OPERA REVIEW

Fanaticism and Devotion in a Fragmented Russia

By ZACHARY WOOLFE 11:31 AM ET

Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Mussorgsky’s “Khovanshchina” opened on Monday at the Metropolitan Opera.

Mussorgsky’s sweeping epic of political fragmentation and religious fundamentalism in the Russia of the late 1600s is back on the Met stage, fiery finale and all.