotic climax.) Then she remembers that she is still a child and can have no knowledge of such things such "unholy "desires. (A two-note panting erotic figure [15] which develops into this gentle serene love motif, denoting Kátja's secret love for Boris.)
No 136

This, however, is a language Varvara can understand, for it will shortly be disclosed that she is carrying on a love affair with Kudrjáš. Glancing cautiously around to see that no one is listening, she confesses that she is even worse than Kátja in this respect. Thus encouraged, Kátja confesses that she loves another man: is it so dreadful a sin to love someone who is not her husband? Varvara comforts her, saying that she would never judge her, for she, herself, has her own sins. Perhaps when her brother is away on this journey the two can see something of each other. "No, no, never that! God forbid! "Kátja says in great distress. "Why not?" asks Varvara and in an aside wonders if her sister-in-law is not just a bit mad.
Tikhon enters dressed ready for his journey, followed by servants who carry in his luggage. Kátja throws herself on her husband's neck and passionately begs him never to leave her. Freeing himself from this embarrassing embrace, Tikhon says that what she asks is quite impossible: his mother has told him that he must go to the market in Kazan and that's the end of the matter. "Then take me with you, darling", she pleads and when he again repeats that he cannot do this, she asks him if this is because he loves her no longer. Of course he loves her, he assures her (troika "release "motif No. 126); nevertheless he is glad to get away for a while, for it is anything but pleasant to live in this oppressive house and be bossed around all the time by his mother. Besides, every husband wants to get away from his wife at times!
At Tikhon's apparent callousness, Kátja begins to weep and again pleads with her husband not to leave her alone in this house:
No. 137

if he does, she is certain some dreadful calamity will happen. He is still further embarrassed when she suggests that he should demand a solemn oath from her that under no pretext whatsoever should she speak to any stranger, nor see anyone, nor even think of anyone but her husband.
No 138

In her distress she falls on her knees appealing to him to do this one thing for her.
He raises her up, as the voice of his mother is heard calling to him that the time has arrived for his departure (troika theme again). Husband and wife stand quietly gazing at one another as Mme Kabanová enters. The carriage is waiting: everything is ready. Turning to her son she forces him to repeat after her the orders he must give to his wife-how she must conduct herself in his absence. (The fiery, spiteful No. 132 answered by the mild No. 139 reproof of her spineless son.)
No 139

She must always respect Mme Kabanová, must honour her as she would her own mother, nor must she idle the whole day away nor stare out of the window and, above all, must keep her eyes from looking at other men.
Even the weak hag-ridden Tikhon finds sufficient spirit to rebel at this last insult to his wife. His mother turns aside for a moment to allow husband and wife a final word together. The servants return, then the despotic but pious Mme Kabanová tells them all to sit closely together for a moment-a Russian custom (the troika motif combined with the fatalistic No. 124). She then gives her blessing to her son (not before commanding him, in a voice overladen with irritation, to bow right down to her feet). When she tells him to say good-bye to his wife, Kátja again throws herself passionately on Tikhon's neck only to be told by the jealous old woman "Shame on you, girl! Is he your lover? "(angrily repeated trumpet notes).
Brother and sister kiss one another-Tikhon bows to his mother who, at this point in the play, but not the opera, remarks tartly that long farewells make useless tears.
Tikhon goes out followed by the women.

Relation of the Play to the Opera: Act I

Janáček opens his second scene with the self-revelations of Kátja, thus making the first real impact of her personality stronger than it otherwise would have been if it had come at the end of the first scene, where we were still shocked by those two powerful and thoroughly unpleasant characters, Dikoy and Mme Kabanová.
The first three acts and the last two acts of the play run concurrently, so that Ostrovsky's divisions are mainly arbitrary. His first act ends after Kátja and Varvara have exchanged confidences and where he introduces a nasty old lady with a stick followed by two lackeys in three-cornered hats (reminding us somewhat of a similar character in Pushkin's The Queen of Spades) who, seeing the two young women together, suggests that they are perhaps waiting for lovers: if so, they should know where their beauty will finally lead them-and she points meaningfully to the Volga. Her evil prophecy frightens the already troubled Kátja, who becomes terrified when distant rumblings of thunder herald a storm.
Varvara expresses surprise that her friend should be so upset about a mere storm. Kátja replies with this revealing speech: "Everyone must be afraid. It is not so dreadful that you may be killed as that death may come suddenly and find you just as you are, with all your sins and all your evil thoughts. I am not afraid to die, but when I think that I shall appear suddenly before God just as I am here with you after this conversation, that is what is so dreadful. What thoughts are in my mind! Such a sin! It is terrible to speak of it. "At this moment a thunderclap is heard and Kátja runs in terror to the house.
Thus, by the end of his first act, Ostrovsky has already prepared us for the effects of a thunderstorm on a mind riddled with religious superstitious beliefs and for her suicide in the Volga.
At the beginning of the play, Kátja refers to an incident in her childhood: someone at home had scolded her so, in the evening, she climbed into a boat and set herself adrift on the Volga where she was found next morning seven miles downstream-an abortive attempt at suicide by drowning. This is confirmed when a few minutes later she says to Varvara that if life should become too wearisome for her she will jump out of the window and throw herself into the river.
In the play we hear much more about Dikoy and how the merchant class behave to one another and to their dependants. Dikoy pays no wages to the peasants and, when the Provost complains, he says to him: "Listen, your Honour, it is not worth your Honour's time to discuss such trifles. I employ many peasants. Now look at it this way-if I pay them a kopek short every time, I save thousands and that's all right with me. "The merchants are always having lawsuits among themselves, lawsuits which drag on for years: at which the lawyers rub their hands in glee saying: "A tale is soon told but a case goes on for ever!" (Shades of Gregor v. Prus?)
We learn that Boris is kept penniless by his uncle, who whenever anyone asks him for money, makes this stock but clever and unanswerable reply: "How do you know what I am thinking about? You cannot read my mind. Perhaps I'll take a fancy to give you 5,000 roubles", but of course, adds Kudrjáš dryly, not once in Dikoy's life had he ever taken such a fancy.
The Kudrjáš of the play makes himself out to be a tough character: if there were some other bold lads around he would meet Dikoy in a dark lane one night and teach him a little lesson, after which his boss would sing in another key. If only Dikoy's daughters were a little older, he could get his own back on him that way.
Janáček eliminates from the opening scene of his opera Kuligin, a tradesman who has a burning ambition to discover the secret of perpetual motion and another tradesman, Sapken, giving some of their lines to Kudrjáš.
Fekluša is called a pilgrim in the list of characters and it would appear that the pious Mme Kabanová allows her to live as a somewhat privileged person among her household. When the servant Gláša takes her to task for quarrelling with the other pilgrims (who, in her opinion, are no better than beggar-women) Fekluša replies that whereas ordinary people are tempted by only one devil, pilgrims have as many as six or even twelve trying to conquer them. The Devil hates the pilgrims because they lead such upright lives. She herself has only one sin, gluttony, and the good God sends her food according to her weakness. As a pilgrim she has wandered far over the face of the earth and seen the cruelty and harshness of the Turks and the Persians: here in Russia, living comfortably under the patronage of the rich merchants, she is happy and contented.
It is perhaps unfortunate that Janáček cut out the second dialogue between the two young women, for here Kátja confesses that it is Dikoy's nephew, Boris, whom she loves. Varvara replies that she knows this and has indeed already spoken to Boris about Kátja . Kátja says that she cannot get Boris out of her mind: no matter what she thinks about he stands before her eyes. Varvara has a plan: while her brother is away they will both sleep in the summer-house in the garden and-with a laugh-she hints that developments may follow.

The Story of Act II

SCENE I

The opening scene of the opera, Act II, follows immediately on the previous scene in both opera and play.
After Tikhon has left for Kazan, Mme Kabanová severely reprimands Kátja for not properly lamenting his departure. It would appear to be the custom in this part of Russia that on such an occasion, a loving wife should "wail for an hour and a half lying on the porch ". As Mme Kabanová had only a moment earlier criticized her daughter-in-law for her public display of affection to her husband, she is not only inconsistent, but has gone out of her way to still further affront Kátja . It is clear that this scene is the rightful conclusion to Janáček's Act I and, by dividing it into two parts, he has endangered the continuity and confused the notifications: the wife's lamentations are expected at the point of departure and not hours or days later.
Mme Kabanová retires to her room to say her prayers. Varvara enters and stands before the looking-glass adjusting a scarf over her head. The two young women are to sleep in the summer-house: although her mother has locked the gate at the foot of the garden and hidden the key, Varvara has found it and substituted another key. If she sees Boris she will tell him to come to the gate. She gives the key to Kátja who is frightened and thrusts it away from her. Varvara moves quickly away leaving the key with Kátja whose first reaction is to throw it into the river. When, however, she hears the voice of her terrible mother-in-law coming from another room, she hides it in her pocket. What harm can there be in just seeing Boris, she asks herself: perhaps even having a word with him. She knows the danger is great but, live or die, she must see him. Oh, that night would come!
The remainder of the scene consists of a curious conversation between Mme Kabanová and Dikoy. He begs Mme Kabanová to speak harshly to him, for a scolding from one who is his equal is good for his soul. The merchant is not as tough a character as he would like to believe. There has been another of these terrible family rows which always arise when someone asks him for money. Mme Kabanová, by far the stronger character of the two, coolly tells him that he is a bully only because no one has the courage to stand up to him. Dikoy protests: once when a peasant asked him for money that he owed him, he cursed and abused the peasant, almost thrashing him: then in a sudden fit of remorse he begged forgiveness, even went down on his knees to the peasant. Mme Kabanová is embarrassed at this degrading display of weakness. She tells him to control himself: he should have better manners.

SCENE 2

A ravine overgrown with bushes beyond and below the fence and wicket-gate of the Kabanová's garden: a path leads down from the gate: it is night. Kudrjáš comes in carelessly with a balalaika slung over his shoulder. Finding that he has arrived before Varvara, he seats himself on a stone and, strumming on his balalaika, sings a Cossack song. Norman Tucker is responsible for the brilliant English translation of the opera used at the Sadler's Wells performances. Here are the words of this quasi-Cossack folksong:

One day early by the river walked a lovely maiden,
Came a young and handsome suitor with rich presents laden,
Furlined shoes and silken kerchiefs for a maiden's pleasure,
Rings of gold and blood-red rubies worth a rich man's treasure,

"Take the gifts your true love brings you", vainly he besought her. She gazed only at her image mirrored in the water,

Take your rings and take your rubies, riches cannot buy me,
I will rise tomorrow early, to the fields will hie me,
I will pick sweet-scented violets, thyme and purple clover,
I will make a posy with them for my own true lover.

Between the two verses, Kudrjáš looks around for Varvara. But it is Boris and not Varvara who arrives, and a very hesitant and frightened Boris at that, surprised to find his friend Kudrjáš here. Some girl stopped him in the street and told him to come here behind the Kabanovs's garden where the path is. Kudrjáš is well aware that Boris has fallen in love with the young Mme Kabanová and once again warns his friend that no good can come of it. Boris replies that he cannot help loving her.
Varvara is heard singing by the gate and Kudrjáš joins in her song. She goes up to Boris telling him not to be impatient-Kátja will be here presently. She suggests to Kudrjáš that they might stroll by the river and with their arms around one another the young and care-free lovers depart.

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