Baltimore Opera Company

Study Guide

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

The Story

ACT I. Bored and frustrated with provincial life and her loveless marriage (“Akh, nye spitsa bolshe, poprobuyu”), Katerina is watched over by her suspicious father-in-law Boris. When her husband Zinovy leaves the house to supervise the repair of a dam on his land, at his father's insistence, he forces Katerina to swear her fidelity during his absence (“Klyatvu! Klyatvu!”). Zinovy has hired a new servant, Sergei, who, according to the cook Aksinya, was fired from his previous position for having an affair with the lady of the house (“Rabotnik novy”). Out in the courtyard, the male servants taunt and assault Aksinya, and Katerina confronts them (“Mnogo vy, muzhiki”), declaring the bravery of women. Sergei insists on shaking her hand, and forces her to the ground, where Boris discovers them, and puts the servants back to work (“Chevo stolte?”). That night as Katerina goes to bed, Boris scolds her for staying up and wasting a candle. She again muses on her joyless life and barren existence (“Zherebyonok kobylke toropitsa”), and then Sergei visits her room, on the pretext of borrowing a book (“Nye izvolte pugatsa”). He reminds her of how exciting they both found their wrestling match earlier that day, and embraces her. As they make passionate love, Boris calls through the locked door to make sure she is safely in bed.

ACT II. In the courtyard, beneath Katerina's window the next morning, Boris compares his youthful virility to his son's low sexual drive (“Svyet’v oknye”), and sees Sergei kiss his daughter-in-law goodbye. As Sergei climbs down the drainpipe, Boris catches him and orders that he be flogged while Katerina watches, after which he orders her to cook him some mushrooms. Katerina adds rat poison to the mushrooms, and takes the household keys from his pocket as he dies. A priest arrives, and Boris accuses Katerina of murder (“Batya, ispoveydatsa”), but her grief is so convincing that the priest cannot believe she is guilty. In bed with Sergei that night, Katerina is haunted by Boris' ghost, but is comforted by Sergei (“Katerina Lvovna, Katenka”)—and then alarmed by Zinovy's return. She hides Sergei in her room, but Zinovy is suspicious, and rightly so when he finds Sergei's belt on the bed. He begins to beat her, and Sergei, with Katerina's help, beats Zinovy to death. They bury the body in the cellar.

ACT III. On the day Katerina and Sergei marry, a drunken peasant wanders into the cellar to find more liquor (“U menya byla kuma”) and discovers Zinovy's rotting corpse. The police interrupt the wedding ceremony to arrest the happy couple.

ACT IV. A group of convicts have stopped overnight near a bridge on their way to Siberia, and an old convict laments the endless days of a prisoner (“Vyortsy odna za drugoy”). Katerina and Sergei are among the group, shackled to other convicts. Katerina bribes a guard to let her join Sergei in the men's group, but realizes that he no longer cares for her (“Nye lekhko posle pochota da poklonov”). In fact, Sergei is in pursuit of another convict, Sonyetka, who has promised herself to him in exchange for Katerina's stockings. Sergei tricks Katerina into giving him the stockings, and the other women convicts mock her. Sonyetka joins their taunting (“Spasibo, Katerina Lvovna”) and in despair, Katerina attacks her and the two women fall off the bridge into the swiftly-flowing river. They are drowned, and the guards and the band of convicts resume their journey (“Ekh vy, stepi neob’yatnye”), lamenting their cheerless trudging of the endless steppes.

JANET MULLANY

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