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Opera Music Plot Synopsis
Rimsky Korsakov: Zolotoy Petushok
The Golden Cockerel
King Dodon takes counsel with his nobles in order to devise
a means whereby the
constant plotting of a neighbouring hostile ruler may be frustrated.
Ere a
practicable scheme has been evolved, there enters an Astrologer,
who proffers a
golden cockerel. With the bird watching over the city the
king may sleep; danger
will be sounded by a warning crow. At the cockerel's first
alarm the king
despatches his two sons to lead his army; at the second he
decides to betake
himself to the field of battle. The first sight that meets
his gaze is that of
his two sons, who have done each other to death. At dawn he
perceives a tent.
Dodon and his General mistake this as belonging to the leader
of the opposing
army, but to their astonishment there emerges from it the
lovely Queen of
Shemakha. She completely infatuates and ruthlessly fools the
old Dodon, who
finally asks her to share his throne. On their return in state
to the capital,
Dodon is reminded by the Astrologer of his promised token
of gratitude. The
king, asking his price, is horrified by a demand for the person
of his bride.
Infuriated, he slays the Astrologer. The queen deserts him,
and he is killed by
the golden beak of the avenging cockerel.
(In a brief Epilogue, the Astrologer returns to life and assures
the spectators
that only he and the queen are mortals; what they have witnessed
is but a
fantasy.)
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