Boris Godunov (opera) ("Flow, flow, bitter tears!") of the arrival of the enemy and of woe to Russia. Russian opera of the early 1870s was dominated by Western European works—mainly Italian. The domestic product was regarded with skepticism and sometimes hostility. The playwright Tikhonov wrote in 1898: As the most daring and innovative member of the Mighty Handful, Mussorgsky frequently became the target of conservative critics and rival composers, and was often derided for his supposedly clumsy and crude musical idiom. After the premiere of "Boris Godunov", influential critic Herman Laroche wrote: Reviews of the premiere performance of "Boris Godunov" were for the
The Cunning Little Vixen other chickens, jumps over the fence and runs off to freedom. The vixen takes over a badger's home and kicks him out. In the inn, the pastor, the forester, and the schoolmaster drink and talk about their mutual infatuation with the gypsy girl Terynka. The drunken schoolmaster leaves the inn and mistakes a sunflower behind which the vixen is hiding for Terynka and confesses his devotion to her. The forester, also on his way home, sees the vixen and fires two shots at her, sending her running. Later, the vixen, coming into her womanhood, meets a charming boy fox, and