Fomka the Fool

Fomka was the second of Rubinstein's operas to be performed. It was commissioned, together with two other one-act operas, The Siberian Hunters and Vengeance, by the Grand Duchess Yelena Pavlovna. The first performance was on 12 May [O.S. 30 April] 1853 at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. The title role was sung by Lev Leonov, the son of the pianist John Field.

The performance appears to have been a disaster. The composer wrote 'It was performed in such a way that I gathered everything up and do not intend to give any more of my works on the Russian stage [...] [The performers] missed out whole bars, came in early, forgot their parts [..]'[1] Rubinstein went to the theatre office the next day and insisted that his score be returned to him.[2] The failure was an incentive for Rubinstein to quit Russia to seek a career in Western Europe. Although Rubinstein offered the opera to Franz Liszt to be performed in Weimar in 1854,[3] the score now appears to be lost.

Notes

Sources

• Rubinstein, Anton, ed. L. I. Barenboym, Autobiograficheskiye Rasskazi (in Russian), St. Peterburg, 2005 ISBN 5-7379-0281-1
• Taylor, Philip S., Anton Rubinstein: a Life in Music, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 2007 ISBN 978-0-253-34871-5