The Russian-language libretto was written by the composer, and is based on the 1825 drama Boris Godunov by Aleksandr Pushkin, and, in the Revised Version of 1872, on Nikolay Karamzin's History of the Russian State.

Among major operas, Boris Godunov shares with Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos (1867) the distinction of having an extremely complex creative history, as well as a great wealth of alternative material.

Although these versions held the stage for decades, Mussorgsky's individual harmonic style and orchestration are now valued for their originality, and revisions by other hands have fallen out of fashion.

[16] Lyudmila Shestakova recalled the reply made by conductor Eduard Nápravník and stage manager Gennadiy Kondratyev of the Mariinsky Theatre in response to her question of whether Boris had been accepted for production:[17] "'No,' they answered me, 'it's impossible.

'"[17]Other questionable accounts, such as Rimsky-Korsakov's, allege that there were additional reasons for rejection, such as the work's novelty:[17] "...Mussorgsky submitted his completed Boris Godunov to the Board of Directors of the Imperial Theatres ...

"[18]"All his closest friends, including myself, although moved to enthusiasm by the superb dramatic power and genuinely national character of the work, had constantly been pointing out to him that it lacked many essentials; and that despite the beauties with which it teemed, it might be found unsatisfactory in certain respects.

[9][10] Revised Version In 1871, Mussorgsky began recasting and expanding the opera with enthusiasm, ultimately going beyond the requirements of the directorate of the Imperial Theatres, which called simply for the addition of a female role and a scene to contain it.

Most Mussorgsky biographers claim that the directorate of the Imperial Theatres also rejected the revised version of Boris Godunov, even providing a date: 6 May 1872 (Calvocoressi),[23] or 29 October 1872 (Lloyd-Jones).

Some two years later, the Lord knows why, productions of the opera ceased altogether, although it had enjoyed uninterrupted success, and the performances under Petrov and, after his death, by F. I. Stravinsky, Platonova, and Komissarzhevsky had been excellent.

"[32] Boris Godunov did not return to the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre until 9 November 1904, when the Rimsky-Korsakov edition was presented under conductor Feliks Blumenfeld with bass Feodor Chaliapin in the title role.

[26] The cast included Darya Leonova (Innkeeper), Fyodor Komissarzhevsky (Pretender), Osip Petrov (Varlaam), Vasiliy Vasilyev (or 'Vasilyev II') (Misail), Mikhail Sariotti (Police Officer), Yuliya Platonova (Marina), Josef Paleček (Rangoni), and Feliks Krzesiński (Old Polish Noble).

[40] The premiere established traditions that have influenced subsequent Russian productions (and many abroad as well): 1) Cuts made to shorten what is perceived as an overlong work; 2) Declamatory and histrionic singing by the title character, often degenerating in climactic moments into shouting (initiated by Ivan Melnikov, and later reinforced by Fyodor Shalyapin); and 3) Realistic and historically accurate sets and costumes, employing very little stylization.

The cast included Bogomir Korsov (Boris), Nadezhda Salina (Fyodor), Aleksandra Karatayeva (Kseniya), O. Pavlova (Nurse), Anton Bartsal (Shuysky), Pyotr Figurov (Shchelkalov), Ivan Butenko (Pimen), Lavrentiy Donskoy (Pretender), Mariya Klimentova (Marina), Pavel Borisov (Rangoni), Vladimir Streletsky (Varlaam), Mikhail Mikhaylov (Misail), Vera Gnucheva (Innkeeper), and Aleksandr Dodonov (Boyar-in-attendance).

The cast included Fyodor Shalyapin (Boris), Klavdiya Tugarinova (Fyodor), Dagmara Renina (Kseniya), Yelizaveta Petrenko (Nurse), Ivan Alchevsky (Shuysky), Nikolay Kedrov (Shchelkalov), Vladimir Kastorsky (Pimen), Dmitri Smirnov (Pretender), Nataliya Yermolenko-Yuzhina (Marina), Vasiliy Sharonov (Varlaam), Vasiliy Doverin-Kravchenko (Misail), Mitrofan Chuprïnnikov (Yuródivïy), and Khristofor Tolkachev (Nikitich).

The cast included Adamo Didur (Boris), Anna Case (Fyodor), Leonora Sparkes (Kseniya), Maria Duchêne (Nurse), Angelo Badà (Shuysky), Vincenzo Reschiglian (Shchelkalov, Lawicki), Jeanne Maubourg (Innkeeper), Léon Rothier (Pimen), Paul Althouse (Pretender), Louise Homer (Marina), Andrés de Segurola (Varlaam), Pietro Audisio (Misail), Albert Reiss (Yuródivïy), Giulio Rossi (Nikitich), Leopoldo Mariani (Boyar-in-Attendance), and Louis Kreidler (Czernikowski).

The cast included Fyodor Shalyapin (Boris), Mariya Davïdova (Fyodor), Mariya Brian (Kseniya), Yelizaveta Petrenko (Nurse, Innkeeper), Nikolay Andreyev (Shuysky), A. Dogonadze (Shchelkalov), Pavel Andreyev (Pimen), Vasiliy Damayev (Pretender), Yelena Nikolayeva (Marina), Aleksandr Belyanin (Varlaam), Nikolay Bolshakov (Misail), Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (Yuródivïy), and Kapiton Zaporozhets (Nikitich).

The cast included Mark Reyzen (Boris), Aleksandr Kabanov (Shuysky), Ivan Pleshakov (Pimen), Nikolay Pechkovsky (Pretender), Pavel Zhuravlenko (Varlaam), Yekaterina Sabinina (Innkeeper), and V. Tikhiy (Yuródivïy).

It also conforms to the recitative opera style (opéra dialogué) of The Stone Guest and Marriage, and to the ideals of kuchkist realism, which include fidelity to text, formlessness, and emphasis on the values of spoken theatre, especially through naturalistic declamation.

[61][a] In other roles lists created by Mussorgsky, Pimen is designated a monk (инок), Grigoriy a novice (послушник), Rangoni a Cardinal (кардинал), Varlaam and Misail vagrant-monks (бродяги-чернецы), the Innkeeper a hostess (хозяйка), and Khrushchov a Voyevoda (воевода).

Andrey Shchelkalov, the Secretary of the Duma, appears from inside the convent, informs the people that Boris still refuses the throne of Russia ("Orthodox folk!

An approaching procession of pilgrims sings a hymn ("Glory to Thee, Creator on high"), exhorting the people to crush the spirit of anarchy in the land, take up holy icons, and go to meet the Tsar.

The young novice Grigoriy awakes from a horrible (and prophetic) dream, which he relates to Pimen, in which he climbed a high tower, was mocked by the people of Moscow, and fell.

Pimen speaks approvingly of Ivan the Terrible and his son Fyodor, who both exhibited great spiritual devotion, and draws a contrast with Boris, a regicide.

The Interior of the Tsar's Terem in the Moscow Kremlin (1605) Kseniya (or Xenia), clutching a portrait of "Prince Ivan", her betrothed who has died, sings a brief mournful aria ("Where are you, my bridegroom?").

"[67]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: "The general decorativeness and crudity of Mr. Mussorgsky's style, his passion for the brass and percussion instruments, may be considered to have been borrowed from Serov.

He claimed that Mussorgsky was so deficient in the ability to write instrumental music that he dispensed with composing a prelude, and that he had "borrowed the cheap method of characterization by leitmotives from Wagner.

[80] After Mussorgsky's death in 1881, his friend Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov undertook to put his scores in order, completing and editing Khovanshchina for publication (1883),[81] reconstructing Night on Bald Mountain (1886), and "correcting" some songs.

"When the bell tolls," Shostakovich reportedly told Solomon Volkov, "it's a reminder that there are powers mightier than man, that you can't escape the judgment of history.

[citation needed] The American conductor Igor Buketoff created a version in which he removed most of Rimsky-Korsakov's additions and reorchestrations, and fleshed out some other parts of Mussorgsky's original orchestration.