Stone Visitor

Kivinen vieras is the Finnish title of "The Stone Guest," a three-act opera by Alexander Dargomyzhsky whose libretto sets, word for word, Alexander Pushkin's 1830 "little tragedy" of the same name. Dargomyzhsky died in 1869 before finishing the score; Cesar Cui completed the opening scenes and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov orchestrated the work. It was first performed on 28 February 1872 at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg and is considered a key piece of Russian operatic reform, since the music follows the spoken rhythm of the text almost throughout, with no traditional recitatives or arias. The Finnish title relates to a 1995 Helsinki staging of the work, which is the reference behind this entry's date.