Music: Sadko

A few years ago half the U. S. was humming a teasing melody called "The Song of India." Many a wailing tenor and shrilling soprano delivered it in cinema-houses and on radio programs. Jazzmen syncopated it successfully. . . .

In the middle ages a proud port of trade was the free city of Novgorod, situated on Lake Ilmen in what is now Northern Russia, some 100 miles from Leningrad. Merchants there knew that they owed their prosperity to the singer Sadko, often told their children how he had made the River Volkhov to flow, thus opening their city to the sea. The legendary Sadko appealed to famed Russian Composer Nicolas Andreievich Rimsky-Korsakov, who wrote an opera about him in which is included "The Song of India." In its proper setting, in the opera Sadko, it was heard for the first time in the U. S. last week at Manhattan's Metropolitan Opera House.*

Story. Sadko, a singer who played on the gousla (ancient Russian handharp), was summoned to entertain banqueting merchants. Instead of praising them, his singing boasted of what he would do with their opportunities, so that they drove him into the streets. Thence he went to the shores of Lake Ilmen, sang sorrowfully until there appeared Volkhova, Princess of the Sea. Instantly she loved Sadko for his song, told him that if he cast his net into the waters he would draw forth three golden fishes which would spell wealth, happiness. Sadko rushed home, cast aside his doting wife, proceeded to the quay where he wagered the merchants his head against their wealth that he could catch the golden fish. When he succeeded, found himself with heaps of glittering bullion, he asked three strangers what lands to seek. A Varangian sang of his bleak country, a Hindu sang of India (here in the opera comes the long-suffering "Song"), but a Venetian tempted him most.

For twelve years Sadko sailed the seas, accumulating wealth, forgetting to pay tribute to the King of the Sea who had given him the magic fish. When he remembered, gold, silver and pearls were not enough and Sadko had to sacrifice himself. In the sea, the grisly King would have chastised him but Volkhova intervened. She and Sadko married, with undines, lobsters, jellyfish and whales for guests. During the dancing which followed, the old king worked himself into a frenzy, called down everlasting grief upon all ships and men. But St. Nicholas, a legendary hero, saved Novgorod and stripped the King of power. Volkhova was transformed into a shining river; Sadko returned home, a hero.