Vladimir Stasov, critic and advisor to The Mighty Handful, suggested The Lay of Igor's Host, a 12th century epic prose poem, and sent Borodin a scenario for a three-act opera on 30 April 1869.

So I shall give it a try ...[4]After collecting material from literary sources, Borodin began composition in September 1869 with initial versions of Yaroslavna's arioso and Konchakovna's cavatina, and sketched the Polovtsian Dances and March of the Polovtsy.

[3] The Mlada project was soon aborted, and Borodin, like the other members of The Mighty Handful who were involved – César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov – thought about ways to recycle the music he contributed.

[6] Borodin returned to Prince Igor in 1874, inspired by the success of his colleagues Rimsky-Korsakov and Mussorgsky in the staging of their historical operas, The Maid of Pskov (1873) and Boris Godunov (1874).

This period also marks the creation of two new characters, the deserters Skula and Yeroshka, who have much in common with the rogue monks Varlaam and Misail in Boris Godunov.

In his memoirs, Rimsky-Korsakov mentions an 1876 concert at which Borodin's "closing chorus" was performed, the first public performance of any music from Prince Igor identified by him: ... Borodin's closing chorus ["Glory to the beautiful Sun"] ..., which, in the epilogue of the opera (subsequently removed) extolled Igor's exploits, was shifted by the author himself to the prologue of the opera, of which it now forms a part.

[7]The idea of a choral epilogue in the original scenario was no doubt inspired by the example of A Life for the Tsar by Mikhail Glinka, to whose memory Prince Igor is dedicated.

[8] In 1876, a frustrated Stasov gave up hope that Borodin would ever finish Prince Igor, and offered his scenario to Rimsky-Korsakov.

For Acts II and III (in the camp of the Polovtsy) there was no adequate libretto – no scenario, even – there were only scattered verses and musical sketches, or finished numbers that showed no connection between them.

The synopsis of these acts I knew full well from talks and discussions with Borodin, although in his projects he had been changing a great deal, striking things out and putting them back again.

[11]The often-repeated account that Glazunov reconstructed and orchestrated the overture from memory after hearing the composer play it at the piano is true only in part.

[13] "During the season of 1888–9 the Directorate of Imperial Theatres began to lead us a fine dance with the production of Prince Igor, which had been finished, published, and forwarded to the proper authorities.

"[14] "On October 23, 1890, Prince Igor was produced at last, rehearsed fairly well by K. A. Kuchera, as Nápravník had declined the honor of conducting Borodin's opera.

While some aspects of the production may have been unusual, one critic noted that "placing the (Polovtsian) Dances as a Finale is an elegant idea, ... the director Andrejs Zagars and the conductor Noam Zur have thus presented a musically and dramaturgically coherent Prince Igor.

Director Dmitri Tcherniakov and conductor Gianandrea Noseda removed most of the melodies contributed by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov, although they retained those composers' orchestrations.

The overall conception made the opera more of a psychological drama about Prince Igor and his state of mind, given the deep depression he went into following his soldiers' loss to the Polovtsians.

This production starred Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role with Ukrainian soprano Oksana Dyka as Yaroslavna.

At the beginning of the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, in February 2014, some of Borodin's music from this opera was played while an eclipsed sun, crescent-shaped, drifted across the upper levels of the center of the stadium, showing the basis of Russian history in the Prince Igor story.

The cathedral square in Putivl Prince Igor is about to set out on a campaign against the Cumans/Polovtsy and their Khans who have previously attacked the Russian lands.

Two soldiers Skula and Yeroshka desert feeling sure that Vladimir Yaroslavich, Prince Galitsky, will offer them work more to their liking.

They entertain the followers and all sing of how Galitsky and his men abducted a young woman and how she pleaded to be allowed to return to her father without being dishonoured.

After a moment of faintness, Yaroslavna orders messengers sent to the city's allies, but the Boyars report that the roads are cut, some towns are in revolt and their princes will be captured.

Igor urges his son to come, but Vladimir feels unable to leave Konchakovna who threatens to wake the camp.

Although people at first treat them with suspicion, the gudok players manage to convince the crowd that Igor has returned and the boyars that they are loyal followers of the true prince and not Galitsky.

[citation needed] Also, both died before finishing their operas, leaving the task of completion, editing, and orchestration in both cases to Rimsky-Korsakov.

It contains some fine pages (e.g., the "Polovtsian March"), provides an important link in the narrative (Igor's escape, Vladimir's fate), and is the origin of some of the memorable themes first heard in the overture (the trio, brass fanfares).

[27] The 1993 recording of Prince Igor by Valery Gergiev with the Kirov Opera features a new edition of the score with additions commissioned from composer Yuri Faliek for a production at the Mariinsky Theatre, adopting this hypothetical original sequence.

A comprehensive list of all recordings of Prince Igor may be found at operadis-opera-discography.org.uk Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine Audio Video In the American musical Kismet (1953), most of the score was adapted from works by Borodin.

In The Simpsons episode "Simpson Tide", the Boyars' Chorus (Act 1, Scene 2) plays while tanks emerge from parade floats during a peace parade on Red Square in front of Saint Basil's, soldiers walk out of a building, the Berlin Wall re-erects itself out of the ground, and Lenin rises from his grave, saying "Rrr!

The "Gliding dance of the Maidens" is also played during the Valentine's Day Itchy and Scratchy cartoon featured in The Simpsons episode "I Love Lisa".