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Kozacy w stepie by S. Wasilkowski |
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The action takes place in the Ukraine at the beginning of the 18th century.
Scene 1. Kochubey's garden overlooking the River Dnieper. Girls, arriving in canoes, have gathered for the midsummer festival. Weaving wreaths and tossing them in the river, they tell fortunes. Maria, daughter of Vasily Kochubey, installed by Peter the Great as chief magistrate of the Poltava district, comes out to tell the girls that her father is entertaining Mazeppa, the Cossack chief or hetman, and that she cannot join them. After they leave, Maria muses about her incomprehensible infatuation with the 70-year-old hetman: "I love everything about him - his grey hair, his deep wrinkles, his flashing, deep-set eyes, his sharp and witty talk...". The young Cossack Andrey enters, perceives that she is troubled, and confesses his love for her: she answers by confessing her helpless love for Mazeppa. They sing a passionate duet at cross purposes, following which Andrey rushes off in tears and Maria goes back inside the house.
Scene 2. All at once the doors open and the whole party emerges - Kochubey, his wife Lyubov, Maria, Mazeppa and a chorus of guests, musicians, guards and servants. Mazeppa, thanking his host, asks for a final entertainment, and Kochubey orders up a Hopak (folkdance). Just before leaving, Mazeppa suddenly broaches his wish for Maria's hand in marriage. Kochubey is thunderstruck, reminds the hetman of the difference in their ages ("Don't you remember, you're Maria's godfather?"), but Mazeppa is serious and insistent. Kochubey, enraged, declares that their friendship is at an end and orders his guest to leave. The quarrel attracts the attention of the others, and a morceau d'ensemble develops, all taking sides and making dire predictions. Finally summoning more guards with a gunshot, Mazeppa turns to Maria and demands that she choose: "Will you come with me away from here, or are we to part forever?" She rushes into his arms, crying "I am yours!" Mazeppa sweeps her away: his men prevent Kochubey from giving chase: Lyubov falls senseless to the ground.
Scene 3. A room in Kochubey's house. Accompanied by the chorus, Lyubov laments her daughter as if lamenting the dead. Approaching her husband, she exhorts him to gather his men together and take revenge on Mazeppa, but he has his own plan. He reveals it to his wife, his trusted friend Iskra, and Andrey. In the days of their former friendship Kochubey had often heard from Mazeppa of "impending changes in his plans, negotiations, rebellions." Putting two and two together, he concludes that Mazeppa is planning to ally himself with the Swedes against the tsar so as to gain control of the Ukraine for himself. Kochubey resolves to denounce the traitor, Andrey - despite the risk involved (for Peter has always trusted Mazeppa), but with a score of his own to settle with the man who stole his beloved - offers himself as messenger. He sets out for the capital, egged on by a chorus of abomination against the hated hetman.
The action takes place in the Ukraine at the beginning of the 18th century.
Scene 1. Kochubey, disbelieved by the tsar, has been remanded, together with Iskra, to Mazeppa. Chained to the wall, awaiting execution, he is seized with helpless despair at his humiliation. His gloomy reflections are interrupted by the appearance of Orlik. Mazeppa's henchman, who has come for one final interrogation. He demands to know where Kochubey has hidden his treasure, which will revert after his death to Mazeppa. Kochubey retorts defiantly that he had three treasures, of which two, his honor and his daughter, have been taken from him: but the third, vengeance, remains in God's hands. At this, Orlik grimly summons. the torturer and leaves.
Scene 2. Mazeppa admires the star-studded Ukrainian sky and compares its placidity with his inner turmoil. Orlik enters with news of Kochubey's intransigence and Mazeppa orders him to go ahead with the execution on the morrow. Alone again, Mazeppa sings ardently of Maria, revealing that for all his amorality his love for her is sincere (this was an insert aria, composed after the initial run of performances). Maria enters, reproaching him for neglecting her. He reassures her of his love and constancy, and reveals to her the plans that have been preoccupying him: "Soon, in the midst of tumult and combat. I shall perhaps attain the throne!" Maria is thrilled, and in answer to the hetman's question. "Is your father or your husband dearer to you?", she says that he is dearer to her than all else. Mazeppa leaves, and Maria (as he had done) reflects on the contrast between the quiet night and her raging thoughts. All at once her mother appears: at the risk of her own life she has stolen into Mazeppa's castle to plead for her daughter's intercession on behalf of her husband. Maria at first does not understand, for she has never been told of Kochubey's fate. When she realizes the misfortune she has brought upon her family, she faints. As Lyubov desperately tries to revive her, the sounds of a military march are heard, signalling the beginning of the execution ceremony.
Scene 3. A crowd has gathered in a field in the vicinity of White church to witness Kochubey's execution. A drunken Cossack starts up a loutish song, for which the crowd rebukes him; but he persists, claiming his rights as a Cossack to show his contempt for the bigwigs who are to meet their fate. A solemn procession makes its way through the crowd. Preceded by two executioners, who call forth a horrified reaction from the onlookers, Mazeppa appears on horseback and passes over the rampart towards the field. Then Kochubey and Iskra, led by cowled monks, enter in chains and under guard. Reaching the place where they are to be executed, they get down on their knees and utter a last prayer; then, embracing, they mount the scaffold. Catching sight of them, the crowd scrambles toward the scaffold, hiding it. Raised axes appear above their heads. Lyubov and Maria rush injust as the drums roll and the order is given, an instant too late to stave off the terrible deed.
The action takes place in the Ukraine at the beginning of the 18th century.
Scene 1. The act opens with a stormy tableau symphonique depicting the Battle of Poltava. The scene is once more Kochubey's garden, as in Act 1 scene 1, but now in ruins. It is night. The Swedes are fleeing from the victorious Russians.
Scene 2. Andrey enters, looking for Mazeppa. And now, coming upon Kochubey's ruined homestead, he feels with particular poignancy his losses and his desire for revenge. Hoofbeats approach: it is Mazeppa and Orlik in flight from their pursuers. Mazeppa reflects on his changed fortunes, and, recognizing the place he has unwittingly returned to, curses fate. Andrey, recognizing Mazeppa, throws himself upon him with saber drawn, but is shot and fatally wounded. The moon comes up, and in its spectral light Maria appears from behind the trees. The horror of having witnessed her father's execution has driven her mad. Mazeppa gazes upon her in despair and in pain, but Orlik, warning of their imminent capture, hurries him off and out of danger. Suddenly Maria spies the wounded Andrey. Not recognizing him, she takes him first for her father's corpse, then for a child asleep in the grass. After a fleeting reminiscence of childhood when he calls her name, she rests his head on her knee, and sings him a lullaby as he expires.