Opera in four acts with a prologue by Modeste Mussorgsky
Text founded on Pushkin's drama
Original version, edition Paul Lamm
Narration and production by Humphrey Procter-Gregg
(For full cast see page 18)
Period, 1598-1605
Prologue
Scene 1: The monastery courtyard,
Novodevichy, near Moscow. (The crowd is incited to clamour for Boris to quit the cloister and become Tsar)
Scene 2: A square In the Kremlin.
(The pageantry of Boris's coronation)
Act 1
Scene 1: A cell in the Chudov monastery. (The old monk Pimen writes Russian history, concluding with the buried crime of Boris; while the novice Grigory dreams of a throne)
Scene 2: An inn near the Lithuanian border. (Such dreams are dangerous: Grigory escapes with his life)