Christmas Eve Suite: Polonaise: Full Orchestra, Conductor Score & Parts

The four-act opera CHRISTMAS EVE by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) is a fanciful story set in a Ukrainian village. Wakula the smith is enamored with Oksana, but she will only wed him if he wins her the Tsaritsa's golden shoes. The composer wrote the libretto, which he based on a short story from Nikolai Gogol's 1832 collection "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka". Completed in 1895, it premiered on December 10 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. In 1904, he gathered the best music from the opera into a suite for orchestra. In Act 4, a chorus sings tribute to the tsaritsa in a lavish Polonaise. Instrumentation: 2+Picc.2.2+ DCl.2: 4.3.3.1: Timp. Perc (3-4): Hp: Str (9.8.7.6.5 in set).