"Oh, woman of Rogvolod's lineage!": The Bolshoi Theatre announced a competition for a Russian-language opera-ballet about the Polotsk princes
The National Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theatre of Belarus has offered composers to write music for a new national opera-ballet "The Legend of the Polotsk Princes." The work, as stated in the official regulations, must "serve the preservation of national traditions," but there is absolutely no emphasis on Belarusian identity in it.
Vladimir and Rogneda. Painting by Anton Losenko, 1770. From the collections of the State Russian Museum. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
The competition, announced by the theatre on March 30, looks quite specific. Composers are given only one month — until April 30, 2026 — to write and present a complete score for a symphony orchestra. However, they need to write not the entire work, but only three fragments: an introduction, the scene of Vladimir and Rogneda from the first act, and the final chorus from the third act.
But the main condition is that the music must be created based on an already prepared libretto, authored by Denis Duk.
Denis Duk at the All-Belarusian People's Assembly. Photo: Viciebskija viesci
Denis Duk is a man far removed from the theatrical or literary world. He is a Doctor of Historical Sciences, an archaeologist who studied Polotsk for a long time, and now he is making a rapid bureaucratic career. He is the former rector of Mogilev University, a member of the CEC (Central Election Commission) who fell under US sanctions, and from October 2025 — rector of the Academy of Public Administration. Why exactly a top official and ideologist is the author of the libretto for the main national opera remains a matter of speculation.
What is even more striking is that the "national" opera about the Polotsk princes and Rogneda was written by Duk in Russian. Reading the text leaves a deep impression that every line is derivative, already heard in operas from a hundred years ago.
History through the prism of the Russian world
The excerpt from the libretto, dedicated to the dialogue between Vladimir — who at that moment had captured Polotsk, killed Rogneda's parents, and forcibly took her as his wife — and Rogneda herself, contains an extremely strange historical concept.
In Denis Duk's text, Vladimir appears not as a bloody conqueror, but almost as a philosopher and a sufferer who is concerned about the spiritual unity of "Rus'":
«Прекрасна Русь, / Но христианства свет / Не озаряет ее нивы и просторы… / Нет на Руси духовного канона! / Все сущее — от одного начала, / Доколе нам, князьям, посад делить? / И долго ль будем преклоняться истуканам?»
Vladimir informs Rogneda that he must go on a campaign to Korsun (Chersonesus) to force the Byzantine emperor to give him Princess Anna in marriage, and thus bring Christianity to Rus'. Rogneda, who according to historical data truly hated Vladimir and even attempted to assassinate him, in the libretto suddenly begins... to cry out of jealousy for the Byzantine princess and plead with Vladimir to marry her according to the Christian rite:
«Женись на мне в законе христианском!»
When Vladimir refuses her, stating that his union with Anna is a political necessity for the baptism of Rus', Rogneda begins to complain that her son Izyaslav will lose the chance to become the Kyiv prince. To this, Vladimir harshly replies:
«О-о, женщина из рода Рогволода! / Я все сказал, / Перечить мне не смей!»
From a historical point of view, this dialogue is complete fiction, contradicting the "Tale of Bygone Years."
Firstly, according to historical sources, Rogneda never begged Vladimir to marry her again and did not suffer from jealousy. On the contrary, according to the chronicle, Vladimir, already planning his marriage to Anna, offered her to choose any husband from the boyars, to which she refused and took monastic vows.
Rogneda's assassination attempt on Vladimir. Miniature from the Radziwiłł Chronicle, 15th century. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Secondly, historical sources present the conflict between Vladimir and Rogneda and her knife attack on him as being caused by revenge for her destroyed family and humiliation, rather than concerns about the Kyiv throne for her son Izyaslav. Izyaslav, along with his mother, was exiled to the Polotsk land, to Zaslavl, founded for them, and it was with them that the Polotsk dynasty of the Izyaslavichs of Polotsk, "Rogned's grandsons," independent of Kyiv, began.
After all, this is a work of art and it is not obliged to be historically accurate. However, it is impossible not to notice from these short excerpts that the author of the libretto offers the audience a completely different narrative, where the main emphasis is not on the tragedy of Polotsk, but on the "Baptism of Rus'" as a central, unifying idea.
Rogneda, from a proud and indomitable Polotsk princess, transforms into a discarded wife who tearfully implores the Kyiv prince not to leave her for the Byzantine woman. Is this the very "preservation of national traditions" that the competition organizers proclaim? Or could this be a subtle allusion to the current situation in Belarus?
The pathos-filled final chorus (Third Act), which also mentions the Cross of Euphrosyne of Polotsk, sounds more like a work by contemporary Belarusian ideologists than the text of a modern opera:
«Твой софийный звон — / Сердце Родины! / Освятил землю / В века вечные!.. / Над Двиной-рекой, / Да над Полоцком / Белорусская / Колыбель моя!»
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