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Synopsis

Tsar Ivan IV is looking for a bride, and has assembled 2,000 girls from allÌý over Russia for inspection. One of the girls is Marfa Sobakina. She is already promised in marriage to her childhood sweetheart Ivan Sergeyevich Lïkov, and is also loved by Grigory Gryaznoy, one of the Tsar’s oprichniki (secret police).

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Act I: The Banquet

Grigory Gryaznoy is hosting a late-night party. As he waits for his fellow oprichnikiÌý to arrive, he broods angrily on his failure to win the love of Marfa, and vows that her marriage to Lïkov will not take place.

Gryaznoy’s guests join him. They include the leader of the oprichniki Malyuta-Skuratov, Lïkov and the Tsar’s pharmacist, Yelisey Bomelius. Lïkov describes his recent travels inÌý Germany. Local residents are brought in to sing in praise of the Tsar and dancers performÌý for the guests. Gryaznoy’s mistress Lyubasha then sings a melancholy Russian folksong.

Gryaznoy asks Bomelius if he is able to supply him with a love potion. Lyubasha overhears their dialogue and begins to suspect that Gryaznoy no longer loves her. Alone with Gryaznoy, she begs for reassurance of his love. Gryaznoy dismisses her impatiently and the distraught Lyubasha vows revenge on her rival.

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Act II: The Potion

People are wandering in the streets and gossiping, particularly about the ‘evil sorcerer’ Bomelius. A group of the Tsar’s oprichniki pass by, to general alarm.

Marfa and her friend Dunyasha enter with Petrovna. While Petrovna goes ahead to the Sobakins’ house, the two girls sit and chat. Marfa is waiting excitedly to be reunited with Lïkov, who has recently returned from his foreign travels. A group of men appear and gaze intently at Marfa. One is the Tsar. Although Marfa does not recognize him, she is struck by his appearance and has a sense of foreboding. Marfa’s father Sobakin and Lïkov arrive, and the two girls greet them affectionately and go off with them.

Lyubasha sees Marfa and guesses that she is her rival for Gryaznoy’s love. Lyubasha summons Bomelius, and asks him for a potion that will make a woman lose her beauty. She offers him jewels in payment, but Bomelius says that he will only give her the potion if she becomes his lover. Lyubasha initially refuses, but when she hears Lïkov in the distance taking leave of Marfa, her jealousy is reignited. She orders Bomelius to giveÌý her the potion, and is dragged inside his house.

The oprichniki return, swearing their loyalty to the Tsar and promising to destroy anyone who opposes him.

Act III: The Best Man

Sobakin is celebrating the betrothal of Marfa and Lïkov with an elaborate party. Gryaznoy has volunteered to be Lïkov’s best man, but is secretly planning to give Marfa Bomelius’s love potion before the wedding. Sobakin tells Lïkov and Gryaznoy that he cannot formallyÌý announce Marfa’s betrothal until the Tsar has chosen his bride. The Tsar has now narrowed his search down to 12 girls, including Marfa and Dunyasha, and has inspected each of them that day.

Dunyasha’s mother, Domna Ivanovna Saburova, claims to Sobakin that the Tsar was particularly taken with Dunyasha, which reassures Lïkov. Sobakin announces a toastÌý to celebrate his daughter’s forthcoming marriage to Lïkov. Gryaznoy slips his potionÌý into Marfa’s glass, unaware that Lyubasha has substituted her poison for it. A wedding song is sung in praise of the young couple. As it ends, Petrovna tells Sobakin that MalyutaSkuratov has arrived with news from the Tsar. Malyuta-Skuratov announces that theÌý Tsar has chosen Marfa to be his bride.

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Act IV: The Bride

In the Tsar’s palace, Sobakin, Saburova and the Tsar’s attendants lament the mysterious illness of Marfa, now the Tsarina-elect. Gryaznoy enters, and informs them that LïkovÌý has confessed to him that he poisoned Marfa. Gryaznoy has had Lïkov executed.

Marfa arrives in time to hear of Lïkov’s death, and faints. When she regains consciousness, she has become delirious, and believes Gryaznoy to be Lïkov. Overcome with remorse, Gryaznoy tells Sobakin and the others that he has accidentally poisoned Marfa withÌý the ‘love potion’ that Bomelius gave him. Lyubasha rushes in and confesses that she substituted the poison that Bomelius gave her for Gryaznoy’s love potion and is responsible for Marfa’s illness. Gryaznoy stabs and kills her. The dying Marfa is now living in aÌý dream world and completely unaware of what is happening around her. Still believing Gryaznoy to be Lïkov, she asks him to return the next day to visit her. Gryaznoy says goodbye to her tenderly, and is led away to prison.