Ivan The Terrible (nicolas Le Riche Karl Paquette Eleonora Abbagnato, Paris Opera Ballet 2005)

Sergey Prokofiev’s spectacular music for Ivan the Terrible is arguably one of his finest film scores. This classic recording of the oratorio arranged by Abram Stasevich conducted by Leonard Slatkin is filled with Prokofiev’s irrepressible energy and eloquent melodic power. Ivan, the first ‘Tsar of all the Russias’ is portrayed in the film not as the bloodthirsty tyrant his nickname suggests, but as a sorrowful and lonely man, betrayed by his friends, deprived of love, and determined at all costs to preserve a unified Russia under constant attack from abroad and treasonous intrigues at home.

Ivan the Terrible - the second joint project of Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei Prokofiev - is, much like Alexander Newski, a historical epic, portraying the rise and fall of the autocratic ruler Ivan IV in the 16th century. Sergei Prokofiev's musical portrayal is unique in film history, for the score conceives both parts of the film on an epic scale. Prokofiev's rich melodic invention thrives on the expressive sound palette of his native Russia, mostly as they echo the spiritual works of the Russian-orthodox liturgy. These film scores were not published during Prokofiev's lifetime. They were arranged as an oratorio for soloists, chorus, and orchestra by Levon Atovmyan, one of Prokofiev's assistants, in 1961.

Ivan the Terrible is infamous as a sadistic despot responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people, particularly during the years of the oprichnina, his state-within-a-state. Ivan was the first ruler in Russian history to use mass terror as a political instrument. However, Ivan's actions cannot be dismissed by attributing the behavior to insanity. Ivan interacted with Muscovite society as both he and Muscovy changed. This interaction needs to be understood in order properly to analyze his motives, achievements, and failures.