Prince Igor (Russian: Князь Игорь, Knyaz' Igor') is an opera written in 1890 by Alexandr Borodin (and after his death, his colleagues), based on Song of Igor's Campaign, a medieval Russian poem. The plot centers around a battle between the forces of Prince Igor of Novgorod-Seversky and a Cuman (called in Russian traditions Polovets) army. However, in the opera, the battle itself isn't shown – we only learn of its outcome from the characters. The story unfolds in the Polovets camp, where Igor and his son are kept prisoner, and in the town of Putivl, where Igor's wife Yaroslavna anxiously awaits his return while the smallfolk are being terrorized by her cruel brother Prince Galitsky.
The whole thing doesn't end nearly as badly as many operas do, formally at least: no one of the main characters dies, Igor flees from the camp and reunites with his wife, and his son gets married to his sweetheart. But as the war with the Polovets tribes is in no way ended and Yaroslavna's brother is still there as well, it's more like Bittersweet Ending or No Ending at all.
This opera contains examples of:
- Adaptational Heroism: In the poem, Konchak does try to capture Igor again when the latter escapes, but is unable to track him down. In the opera, immediately after the escape is discovered, Konchak praises Igor and orders his men not to chase him.
- Affably Evil: Khan Konchak, while definitely the enemy, is a just and honorable man especially by the time's standards, who has great respect for Igor's bravery and treats him as a guest. He's beloved by his men, too. In fact, he only shows his antagonist side when his ally Khan Gzak returns from a new victorious battle – most importantly, Konchak gives a Badass Boast song of how the Polovtsians raid Russian lands.
- Artistic License – History: Actually, in 1185, when the plot takes place, Prince Galitsky was in his native Galich, many miles away from Putivl, so whatever he was doing, he definitely wasn't terrorizing the latter!
- The Caligula: Prince Galitsky, seizing control of Putivl after Igor's departure and installing his regime of debauchery.
- Conflicting Loyalty: Vladimir is fiercely devoted to his father and fiercely in love with Konchak's daughter. Drama ensues.
- Cut Short, pretty much so (well, relatively short, after four hours), due to
Borodin's death. - Damsel in Distress: In the first Putivl act, the town's women attempt to rescue an (unnamed) girl kidnapped by Galitsky and his followers. Unfortunately, they don't succeed. Yaroslavna's pleas with her brother only result in him promising to free this girl and take another. The damsel's ultimate fate remains unknown.
- Decadent Court: Everyone who wants wine and girls and doesn't want battles joins Prince Galitsky. Results? Disastrous.
- Family-Values Villain:
- Inverted with Galitsky. He is at odds with his father (Igor pacified the outright fighting), and ready to send his sister to a convent if she even tries to lecture him.
- Played straight with Konchak who dotes on his daughter.
- Fate Worse than Death: Poor, poor women of Putivl. If they're unlucky, they are enslaved by the Polovtsians. If they are even more unlucky and remain in their hometown, they're taken by the men of Prince Galitsky, whom they admit to be the worst case (especially since Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil).
- Friendly Enemy: Igor and Konchak. To the point Igor admits he bears Konchak personally no ill will, and Konchak praises him when he learns of his escape. By the end, close to being Best Friends-in-Law.
- Gilded Cage: Igor's treated like a guest of honor by Konchak.
- The Ghost: Khan Gzak, Konchak's ally who, among other things, raids Putivl, appears onstage as a silent role, if he appears at all.
- Honor Before Reason: Both Konchak and Igor. A single dialogue says it all: Konchak offers to let Igor go if the latter promises never to march against the Cumans, Igor replies he won't promise any such thing because the moment he is set free, he will start raising troops again, and Konchak says how he admires Igor's honesty.
- Love Makes You Evil: Konchakovna, Konchak's daughter, almost slips into that. She's mad for Igor's son, and when Igor plans to escape, she tries to coax Vladimir to either stay with her or take her with them. When Vladimir, persuaded by Igor, does neither, she screams for the guards. Luckily, Igor escapes and Konchak arranges Vladimir and Konchakovna's marriage without further ado.
- More Hateable Minor Villain: Konchak, the Cuman khan and longtime enemy of the Russians, is at the root of all the main characters' problems. However, he is incredibly Affably Evil, a Father to His Men, a Friendly Enemy to Igor, and a kind and loving father to his daughter. The more minor villain, Prince Vladimir Galitsky, who is only able to seize power in Putivl because Igor's away in Konchak's captivity, is a vile drunken rapist who wants to stay in power for good to indulge in debauchery and deplete the town treasury; he doesn't even care for his sister, saying that he'll send her to the convent if she dares to oppose him. The trope is lampshaded by the maids of Putivl when they come to Galitsky's sister to complain about him:Worse than the enemies, worse than the Cumans!
- Ominous Foreshadowing: In the prologue scene, Yaroslavna urges her husband not to go on this particular campaign, telling him of her foreboding, and then a solar eclipse occurs, after which practically everyone starts to say that going to battle at the moment is a bad idea. In Igor's opinion, It's Probably Nothing and it would be much worse to cancel the war plans.
- Rape, Pillage, and Burn: The overall summary of Konchak's song, and basically the reality of the Polovtsians' attacks.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- Konchakovna, finally, after a great deal of suffering, gets married to Igor's son. After that, in spite of the plot being still in motion, the two lovebirds hurriedly leave the stage and are never seen around again.
- Skula and Yeroshka, Galitsky's minions, desert him lickety-split when they see Igor coming back.
- We Can Rule Together: Konchak often says that, had Igor been his ally, they would have conquered the world.
