Tsar Boris (drama)
| Tsar Boris | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy |
| Date premiered | 1870 |
| Original language | Russian |
| Genre | Drama |
Tsar Boris (Template:Lang-ru) is a 1870 drama by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, written in 1868-1869 and first published in 1870 in the #3, March issue of the Vestnik Evropy magazine. It became the third and the final part of Tolstoy’s acclaimed historical drama trilogy which was begun by The Death of Ivan the Terrible (1864) and Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich (1868) plays.[1]
Background
On August 27, 1868, Aleksey Tolstoy wrote in a letter to the Vestnik Evropys editor Mikhail Stasyulevich: "<As for> Tsar Boris, I'm going to start it in the nearest future: all the necessary material is at hand". In the early October the work begun and on November 11 of the same year the author informed Nikolay Kostomarov that Act I has been just finished. In a letter to Mikhail Stasyulevich, dated December 2, 1868, Tolstoy opined that this first piece has "turned out well". Then the process halted: Tolstoy, who used Nikolay Karamzin's History of the Russian State as the major source, became intrigued by and confused with the Danish Prince Johan's character, princess Ksenya's fiancée (and Prince Christian's brother) who figures in the play as Christian.[1] He applied to Kostomarov and Baron Karl Ungern-Sternberg for help, trying to resolve a mystery of "how could Ksenya's fiance have fought (according to Karamzin)[2] in the Netherlands under the Spanish banner". To Kostomarov he wrote:
Please, help me find out how and why he, apparently a Protestant, could have fought at the Spanyards' side. May be he was he a Catholic? Or perhaps he come against the Netherlands for the reason of Sweden having been it's ally? All this is essential for my understanding of the Dutch prince' character. I am deeply involved now with Tsar Boris and see nothing around me, but this drama of mine which I've given myself with all of my soul. And while never do I feel the need to be much restricted by history, still, I'd rather fill its blank spots than go against it.[1]
Neither Kostomarov nor Baron Ungern-Sternberg provided definitive answers as to the dilemma Tolstoy had been haunted by, so he chose to support the version which contradicted that of Karamzin. According to the play, when the Spanish king "rose to a war, threatening to chain free nation down", the Dutch prince "came up to help his persecuted brothers" and fight against Spain.[1] Meanwhile, Ungern-Sternberg's help in a way proved to be essential. The Baron sent Tolstoy series of excerpts from the official Danish chronicles, some of which mentioned Johan as being King Frederick's illegitimate child. This detail gave the author an idea as to the possible motives of those responsible for the Danish Prince's death. On November 30, 1869, he wrote to Stasyulevich:
Some of those <chronicles> refer to <Johan> as being 'illegitimate'. This came handy, as it helped me coming up with the possible motive of him being poisoned. The notion that he might have been poisoned could be found in our chronicles too, but this deed is usually ascribed to Boris himself which for me goes totally against the logic. And so I threw suspicion upon Boris' wife Maria, Skuratov's daughter.[1]
As for the name, in excerpts provided by Baron Undern-Steinberg and in some of the Russian chronicles, the Danish Prince was being referred to as Johan (Ioann) and Christian[3] and Tolstoy decided to choose the latter ("so as for him not to be confused with Ioann Grozny"). Investigations concerning the Danish Prince's fate took quite some time. Only on February 7, 1869, Tolstoy informed Boleslav Markevich in a letter that "this giant ship has taken another start and now breaking waves". On February 19 Tolstoy wrote to Stasyulevich: "Two acts are now ready. The third one will be crucial in answering the question, whether the whole thing was worthwhile and am I to continue with clear heart".[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e f А.К. Толстой. Собрание сочинений в 4-х томах. Москва, Художественная литература, 1964. Т 2. Драмы. Стр. 681–687.
- ^ Жених воевал тогда в Нидерландах под знаменами Испании: спешил возвратиться, сел на Адмиральский корабль и вместе с пятью другими приплыл (10 Августа 1602) к устью Наровы. – from Karamzin's History.
- ^ Apparently as a result of confusing him with a better known brother
External links
- Царь Борис. The original Russian text.