"I didn’t create my own theater. Others will come and create one. Art may face decline, but it is eternal—like life itself."
F. M. Shalyapin
"And as it is to make the devilish deeds cease, and give power to my pupils, that they may tread upon the serpent and the scorpion, and upon all the power of the enemy’s strength."
And they advanced…
The great power in Boris Godunov—this is the most sympathetic person in all my repertoire. But this poor fellow, although an all-powerful King, is surrounded like an enormous elephant by wild jackals and hyenas whose low strength will, in the end, overpower him. Feeling the elephant-like power of Boris instinctively—and fearing it— the boyars go around in circles with tails tucked in, snapping their teeth. But they are docile only for the time being. At a convenient moment, the cowardly but cunning anarchic and predatory pack will tear the elephant apart. And again, with unbridled breadth, the Russian character will unfurl in the treasonous self-will of the boyars—just as in the despotism of Ivan the Terrible.